From Helen Pike’s History & Heritage Journal:

Before match.com.  Before pridedating. Before J-Date we roamed the world, looking for love. Our heart’s yearning took us to places like Paris, France, the South Seas, and even Winterset, Iowa, for the penultimate search in the “kissing” bridges of Madison County.

Asbury Park, though, has had a long tradition for setting hearts aflutter, and making permanent matches. Here are three of my favorites, all with women who were graduated from Asbury High:

1) Mogul-in-the-making, a young Laurence Tisch came to sell cars to Stein’s automobile dealership on Main Street and Fourth Avenue, and came away, instead, with marrying the owner’s daughter, Wilma. Tisch later would go on to become CEO of CBS and co-owner with his brother, Robert, in Loew’s cinemas. Billie, a graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY, became a philanthropist.

2) Budding New York news anchor Ernie Anastos hooked up with the daughter of St. George Greek Orthodox Church’s beloved prelate, Kelly Coutros.  From interviews I’ve done, apparently many a gridiron player from Kelly’s high school days had secret crushes on the petite brunette.  For a brief period, Anastos was an investor in the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel when Sam and Henry Vaccaro were seeking to revive the grande dame in the 1980s.

3) Finally needing a woman’s voice to increase the emotional range of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen turned to one of his back-up singers, Patti Scialfa. The rest is both music and personal history in one of the greatest matches to come out of the Jersey Shore scene.

Do you have a love match made while strolling the Boardwalk? Or, brewed in a Downtown venue? Did you connect with your one-and-only at one of the many festivals making the city “the”  go-to destination in New Jersey? Post a comment! We’d love to hear from you! Better yet, upload a photo, too!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Asbury Park!