Opal Beauty Parlor
Known Name(s)
Opal Beauty Parlor
Address
1146 Springwood Ave. Asbury Park, NJ
Establishment Type(s)
Beauty Parlor
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
The Opal Beauty Shop was centrally located on the south side of Springwood Avenue between Sylvan and Atkins, in the heart of Asbury’s West Side business district, which catered to the area’s largely African-American community. The 1930 Sanborn map depicts a long, narrow building at the address. 1146 Springwood is gone, its location shown approximately on the map. The lot, along with the rest of the block, is now filled with recently constructed townhomes.
Sources: Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet 202.
Detailed History
Geneva Hazel Hunt operated the Opal Beauty Shop on Springwood Avenue for more than 25 years, and listed it in The Green Book from 1938 through 1941 and again from 1946 through 1955. The 1940 census reported that she was born circa 1902 in California, was educated through the 8th grade, and rented her home at 155 Atkins Avenue in Asbury Park’s West Side. Miss Hunt died in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1958, having recently purchased and operated Sanker Ranch Farm in Wall Township.
Sources: US Census, 1940; “Miss Geneva Hazel Hunt,” Asbury Park Press, 27 March 1958.
J. Shaffer
