Arrington Garage
Known Name(s)
Arrington Garage
Address
153 Ridge Ave. Asbury Park, NJ
Establishment Type(s)
Garage
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
Arrington’s was located on Ridge Avenue at the corner of Holly Avenue (now Stratford Avenue) in a residential section of Asbury Park’s West Side, north of the main business corridor, Springwood Avenue. The 1930 Sanborn insurance map indicates that the structure was a rectangular concrete building with a concrete floor set on the rear corner of the lot. That corner, now filled with houses, was reoriented, and the address on Ridge Avenue no longer exists, with the garage demolished at an unknown time.
Sources: Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet 208.
Detailed History
Arrington’s Garage was listed in The Green Book from 1939 through 1941 and again from 1946 through 1949. According to the 1940 Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory, the garage was operated by John E. Arrington. Mr. Arrington enlisted in the army in August of 1942. His enlistment record recorded that he was African American and born in 1897 in North Carolina. The Asbury Park Press published notice of his enlistment, complete with photograph. By July of 1944, Mr. Arrington was a patient in an army hospital in Atlantic City. The 1940 Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory listed Roland V. Arrington as an attendant at the garage. Roland’s 1972 obituary indicated that he and John were brothers. It is unclear what happened to the business when John Arrington enlisted. While still listed in the 1945 city directory as Arrington’s, by 1948 the address in the directory was home to Phipps Auto Body, despite being listed in the Green Book under Arrington’s name.
Sources: Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory, 1940, 1945, and 1948; “Sgt. John E. Arrington;” Asbury Park Press, 1 March 1943; “Local Happenings,” Asbury Park Press, 31 July 1944; “Roland V. Arrington,” Asbury Park Press, 31 May 1972.
J. Shaffer
