Did You Know

The Monmouth Beach Gas Station marked 100 years of business in 2024.

Auto service at Ocean and Riverdale Avenues (near the Long Branch border) dates to October 1924 when property owner, J. William Jones, installed two 20,000-gallon above-ground gas tanks. Despite major opposition, then Mayor A.O. Johnson did not object to the plan.

Jones, a savvy city politico (serving 30 years on the Long Branch Commission including two terms as mayor), was used to getting his way. Although the area is zoned for business, the snooty Monmouth Beach Association fought the project so Jones obtained a NJ Superior Court order to operate.

Andy Zeim, longtime head janitor at the borough school, was an owner in the 1940s and 50s. Edward Wade owned the Getty Service Station franchise there beginning in 1960. A Newark native and 50-year Little Silver resident, he died in July 1995.

Customers will recall the colorful gas pumper, Malcolm “Shorty” Kirby, who died in 1994 and longtime auto mechanic, Arthur Jensen, who died in 1983. The station endured major gas rationing periods in the 1940s and 1970s.

Damaged in Superstorm Sandy and renovated, it’s now a Liberty Petroleum fuel station; open 7 days from 6 am to 9 pm. The mechanic-in-charge is Doug King who runs All Shore Auto Repair.