title: Florence, South Carolina

text: The historic downtown district running from the central business district toward the McLeod Medical Center, features a number of historic buildings that have been rehabilitated. The redevelopment started with the $18 million Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation Library, and today now has the new Florence Little Theater, some 60 new apartments and the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center which opened in September 2011, as well the new Florence Museum of Art, Science & History which opened October 11, 2014. New office space has emerged from once abandoned buildings, and a police substation was added on once crime-ridden Dargan Street.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Special efforts are being aimed at the downtown area, which was once the center of the city's activity but remains dormant after retailers and shoppers left for suburban malls. The goal is to re-establish Evans as a vibrant commercial and residential corridor, and five blocks of Evans Street will be streetscaped.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 39,899 people, 15,624 households, and 9,671 families residing in the city.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 30,248 people, 11,925 households, and 7,882 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,709.4 people per square mile (659.8/km). There were 13,090 housing units at an average density of 739.7 per square mile (285.5/km). The racial makeup of the city was 50.0% White, 46.0% Black or African- American, 0.18% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 0.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 0.76% of the population.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: There were 11,925 households, out of which 30.2% had children living with them, 41.9% were married couples living together, 20.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.03.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.5 males.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: The median income for a household in the city was $35,388, and the median income for a family was $42,250. Males had a median income of $35,633 versus $23,589 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,336. Of the population 19.3% and 15.3% of families, and 28.2% of those under and 15.9% of those 65 and older, were living below the poverty line.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Florence is the central city of a metropolitan area with a total population of 205,566 (2010 US census), including the entire populations of Florence and Darlington counties. However, in the more detailed 2000 Census data, only about 54% of this metro was urbanized, consisting of the urban areas Florence (2000 pop.: 67,314), Hartsville (14,907), Darlington (12,066), and Lake City (8,728). The remainder of the Florence metro is considered rural.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Like other midsize cities in the southern United States, Florence's population is largely dominated by Protestantism, the largest group being the Southern Baptists, followed by the Methodists. The rest of the population are distributed among other Protestant denominations as well as the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches. The Greek Orthodox Church holds a large Greek Festival annually in September. There is one Reform Judaism synagogue in Florence, Beth Israel Congregation. There is also a small Hindu temple.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Baseball has a long history in Florence, dating back to the 1920s when the Florence Swamp Foxes were founded. The minor league Florence Steelers played in Florence from 1948 to 1950. The Toronto Blue Jays had a minor league team that played in Florence from 1981 to 1986. Major league players Pat Borders, Jimmy Key, Cecil Fielder and Fred McGriff made stops in Florence during their minor league careers. Florence's Post 1 American Legion baseball team is one of the longest tenured teams in the state, beginning in 1932. Drawing the best high school talent from all over the Pee Dee area each summer, Post 1 has had over 30 players move on the professional ranks, including Reggie Sanders. They have won over 30 league titles and six state championships. They were the host site of the 2008 American Legion State Tournament. In 2012, Post 1 won the South Carolina state tournament and the Southeast Regional and participated in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Until 2009, Florence was home to the American Indoor Football league's Florence Phantoms, which debuted in the league in 2006. The Phantoms played in the Florence Civic Center. Florence Memorial Stadium is a 7,000 seat football stadium to the east of the city. It is the home stadium for West Florence, Wilson, and South Florence high schools. There was an arena football team too, briefly, but its contract to play at the Florence Center was not renewed.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Florence was also home to the Southern Professional Hockey League's now-Twin City Cyclones, who played from 2005 to 2007. This team was part of a two event package in 2004 to replace the now defunct Pee Dee Pride (to be the Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz) from the ECHL. The building was also the home of the South Carolina Fire Ants of Major League Roller Hockey in 1998.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Florence and Grand Strand share a common defined market by Nielsen Media Research in Horry, Marion, Dillon, Darlington, Marlboro, Scotland, Robeson, and Florence counties. The Florence/Myrtle Beach Market is the 103rd largest market in the US as defined by Nielsen Media Research. CBS affiliate WBTW 13, ABC affiliate WPDE-TV 15, CW affiliate WPDE-DT2 15.2 and SCETV (PBS) outlet WJPM-TV 33 are licensed to Florence. SCETV's Myrtle Beach outlet, WHMC 23, is licensed to Conway. NBC affiliate WMBF-TV 32 and Fox affiliate WFXB 43 are licensed to the city of Myrtle Beach but also serve Florence. Florence, along with The Pee Dee Region, makes up the 217th largest radio market in the United States.


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: The "Florence Morning News" is the largest daily paper published in the Pee Dee, with a readership base extending across several counties. The paper has been in existence since 1922 and is published by BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. The area is also served by several weekly papers, including the "News Journal" and the "Community Times".


title: Florence, South Carolina

text: Cumulus Media and Iheart Media the largest and third-largest radio station ownership groups in the USA. Operate local outlets in Florence.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The relationship between the United States and the Philippines has historically been strong and has been described as a "special relationship". The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, however, was supportive of a foreign policy that is less dependent on the United States, favoring one that prioritizes closer relations with China and Russia, although the Philippines and the U.S. have a mutual defense treaty dating from 1951 and are actively working on implementation of an enhanced defense cooperation agreement concluded in 2014. The Philippines is one of the oldest Asian partners of the United States and a strategically major non-NATO ally. The United States was consistently ranked as one of the Philippines' favorite nations in the world, with 90% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and 91% viewing Americans favorably in 2002, 90% of Filipinos viewing U.S. influence positively in 2011, 85% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and Americans favorably in 2013, and 92% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. favorably in 2015, and 94% having confidence in then-United States president Barack Obama, making the Philippines one of the most pro-American countries in the world.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: This article discusses Philippine–American relations after Philippine independence from the United States in 1946, while the article History of the Philippines (1898–1946) describes the history of the Philippines during American colonial rule.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The Philippines and the United States of America has a long and storied history with each other. Firstly, Filipinos are the oldest Asian ethnic group in the Americas. Filipino sailors were the first Asians in North America. The first documented presence of Filipinos in what is now the United States dates back to October 1587 around Morro Bay, California, with the first permanent settlement in Louisiana in 1763, the settlers there were called "Manilamen" and they served in the Battle of New Orleans during the closing stages of the War of 1812, when the British Empire and American Republic once again went to war against each other as Filipinos in Saint Malo supported the American side against the British Empire. One American state, due to it being a former Spanish territory, Texas, was even once called "The New Philippines", so named since the Spanish wanted to replicate the prosperity they achieved in the Philippines, in that territory in the Americas. The 1898 Philippine Revolution against Spain was inspired by the French and American revolutions. The United States eventually purchased the Philippines from Spain in the treaty of Paris and afterwards, the Americans invaded and destroyed the First Philippine Republic. Except for the brief interruption of the Japanese occupation, the United States ruled the Philippines from 1898 to 1946, after which, the Philippines was granted independence after being devastated by the Second World War.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: A 1947 Military Bases Agreement gave the United States a 99-year lease on a number of Philippine military and naval bases in which U.S. authorities had virtual territorial rights. In August 1951, a mutual defense treaty (MDT) was signed between representatives of the Philippines and the United States. The overall accord contained eight articles and dictated that both nations would support each other if either the Philippines or the United States were to be attacked by an external party. An amendment to the bases agreement in 1966 reduced its 99-year term to 25 years. In 1979, after two years of negotiation, the bases agreement was renewed with some amendments.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Pursuant to the bases agreement, the United States maintained and operated major facilities at Clark Air Base until November 1991, and at Subic Bay Naval Complex and several small subsidiary installations in the Philippines until November 1992.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: In July 1991, negotiators from the two countries reached agreement on a draft treaty providing for the clean-up and turn over of Clark to the Philippine government in 1992, and for the lease of Subic Bay Naval Base by the U.S. for ten years. By 1991, operations at Clark had already been scaled back because of the end of the Cold War, with the last combat aircraft leaving in 1990, before the base was heavily damaged by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: On September 16, 1991, the Philippine Senate rejected renewal of the bases agreement by a slim margin, and despite further efforts to salvage the situation, the two sides could not reach an agreement. As a result, the Philippine Government informed the U.S. on December 6, 1991, that it would have one year to complete withdrawal. That withdrawal went smoothly and was completed ahead of schedule, with the last U.S. forces departing on November 24, 1992. On departure, the U.S. Government turned over assets worth more than $1.3 billion to the Philippines, including an airport and ship-repair facility. Agencies formed by the Philippine Government have converted the former military bases for civilian commercial use, with Subic Bay serving as a flagship for that effort. The Philippine government on July 16, 2015, announced that it will revive a US-built deep-water naval base in Subic Bay The vote resulted in 11 senators in favor of extending the treaty, and 12 senators in favor of suppressing it. The list of senators who voted for the bases treaty - to retain the bases - were Mamintal Tamano, Neptali Gonzales Sr., Heherson Alvarez, Edgardo Angara, Ernesto Herrera, Jose Lina Jr., John Osmeña, Vicente Paterno, Santanina Rasul, Alberto Romulo and Leticia Ramos Shahani. The Anti-Bases Coalition, founded by senators Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada led the call to end American military presence in the country. At the time of the vote, the retired senator Tañada stood up on his wheelchair to rapturous applause shouting, "Mabuhay!" or "Long live the Philippines."


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The post-U.S. bases era had seen U.S.-Philippine relations improved and broadened, with a prominent focus on economic and commercial ties while maintaining the importance of the security dimension. U.S. investment continues to play an important role in the Philippine economy, while a strong security relationship rests on the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951. In February 1998, U.S. and Philippine negotiators concluded the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), paving the way for increased military cooperation under the MDT. The agreement was approved by the Philippine Senate in May 1999 and entered into force on June 1, 1999. Under the VFA, the U.S. has conducted ship visits to Philippine ports and has resumed large combined military exercises with Philippine forces. Key events in the bilateral relationship include the July 4, 1996 declaration by President Ramos of Philippine-American Friendship Day in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Philippine independence. Ramos visited the U.S. in April 1998, and then-President Estrada visited in July 2000. President Arroyo met with President Bush in an official working visit in November 2001 and made a state visit in Washington on May 19, 2003. President Bush made a state visit to the Philippines on October 18, 2003, during which he addressed a joint session of the Philippine Congress—the first American President to do so since Dwight D. Eisenhower. There are regular U.S. cabinet-level and congressional visits to the Philippines as well.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: President Arroyo repeatedly stressed the close friendship between the Philippines and the U.S. and her desire to expand bilateral ties further. Both governments tried to revitalize and strengthen their partnership by working toward greater security, prosperity, and service to Filipinos and Americans alike. Inaugurated into office on the same day as President Bush, President Arroyo lent strong support to the Global War on Terrorism. In October 2003, the U.S. designated the Philippines as a Major non-NATO ally. That same month, the Philippines joined the select group of countries to have ratified all 12 UN counterterrorism conventions.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: On February 7, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte officially ordered the termination of the VFA as a response to an accumulation of a series of "disrespectful acts" by a few US senators directed against the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines. On February 11, 2020, the Philippine government officially notified the U.S. that it would be terminating the VFA.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The annual Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) bilateral military exercises contribute directly to the Philippine armed forces' efforts to root out Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists and bring development to formerly terrorist-plagued areas, notably Basilan and Jolo. They include not only combined military training but also civil-military affairs and humanitarian projects. The International Military Education and Training (IMET) program is the largest in the Pacific and the third-largest in the world, and a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) was signed in November 2002. Similarly, law enforcement cooperation had reached new levels: U.S. and Philippine agencies have cooperated to bring charges against numerous terrorists, to implement the countries' extradition treaty, and to train thousands of Filipino law enforcement officers. There is a Senior Law Enforcement Advisor helping the Philippine National Police with its Transformation Program.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The U.S. works closely with the Philippines to reduce poverty and increase prosperity. The U.S. fully supports Philippine efforts to root out corruption, to open economic opportunity, and to invest in health and education. USAID programs support the 'Philippines' war on poverty as well as the government's reform agenda in critical areas, including anti-money laundering, rule of law, tax collection, and trade and investment. Other USAID programs have bolstered the government's efforts to heal divisions in Philippine society through a focus on conflict resolution, livelihood enhancement for former combatants, and economic development in Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, among the poorest areas in the country. Meanwhile, important programs continue in modern family planning, infectious disease control, environmental protection, rural electrification, and provision of basic services—as well as PL 480 food aid programs and others, which together totaled $211.3 million. In 2006, the Millennium Challenge Corporation granted $21 million to the Philippines for a threshold program addressing corruption in revenue administration.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Nearly 400,000 Americans visit the Philippines each year. Providing government services to U.S. and other citizens, therefore, constitutes an important aspect of the bilateral relationship. Those services include veterans' affairs, social security, and consular operations. Benefits to Filipinos from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration totaled $297,389,415 in 2006. Many people-to-people programs exist between the U.S. and the Philippines, including Fulbright, International Visitors, and Aquino Fellowship exchange programs, as well as the U.S. Peace Corps.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation is a ten-page document containing a preamble and 12 articles, that was signed on April 28, 2014. It is a framework agreement that raises the scope of the 1951 MDT.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The Preamble to the EDCA refers to the obligations of the Philippines and the United States, under both the Charter of the United Nations and the MDT, to settle international disputes by peaceful means, not to endanger international peace and security, and to refrain from the threat or use of force “in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Importantly, the Preamble notes that both parties “share an understanding for the United States not to establish a permanent military presence or base in the territory of the Philippines.” The Preamble later concludes, “all United States access to and use of facilities and areas will be at the invitation of the Philippines and with full respect for the Philippines Constitution and Philippine laws.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The 1946 Bell Trade Act and its replacement, the 1955 Laurel-Langley Agreement (which expired in 1974), linked the two countries closely together economically in the first decades of independence.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Two-way U.S. merchandise trade with the Philippines amounted to $17.3 billion in 2006 (U.S. Department of Commerce data). According to Philippine Government data, 16% of the Philippines' imports in 2006 came from the U.S., and about 18% of its exports were bound for America. The Philippines ranks as the 26th-largest export market and the 30th-largest supplier of the United States. Key exports to the U.S. are semiconductor devices and computer peripherals, automobile parts, electric machinery, textiles and garments, wheat and animal feeds, and coconut oil. In addition to other goods, the Philippines imports raw and semi-processed materials for the manufacture of semiconductors, electronics and electrical machinery, transport equipment, and cereals and cereal preparations.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The U.S. traditionally has been the Philippines' largest foreign investor, with about $6.6 billion in estimated investment as of end-2005 (U.S. Department of Commerce data). Since the late 1980s, the Philippines has committed itself to reforms that encourage foreign investment as a basis for economic development, subject to certain guidelines and restrictions in specified areas. Under President Ramos, the Philippines expanded reforms, opening the power generation and telecommunications sectors to foreign investment, as well as securing ratification of the Uruguay Round agreement and membership in the World Trade Organization. As noted earlier, President Arroyo's administration has generally continued such reforms despite opposition from vested interests and "nationalist" blocs. A major obstacle has been and will continue to be constitutional restrictions on, among others, foreign ownership of land and public utilities, which limits maximum ownership to 40%.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Over the last two decades, the relatively closed Philippine economy has been opened significantly by foreign exchange deregulation, foreign investment and banking liberalization, tariff and market barrier reduction, and foreign entry into the retail trade sector. The Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 opened opportunities for U.S. firms to participate in the power industry in the Philippines. Information and communications technologies, backroom operations such as call centers, and regional facilities or shared-service centers were probably likewise leading investment opportunities.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: During the visit by President Benigno Aquino III to Washington DC, on July 7, 2012, the US-Philippine Society was launched. It is a non-profit independent organisation tasked for generating awareness about the Philippines in the US. The last board meeting was conducted by the society on January 24, 2013.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: In its 2013 Special 301 Report, the Office of the United States Trade Representatives wrote "The United States looks to the Philippines to take important steps to address piracy over the internet, in particular with respect to notorious online markets". It is speculated that pressure from the United States contributed to the complaint filed by Philippine Association of the Record Industry against the torrent website KickassTorrents, resulting in its seizure by Philippine authorities on June 13, 2013.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell had said in January 2011 that the United States will help boost the capacity of the Philippines to patrol their own waters, including the Spratly islands.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The 1951 mutual-defense treaty was reaffirmed with the November 2011 Manila Declaration. United States Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert suggested that LCS or surveillance aircraft may be deployed to the Philippines. And the Philippines is considering the proposal. These "rotational deployments" will help replace some of the American presence in the area that was given up when the permanent American bases in the Philippines were closed under President Bush.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: In 2012 the Philippines and the United States conducted joint military exercises. As of 2012, a U.S. military contingent of 600, including Navy Seals and Seabees are stationed "indefinitely" in the Southern Philippines, in a declared non-combatant role to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in operations against the al-Quaida-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group primarily on the island of Basilan in western Mindanao and the Sulu islands, in particular Jolo, a long-time stronghold of Abu Sayyaf.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The Scarborough Shoal standoff with China and the ongoing Spratly islands dispute has caused the Philippines to consider stronger military ties with the United States. In 2012, a senior Philippine defense official said that as long as they have prior clearance from the Philippine government, American troops, warships and aircraft could once again use their former naval and air facilities of Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base. In 2013, Foreign Secretary, Albert del Rosario clarified that, due to constitutional constraints, establishment of a US military facility could only be allowed if it would be under the control of the Philippine military. The deal will reportedly include shared access to Philippines military but not civilian facilities.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: During a 2013 visit to the Philippines, Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter said that the main security issues that the USA was working with the Philippines were:


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: In April 2014, a ten-year pact (EDCA – Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement) was signed between the U.S. president, Barack Obama and the Philippine President, Benigno Aquino III, allowing United States to increase military presence in the Philippines.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG) handed over weapons to the Philippine Marine Corps. The equipment includes 300 M4 carbines, 200 Glock 21 pistols, 4 M134D Gatling-style machine guns, and 100 M203 grenade launchers, the US embassy in Manila said in a 5 June statement. The JUSMAG also delivered 25 new Combat Rubber Raiding Craft with outboard motors to PMC headquarters in Taguig, where PMC commandant Major General Emmanuel Salamat formally accepted delivery of the weapons during a transfer ceremony on 5 June. The equipment was delivered amidst the Marawi Crisis.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: In February 2019, US Secretary of State Pompeo affirmed US commitments under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) during a meeting with counterparts in the Philippines. Pompeo in a speech added, "as the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels will trigger mutual defense obligations". The US assured that they will "back the Philippines" if confrontation between the Philippines and China occurs in the South China Sea. The move came after years of American reluctance to affirm commitments, which led to numerous Filipino politicians to push for review of the 68-year-old security pact between the Philippines and the US. The Filipino foreign affairs secretary welcomed the US commitment, adding that there is "no need to review" the pact anymore.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: The U.S. maintains an embassy in Manila and a consulate in Cebu. The American Business Center, which houses the Foreign Commercial Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service, is located in Makati. The Philippine government maintains an embassy in Washington, D.C. as well as several consulates throughout the United States.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: After President Rodrigo Duterte formally assumed the office on June 30, 2016, US-Philippine relations began to sour. The drift between the Duterte and Obama relationship began when the U.S. President expressed his concern over human rights issues on President Duterte's “War on Criminality and Drugs”. According to a statement issued by the White House, Obama commended the country for its "vibrant democracy." But he also highlighted "enduring values" that underpinned their "longstanding ties," including "shared commitments to democracy, human rights and rule of law." This intervention and President Duterte's choice of words while speaking about President Obama during a press conference, where he infamously called him “a son of a whore” resulted in a canceled meeting between the two leaders during the 2016 ASEAN summit held in Laos.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: A few weeks after, Duterte suggested American special forces to cease its operations and leave Mindanao. He cited the killings of Muslim Filipinos during a U.S. pacification campaign in the early 1900s, which he said were at the root of the long restiveness by minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation's south. It was only during his official visit to Vietnam last September 28, 2016 when he explicitly expressed that he wants an end to the Philippines' joint military exercises with the United States, saying the upcoming scheduled war games will be the last under his term, while adding that he will continue to uphold the Philippines' treaties with the US.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: , despite Duterte's shift of foreign policy to China from US, Filipinos still had low approval and trust rate in China compared to the US which continued to hold high trust and approval ratings. On former president's Fidel Ramos' resignation as special envoy to China, he stated that he didn't like Duterte's treatment of US President Obama.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Duterte later said following the 2016 U.S. presidential election that he will stop quarrels with the US following President Donald Trump's victory. Trump has planned to continue to aid the country during his presidency.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Current president Bongbong Marcos appears to be attempting to normalize relations with the United States.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: He has met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.


title: Philippines–United States relations

text: Marcos and U.S. President Joe Biden met face-to-face on the sidelines of the 2022 United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2022 during Marcos's working visit to the United States (September 18–24, 2022). and again during the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits in Cambodia during the week of November 9–13, 2022.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: The Liberator is a 3D-printable single shot handgun, the first such printable firearm design made widely available online. The open source firm Defense Distributed designed the gun and released the plans on the Internet on May 6, 2013. The plans were downloaded over 100,000 times in the two days before the United States Department of State demanded that Defense Distributed retract the plans.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: The plans for the gun remain hosted across the Internet and are available at file sharing websites like The Pirate Bay and GitHub.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: On July 19, 2018 the United States Department of Justice reached a settlement with Defense Distributed, allowing the sale of plans for 3D-printed firearms online, beginning August 1, 2018.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: On July 31, 2018 President of the United States Donald Trump posted on Twitter about the decision to allow the online publication of the Liberator's files: “I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!”


title: Liberator (gun)

text: On the same day the tweet was posted, a federal judge stopped the release of blueprints to make the Liberator due to it being an untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic gun, citing safety concerns.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: On April 27, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction and ordered the district court to dismiss the case, holding that Congress had expressly prohibited judicial review of the agency decisions in question. President Joe Biden announced in early April that the Justice Department would issue new rules for ghost guns within 30 days.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: The pistol is named after the FP-45 Liberator, a single-shot pistol that George Hyde designed and that the Inland Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation mass-produced for the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II. The OSS intended to air drop the gun into occupied Europe for resistance forces to use. A project of the OSS (which would later become the CIA), it is thought the Liberator was equally purposed as a tool of psychological warfare. Occupying forces in Europe would have to weigh evidence of distributed pistols as a factor in planning against civilian resistance, which would complicate their strategy and affect morale. However, though used in France, there is little proof that the pistols were ever dropped into occupied Europe in large quantities.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: The physible Liberator's release to the Internet can be understood as Defense Distributed's attempt to more successfully execute the historical psychological operation, and as a symbolic act supporting resistance to world governments.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: Days after their publication, the United States Department of State's Office of Defense Trade Controls issued a letter to Defense Distributed demanding that it retract the Liberator plans from public availability. The State Department justified this demand by asserting the right to regulate the flow of technical data related to arms, and its role in enforcing the Arms Export Control Act of 1976.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: However, soon thereafter the design appeared on The Pirate Bay (TPB), which publicly stated its defense of the information. Quoted on TorrentFreak: "TPB has for close to 10 years been operating without taking down one single torrent due to pressure from the outside. And it will never start doing that."


title: Liberator (gun)

text: Original copies of the Liberator have been permanently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a copy of the gun is on display at London's Science Museum.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: Writing in "The Register", Lewis Page ridiculed the Liberator, stating "it isn't any more a gun than any other very short piece of plastic pipe is a "gun"", and comparing it with a 1950s zip gun.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: The television series "How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)" depicts one of its protagonists printing and using a Liberator for self defense.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: In May 2013, Finnish Yle TV2 current affairs programme "Ajankohtainen kakkonen" produced a Liberator handgun under the supervision of a licensed gunsmith and fired it under controlled conditions. During the experiment, the weapon shattered. It was later found that an error was made concerning the settings of the 3D printer. Printed under the right conditions, the Liberator gun has a lifespan of 8–10 shots.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: Israeli Channel 10 reporters built and tested a Liberator with a 9 mm cartridge, successfully hitting a target at a distance of several meters. On June 24, 2013, the reporters smuggled the gun (without barrel and ammunition) into the Israeli house of parliament, coming within a short distance of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.


title: Liberator (gun)

text: A Japanese man printed and assembled five copies of the Liberator, and on or about April 12, 2014, he uploaded video evidence of his possession of the weapons to the internet. Authorities arrested him on May 8, 2014, and found that at least two of the copies possessed lethal power. Cody Wilson, a founder of Defense Distributed, stated on the incident that the man "performed his work in the open, without suspicion, fear or dishonor".


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (; May 4, 1655 – January 27, 1731) was an Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The available source materials on Cristofori's life include his birth and death records, two wills, the bills he submitted to his employers, and a single interview carried out by Scipione Maffei. From the latter, both Maffei's notes and the published journal article are preserved.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori was born in Padua in the Republic of Venice. Nothing is known of his early life. A tale is told that he served as an apprentice to the great violin maker Nicolò Amati, based on the appearance in a 1680 census record of a "Christofaro Bartolomei" living in Amati's house in Cremona. However, as Stewart Pollens points out, this person cannot be Bartolomeo Cristofori, since the census records an age of 13, whereas Cristofori according to his baptismal record would have been 25 at the time. Pollens also gives strong reasons to doubt the authenticity of the cello and double bass instruments sometimes attributed to Cristofori.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Probably the most important event in Cristofori's life is the first one of which we have any record: in 1688, at age 33, he was recruited to work for Prince Ferdinando de Medici. Ferdinando, a lover and patron of music, was the son and heir of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Tuscany was at the time still a small independent state.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: It is not known what led Ferdinando to recruit Cristofori. The Prince traveled to Venice in 1688 to attend the Carnival, so he may have met Cristofori passing through Padua on his way home. Ferdinando was looking for a new technician to take care of his many musical instruments, the previous incumbent having just died. However, it seems possible that the Prince wanted to hire Cristofori not just as his technician, but specifically as an innovator in musical instruments. It would be surprising if Cristofori at age 33 had not already shown the inventiveness for which he later became famous.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The evidence—all circumstantial—that Cristofori may have been hired as an inventor is as follows. According to Stewart Pollens, there were already several qualified individuals in Florence who could have filled the position; however, the Prince passed them over and paid Cristofori a higher salary than his predecessor. Moreover, Pollens notes, "curiously, [among the many bills Cristofori submitted to his employer] there are no records of bills submitted for Cristofori's pianofortes ... This could mean that Cristofori was expected to turn over the fruits of his experimentation to the court." Lastly, the Prince was evidently fascinated with machines (he collected over forty clocks, in addition to a great variety of elaborate musical instruments), and would thus be naturally interested in the elaborate mechanical action that was at the core of Cristofori's work on the piano.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: This suggests that the Prince may have felt that Cristofori would be a prize recruit and was trying to charm him into accepting his offer; consistent again with the view that the Prince was attempting to recruit him as an inventor.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In any event, Cristofori agreed to the appointment, for a salary of 12 scudi per month. He moved rather quickly to Florence (May 1688; his job interview having taken place in March or April), was issued a house, complete with utensils and equipment, by the Grand Duke's administration, and set to work. For the Prince, he tuned, maintained, and transported instruments; worked on his various inventions, and also did restoration work on valuable older harpsichords.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: At this time, the Grand Dukes of Tuscany employed a large staff of about 100 artisans, who worked in the Galleria dei Lavori of the Uffizi. Cristofori's initial work space was probably in this area, which did not please him. He later told Maffei:


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori did eventually obtain his own workshop, usually keeping one or two assistants working for him.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: During the remaining years of the 17th century, Cristofori invented two keyboard instruments before he began his work on the piano. These instruments are documented in an inventory, dated 1700, of the many instruments kept by Prince Ferdinando. Stewart Pollens conjectures that this inventory was prepared by a court musician named Giovanni Fuga, who may have referred to it as his own in a 1716 letter.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The spinettone, Italian for "big spinet", was a large, multi-choired spinet (a harpsichord in which the strings are slanted to save space), with disposition 1 x 8', 1 x 4'; most spinets have the simple disposition 1 x 8'. This invention may have been meant to fit into a crowded orchestra pit for theatrical performances, while having the louder sound of a multi-choired instrument.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The other invention (1690) was the highly original oval spinet, a kind of virginal with the longest strings in the middle of the case.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori also built instruments of existing types, documented in the same 1700 inventory: a clavicytherium (upright harpsichord), and two harpsichords of the standard Italian 2 x 8' disposition; one of them has an unusual case made of ebony.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: It was thought for some time that the earliest mention of the piano is from a diary of Francesco Mannucci, a Medici court musician, indicating that Cristofori was already working on the piano by 1698. However, the authenticity of this document is now doubted. The first unambiguous evidence for the piano comes from the 1700 inventory of the Medici mentioned in the preceding section. The entry in this inventory for Cristofori's piano begins as follows:


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The term "Arpicembalo", literally "harp-harpsichord", was not generally familiar in Cristofori's day. Edward Good infers that this is what Cristofori himself wanted his instrument to be called. Our own word for the piano, however, is the result of a gradual truncation over time of the words shown in boldface above.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The Medici inventory goes on to describe the instrument in considerable detail. The range of this (now lost) instrument was four octaves, C to c‴, a standard (if slightly small) compass for harpsichords.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Another document referring to the earliest piano is a marginal note made by one of the Medici court musicians, Federigo Meccoli, in a copy of the book "Le Istitutioni harmoniche" by Gioseffo Zarlino. Meccoli wrote:


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: According to Scipione Maffei's journal article, by 1711 Cristofori had built three pianos. The Medici had given one to Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome, and two had been sold in Florence.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori's patron, Prince Ferdinando, died at the age of 50 in 1713. There is evidence that Cristofori continued to work for the Medici court, still headed by the Prince's father Cosimo III. Specifically, a 1716 inventory of the musical instrument collection is signed "Bartolommeo Cristofori Custode", indicating that Cristofori had been given the title of custodian of the collection.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: During the early 18th century, the prosperity of the Medici princes declined, and like many of the other Medici-employed craftsmen, Cristofori took to selling his work to others. The king of Portugal bought at least one of his instruments.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In 1726, the only known portrait of Cristofori was painted (see above). It portrays the inventor standing proudly next to what is almost certainly a piano. In his left hand is a piece of paper, believed to contain a diagram of Cristofori's piano action. The portrait was destroyed in the Second World War, and only photographs of it remain.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori continued to make pianos until near the end of his life, continually making improvements in his invention. In his senior years, he was assisted by Giovanni Ferrini, who went on to have his own distinguished career, continuing his master's tradition. There is tentative evidence that there was another assistant, P. Domenico Dal Mela, who went on in 1739 to build the first upright piano.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In his declining years Cristofori prepared two wills. The first, dated January 24, 1729, bequeathed all his tools to Giovanni Ferrini. The second will, dated March 23 of the same year, changes the provisions substantially, bequeathing almost all his possessions to the "Dal Mela sisters ... in repayment for their continued assistance lent to him during his illnesses and indispositions, and also in the name of charity." This will left the small sum of five "scudi" to Ferrini. Pollens notes further evidence from the will that this reflected no falling out between Cristofori and Ferrini, but only Cristofori's moral obligation to his caretakers. The inventor died on January 27, 1731 at the age of 75.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The total number of pianos built by Cristofori is unknown. Only three survive today, all dating from the 1720s.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The three surviving instruments all bear essentially the same Latin inscription: ""BARTHOLOMAEVS DE CHRISTOPHORIS PATAVINUS INVENTOR FACIEBAT FLORENTIAE [date]"", where the date is rendered in Roman numerals. The meaning is ""Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, inventor, made [this] in Florence in [date].""


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The piano as built by Cristofori in the 1720s boasted almost all of the features of the modern instrument. It differed in being of very light construction, lacking a metal frame; this meant that it could not produce an especially loud tone. This continued to be the rule for pianos until around 1820, when iron bracing was first introduced. Here are design details of Cristofori's instruments:


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Piano actions are complex mechanical devices which impose very specific design requirements, virtually all of which were met by Cristofori's action.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: First, a piano action must be arranged so that a key press does not actually lift the hammer all the way to the string. If it did, the hammer would block on the string and damp its vibrations. The position of the sprung 'hopper' or 'jack' centred in the key of Cristofori's action (see "I" in diagram below) is so adjusted that the hopper escapes from the 'notch' in the middle of the intermediate lever (G) just before the hammer (C) strikes the string, so that the hammer is not driven all the way but travels the remaining distance under its own momentum and then falls into the check (M). When the key is allowed to return to its position of rest, the jack springs back under the notch and a repeated blow is possible. Although Cristofori's design incorporates no specific device for repetition, the lightness of the action gives more facility for repetition than the heavier actions of the English type that developed in the first half of the 19th century, until these were provided with additions of one kind or another to facilitate repetition.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Second, a piano action must greatly amplify the motion of the player's finger: in Cristofori's action, an "intermediate lever" (G) was used to translate every key motion into a hammer motion eight times greater in magnitude. Cristofori's multiple-lever design succeeded in providing the needed leverage in a small amount of space.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Third, after the hammer strikes the string, the action must avoid an unwanted second blow, which could easily result from the hammer bouncing up and down within the space confining it. In Cristofori's action, this was accomplished by two means. By lifting the intermediate lever with a jack that disengages in its highest position, the Cristofori action made it possible for the hammer to fall (after its initial blow) to a position considerably lower than the highest position to which the key had lifted it. By itself, this mechanism greatly reduces the chance of an unwanted second blow. Also, the Cristofori action included a "check" (also called "back check"; M) that catches the hammer and holds it in a partially raised position until the player releases the key; the check also helped to prevent unwanted second blows.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The complexity of Cristofori's action and hence the difficulty of building it may have formed a barrier to later builders, who appear to have tried to simplify it. However, Cristofori's design ultimately won out; the standard modern piano action is a still more complex and evolved version of Cristofori's original.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The hammer heads in Cristofori's mature pianos (A) are made of paper, curled into a circular coil and secured with glue, and surmounted by a strip of leather at the contact point with the string. According to harpsichord maker and scholar Denzil Wraight, such hammers have their origin in "15th-century paper organ pipe technology". The purpose of the leather is presumably to make the hammers softer, thus emphasizing the lower harmonics of string vibration by maintaining a broad area of contact at impact. The same goal of softness was achieved in later 18th-century pianos by covering the wooden hammers with soft leather, and in mid-19th-century and later instruments by covering a wooden core with a thick layer of compressed felt.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori's pianos use an internal frame member (bentside) to support the soundboard; in other words, the structural member attaching the right side of the soundboard is distinct from the external case that bears the tension of the strings. Cristofori also applied this system to harpsichords. The use of a separate support for the soundboard reflects Cristofori's belief that the soundboard should not be subjected to compression from string tension. This may improve the sound, and also avoids the peril of warping—as harpsichord makers Kerstin Schwarz and Tony Chinnery point out , , a severely warped soundboard threatens a structural catastrophe, namely contact between strings and soundboard. Cristofori's principle continues to be applied in modern pianos, where the now-enormous string tension (up to 20 tons) is borne by a separate iron frame (the "plate").


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Wraight has written that the three surviving Cristofori pianos appear to follow an orderly progression: each has heavier framing than its predecessor. Wraight suggests that this would have been intentional, in that the heavier framing permitted tenser, thicker strings. This in turn increased the volume with which treble notes could be played without pitch distortion, a limitation that Wraight observes when playing replica instruments. Thus, it appears that the move toward heavier framing, a trend that dominates the history of the piano, may already have begun in Cristofori's own building practice.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: On two of his surviving instruments, Cristofori employed an unusual arrangement of the tuning pins: they are inserted all the way through their supporting wrest plank. Thus, the tuning hammer is used on the top side of the wrest plank, but the strings are wrapped around the pins on the bottom side. This made it harder to replace broken strings, but it provided two compensating advantages. With the nut (front bridge) inverted as well, the blows of the hammers, coming from below, would seat the strings firmly into place, rather than threatening to displace them. The inverted wrestplank also placed the strings lower in the instrument, permitting smaller and lighter hammers, hence a lighter and more responsive touch.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: According to musical instrument scholar Grant O'Brien, the inverted wrestplank is "still to be found in pianos dating from a period 150 years after [Cristofori's] death." In modern pianos, the same basic principle is followed: the contact point for the vibrating length of the string that is close to the hammers is either an agraffe or the capo d'astro bar; these devices pull the string in the direction opposite to the hammer blow, just as in Cristofori's original arrangement.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori used cypress, the wood traditionally favored for soundboards in the Italian school of harpsichord making. Piano making after Cristofori's time ultimately settled consistently on spruce as the best material for soundboards; however, Denzil Wraight has noted some compensating advantages for cypress.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In Cristofori's pianos, there are two strings per note, throughout the compass. Modern pianos use three strings in the mid and upper range, two in the upper bass, and one in the lower bass, with greater variation in thickness than Cristofori used. The strings are equally spaced rather than being grouped with strings of identical pitch closer together.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In two of the attested pianos, there is a forerunner of the modern soft pedal: the player can manually slide the entire action four millimeters to one side, so that the hammers strike just one of the two strings ("una corda"). It is possible however that this device was intended as an aid to tuning. In his combined harpsichord-piano, with two 8-foot strings for each note, Ferrini allowed one set of harpsichord jacks to be disengaged but did not provide a una corda device for the hammer action.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The strings may have been thicker than harpsichord strings of the same period, although there are no original string gauge markings on any of the three surviving pianos to prove this. Thicker strings are thought to be better suited to the hammer blows. Comparing the two 1726 instruments, one a piano, the other a harpsichord, the lengths of the 8-foot strings are almost the same, certainly in the upper halves of the compasses of the two instruments.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: It is difficult to determine what metal the strings of Cristofori's pianos were made of, since strings are replaced as they break, and sometimes restorers even replace the entire set of strings. According to Stewart Pollens, "the earlier museum records document that all three [attested] Cristofori pianos were discovered with similar gauges of iron wire through much of the compass, and brass in the bass." The New York instrument was restrung entirely in brass in 1970; Pollens reports that with this modification the instrument cannot be tuned closer than a minor third below pitch without breaking strings. This may indicate that the original strings did indeed include iron ones; however, the breakage might also be blamed on the massive rebuilding of this instrument, which changed its tonal range.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: More recently, Denzil Wraight, Tony Chinnery, and Kerstin Schwarz, who have built replica Cristofori pianos, have taken the view that Cristofori favored brass strings, except occasionally in very demanding locations (such as the upper range of a 2' harpsichord stop). Chinnery suggests that "cypress soundboards and brass strings go together: sweetness of sound rather than volume or brilliance."


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: According to Wraight, it is not straightforward to determine what Cristofori's pianos sounded like, since the surviving instruments (see above) are either too decrepit to be played or have been extensively and irretrievably altered in later "restorations". However, in recent decades, many modern builders have made Cristofori replicas, and their collective experience, and particularly the recordings made on these instruments, has created an emerging view concerning the Cristofori piano sound. The sound of the Cristofori replicas is as close to the harpsichord as it is to the modern piano; this is to be expected given that their case construction and stringing are much closer to the harpsichord than to the piano. The note onsets are not as sharply defined as in a harpsichord, and the response of the instrument to the player's varying touch is clearly noticeable.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Knowledge of how Cristofori's invention was initially received comes in part from the article published in 1711 by Scipione Maffei, an influential literary figure, in the "Giornale de'letterati d'Italia" of Venice. Maffei said that "some professionals have not given this invention all the applause it merits," and goes on to say that its sound was felt to be too "soft" and "dull"—Cristofori was unable to make his instrument as loud as the competing harpsichord. Yet Maffei himself was an enthusiast for the piano, and the instrument did gradually catch on and increase in popularity, in part due to Maffei's efforts.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: One reason why the piano spread slowly at first was that it was quite expensive to make, and thus was purchased only by royalty and a few wealthy private individuals. The ultimate success of Cristofori's invention occurred only in the 1760s, when the invention of cheaper square pianos, along with generally greater prosperity, made it possible for many people to acquire one.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Subsequent technological developments in the piano were often mere "re-inventions" of Cristofori's work; in the early years, there were perhaps as many regressions as advances.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: The later instruments, dating from Cristofori's old age, probably include work by assistant Giovanni Ferrini, who went on after the inventor's death to build pianos of wider range using the same basic design.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: An apparent remnant harpsichord, lacking soundboard, keyboard, and action, is currently the property of the noted builder Tony Chinnery, who acquired it at an auction in New York. This instrument passed through the shop of the late 19th century builder/fraudster Leopoldo Franciolini, who reworked it with his characteristic form of decoration, but according to Chinnery "there are enough construction details to identify it definitely as the work of Cristofori".


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: There are also several fraudulent instruments attributed to Cristofori, notably a three-manual harpsichord once displayed in the Deutsches Museum in Munich; this was a rebuilding by Franciolini of a single-manual instrument made in 1658 by Girolamo Zenti.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori was evidently admired and respected in his own lifetime for his work on the piano. On his death, a theorbo player at the Medici court named Niccolò Susier wrote in his diary:


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: An anonymous 18th-century music dictionary, found in the library of the composer Padre G. B. Martini, says of him


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: After his death, however, Cristofori's reputation went into decline. As Stewart Pollens has documented, in late 18th century France it was believed that the piano had been invented not by Cristofori but by the German builder Gottfried Silbermann. Silbermann was in fact an important figure in the history of the piano, but his instruments relied almost entirely on Cristofori for the design of their hammer actions. Later scholarship (notably by Leo Puliti) only gradually corrected this error.


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: In the second half of the 20th century, Cristofori's instruments were studied with care, as part of the general increase in interest in early instruments that developed in this era (see authentic performance). The modern scholars who have studied Cristofori's work in detail tend to express their admiration in the strongest terms; thus the New Grove encyclopedia describes him as having possessed "tremendous ingenuity"; Stewart Pollens says "All of Cristofori's work is startling in its ingenuity"; and the early-instrument scholar Grant O'Brien has written


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: "The workmanship and inventiveness displayed by the instruments of Cristofori are of the highest order and his genius has probably never been surpassed by any other keyboard maker of the historical period ... I place Cristofori shoulder to shoulder with Antonio Stradivarius."


title: Bartolomeo Cristofori

text: Cristofori is also given credit for originality in inventing the piano. While it is true that there had been earlier, crude attempts to make piano-like instruments, it is not clear that these were even known to Cristofori. The piano is thus an unusual case in which an important invention can be ascribed unambiguously to a single individual, who brought it to an unusual degree of perfection all on his own.


title: Djerba

text: Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 at the 2004 census, which rose to 163,726 at the 2014 census. Citing the long and unique history of its Jewish minority in Djerba, Tunisia has sought UNESCO World Heritage status protections for the island.


title: Djerba

text: Legend has it that Djerba was the island of the lotus-eaters where Odysseus was stranded on his voyage through the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Djerba

text: The island was called "Meninx" () until the third century AD. Strabo writes that there was an altar of Odysseus.


title: Djerba

text: The island was controlled twice by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: in 1135–1158 and in 1284–1333. During the second of these periods it was organised as a feudal lordship, with the following Lords of Jerba:


title: Djerba

text: In the 14th century, the Borj El Kebir castle was built, on top of Roman ruins. The Tunisian government took possession of the castle in 1903, and later converted it into a museum.


title: Djerba

text: An archaeological field survey of Djerba carried out between 1995 and 2000 under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, the American Academy in Rome and the Tunisian Institut National du Patrimoine, revealed over 400 archaeological sites, including many Punic and Roman villas and an Amphitheatre.


title: Djerba

text: According to their oral history, the Jewish minority has dwelled on the island continuously for more than 2,500 years. The first physical evidence that historians know of comes from the 11th century found in Cairo Geniza.


title: Djerba

text: This community is unique in the Jewish diaspora for its unusually high percentage of Kohanim (Hebrew; the Jewish priestly caste), direct patrilineal descendants of Aaron the first high priest from Mosaic times. Local tradition holds that when Nebuchadnezzar II leveled Solomon's temple and laid waste to Judah and the city of Jerusalem in the year 586 BC, the Kohanim who settled in Djerba were among the refugees who were able to avoid slavery.


title: Djerba

text: A key point in this oral history has been backed up by genetic tests for Cohen modal haplotype showing that the vast majority of male Jews on Djerba claiming the family status of Cohen had a common ancient male ancestor which matches that of nearly all of both historically European and Middle Eastern Jewish males with a family history of patrilineal membership in the Jewish priestly caste. Thus, the island has been known by many Jews as the island of the Kohanim. According to the legend, during the destruction of the temple, the Kohanim, who were serving the temple at the time of destruction escaped from Jerusalem and found themselves on the island of Djerba. The legend claims the Kohanim carried the door and some stones from the Temple in Jerusalem which they then incorporated into the "marvelous synagogue", also known as Ghriba, which still stands in Djerba.


title: Djerba

text: The Jewish community differs from others in Djerba in their dress, personal names, and accents. The Jewish rabbinate of Djerba have established an eruv, which establishes the communal area in the city in which Jews can freely carry objects between their homes and community buildings on Shabbat. Some traditions that are distinctive of the Jewish Djerba community is the kiddush prayer said on the eve of Passover and a few prophetic passages on certain Shabbats of the year.


title: Djerba

text: One of the community's synagogues, the El Ghriba synagogue, has been in continuous use for over 2,000 years. The Jews were settled in two main communities: the Hara Kabira ("the big quarter";Arabic:"الحاره الكبيرة") and the Hara Saghira ("the small quarter";Arabic:" الحاره الصّغيرة"). The Hara Saghira identified itself with Israel, while the Hara Kabira identified with Spain and Morocco.


title: Djerba

text: The next influx of Jewish people to the Island of Djerba was during the Spanish Inquisition, when the Iberian Jewish population was expelled. The Jewish population hit its peak during the time that Tunisia was fighting for independence from France 1881–1956. In 1940, there were approximately 100,000 Jewish-Tunisians or 15% of the entire population of Tunisia.


title: Djerba

text: In the aftermath of World War II, the Jewish population on the island declined significantly due to emigration to Israel and France. , the Jewish permanent resident community on the island numbered about 1,000, but many return annually on pilgrimage. However, once the State of Israel was established, and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was building up many Jewish people were expelled from Tunisia. Although the Jewish community of Tunisia was on the decline, the Jewish community of Hara Kebira witnessed an increase of population due to its traditional character. The community on Djerba remains one of the last remaining fully intact Jewish communities in an Arab majority country after most were abandoned in the face of anti-Israel and antisemitic pressure and pogroms. The most traditionally observant Jewish community is growing because of large natural families despite emigration and a new Orthodox Jewish school for girls has recently been inaugurated on the Island to serve alongside the two boys yeshiva schools. According to "The Wall Street Journal" "Relations between Jews and Muslims are complex—proper and respectful, though not especially close. Jewish men work alongside Arab merchants in the souk, for example, and enjoy amicable ties with Muslim customers."


title: Djerba

text: The historical conflicts between Muslims and Jewish people have been largely absent in Djerba. This is reportedly attributed to the fact that all the people of the island were at some point Jewish and therefore share similar practices in their ways of life. Some of these Jewish practices that can be seen in Muslim households in Djerba are the lighting of candles on Friday night, and the suspending of matzot on the ceiling from one spring to the next. The Jewish and Muslim communities have coexisted peacefully in Djerba despite political unrest regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The people of Djerba say that the two communities simply pray in different places, but are still able to converse. A Jewish leader once stated "We live together, We visit our friends on their religious holidays. We work together. Muslims buy meat from our butchers. When we are forbidden to work or cook on the Shabbat, we buy bread and kosher food cooking by Muslims. Our children play together".


title: Djerba

text: On 11 April 2002, Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack close to the famous synagogue, killing 21 people (14 German tourists, 5 Tunisians, and 2 French nationals).


title: Djerba

text: Since the "Arab Spring", the Tunisian government has extended its protection and encouraged Jewish life on the island of Djerba. Citing the long and unique Jewish history on Djerba, Tunisia has sought UNESCO World Heritage status for the island. There are currently 14 synagogues, 2 yeshivot, and 3 kosher eateries.


title: Djerba

text: A Jewish school on the island was firebombed during the national protests held in 2018, while security forces in Djerba were reduced, being preoccupied with protection efforts elsewhere. This attack was among many other uprisings that were occurring throughout Tunisia at the time.


title: Djerba

text: The city Girba in the Roman province of Tripolitania (mostly in modern Libya), which gave its name to the island, was important enough to become a suffragan bishop of its capital's archbishopric. Known Bishops of antiquity include:


title: Djerba

text: The 1909 "Catholic Encyclopedia" lists only two: "At least two bishops of Girba are known, Monnulus and Vincent, who assisted at the Councils, of Carthage in 255 and 525".


title: Djerba

text: Djerba Bin El Ouedian is a wetland and habitat for migratory birds. It is located at 33 ° 40 'N, 10 ° 55 'E. On 7 November 2007 the wetland was included on the list of Ramsar sites under the Ramsar Convention, due to its importance as a bird refuge.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188 a decrease from 16,116 in 2010, reflecting a decline of 814 (−4.8%) from the 16,930 counted in the 2000 census, which had in turn increased by 131 (+0.8%) from the 16,799 counted in the 1990 census.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 2022, Asbury Park's beach was named one of the best in the world by "Money" and one of the best in the country by "Travel + Leisure".


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Asbury Park was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 26, 1874, from portions of Ocean Township. The borough was reincorporated on February 28, 1893. Asbury Park was incorporated as a city, its current type of government, as of March 25, 1897.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: A seaside community, Asbury Park is located on New Jersey's central coast. Developed in 1871 as a residential resort by New York brush manufacturer James A. Bradley, the city was named for Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. The founding of Ocean Grove in 1869, a Methodist camp meeting to the south, encouraged the development of Asbury Park and led to its being a "dry town."


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Bradley was active in the development of much of the city's infrastructure, and despite his preference for gas light, he allowed the Atlantic Coast Electric Company (precursor to today's Jersey Central Power & Light Co.) to offer electric service. Along the waterfront, Bradley installed the Asbury Park Boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms, and a pier at the south end of that boardwalk. Such success attracted other businessmen. In 1888, Ernest Schnitzler built the Palace Merry-Go-Round on the southwest corner of Lake Avenue and Kingsley Street, the cornerstone of what would become the Palace Amusements complex; other attractions followed. During these early decades in Asbury Park, a number of grand hotels were built, including the Plaza Hotel.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Uriah White, an Asbury Park pioneer, installed the first artesian well water system. As many as 600,000 people a year vacationed in Asbury Park during the summer season in the early years, riding the New York and Long Branch Railroad from New York City and Philadelphia to enjoy the mile-and-a-quarter stretch of oceanfront Asbury Park. By 1912, "The New York Times" estimated that the summer population could reach 200,000.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The "country by the sea" destination experienced several key periods of popularity. The first notable era was the 1890s, marked by a housing growth, examples of which can still be found today in a full range of Victorian architecture. Coinciding with the nationwide trend in retail shopping, Asbury Park's downtown flourished during this period and well into the 20th century.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The 1920s saw a dramatic change in the boardwalk with the construction of the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall complex, the Casino Arena and Carousel House, and two handsome red-brick pavilions. Beaux Arts architect Warren Whitney of New York was the designer. He had also been hired to design the imposing Berkeley-Carteret Hotel positioned diagonally across from the theater and hall. At the same time, Asbury Park launched a first-class education and athletic program with the construction of a state-of-the-art high school overlooking Deal Lake.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: On September 8, 1934, the wreck of the ocean liner SS "Morro Castle", which caught fire and burned, beached itself near the city just yards away from the Asbury Park Convention Hall; the city capitalized on the event, turning the wreck into a tourist attraction.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1935, the newly founded Securities and Exchange Commission called Asbury Park's Mayor Clarence F. Hetrick to testify about $6 million in "beach improvement bonds" that had gone into default. At the same time, the SEC also inquired about rental rates on the beach front and why the mayor reduced the lease of a bathhouse from $85,000 to $40,000, among many other discrepancies that could have offset debt. The interests of Asbury Park's bond investors led Senator Frank Durand (Monmouth County) to add a last-minute "Beach Commission" amendment to a municipal debt bill in the New Jersey legislature. When the bill became law, it ceded control of the Asbury Park beach to Governor Harold Hoffman and a governor's commission. The city of Asbury Park sued to restore control of the beach to the municipal council, but the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals (until 1947, the state's highest court) upheld the validity of the law in 1937. When Durand pressed New Jersey's legislature to extend the state's control of Asbury Park's beach in 1938, the lower house staged a walk out and the Senate soon adjourned, a disruption that also prevented a vote for funding New Jersey's participation in the 1939 New York World's Fair. In December 1938, the court returned control of the beach to the municipal council under the proviso that a bond repayment agreement was created; Asbury Park was the only beach in New Jersey affected by the Beach Commission law.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1943, the New York Yankees held their spring training in Asbury Park instead of Florida. This was because rail transport had to be conserved during the war, and Major League Baseball's Spring Training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: With the opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1947, Asbury Park saw the travel market change as fewer vacationers took trains to the seashore. While the Asbury Park exit on the Parkway opened in 1956 and provided a means for drivers to reach Asbury Park more easily, additional exits further south allowed drivers access to new alternative vacation destinations, particularly on Long Beach Island.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In the decades that followed the war, surrounding farm communities gave way to tracts of suburban houses, encouraging the city's middle-class blacks as well as whites to move into newer houses with spacious yards.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: With the above-mentioned change in the travel market, prompted by the opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1947 and the opening of Monmouth Mall away in Eatontown in 1960, Asbury Park's downtown became less of an attraction to shoppers. Office parks built outside the city resulted in the relocation of accountants, dentists, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. Moreover, the opening of Great Adventure (on July 1, 1974), a combination theme park and drive-through safari located on a lake in Jackson Township—and close to a New Jersey Turnpike exit—proved to be stiff competition for a mile-long stretch of aging boardwalk amusements.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Riots that broke out in the city on July 4, 1970, resulted in the destruction of aging buildings along Springwood Avenue, one of three main east–west corridors into Asbury Park and the central shopping and entertainment district for those living in the city's southwest quadrant. Many of those city blocks have yet to be redeveloped into the 21st century.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Although it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, Palace Amusements was closed in 1988 and was demolished in 2004 despite attempts to save it. The complex had featured the famous face of Tillie, a symbol of the Jersey Shore.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1990, the carousel at the Casino Pier was sold to Family Kingdom Amusement Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where it continues to operate.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: From 2002 onward, the rest of Asbury Park has been in the midst of a cultural, political, and economic revival, including a burgeoning industry of local and national artists. Its dilapidated downtown district is undergoing revitalization while most of the nearly empty blocks that overlook the beach and boardwalk are slated for massive reconstruction. In 2005, the Casino's walkway reopened, as did many of the boardwalk pavilions. In 2007, the eastern portion of the Casino building was demolished. There are plans to rebuild this portion to look much like the original; however, the interior will be dramatically different and may include a public market (as opposed to previously being an arena and skating rink). By 2020, the Casino building still remained unrestored and had no permanent use, although it had been used to host temporary art installations.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: There has also been more of a resurgence of the downtown as well as the boardwalk, with the grand reopening of the historic Steinbach department store building, as well as the rehabilitation of Convention Hall and the Fifth Avenue Pavilion (previously home to one of the last remaining Howard Johnson's restaurants). The historic Berkeley-Carteret Hotel, which is to be restored to four-star resort status, was acquired in 2007; the first residents moving into the newly constructed condominiums known as North Beach, the rehabilitation of Ocean Avenue, and the opening of national businesses on Asbury Avenue.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: After Hurricane Sandy, Asbury Park was one of the few communities on the Jersey Shore to reopen successfully for the 2013 summer season. Most of the boardwalk had not been badly damaged by the massive hurricane. On Memorial Day Weekend 2013, Governor Chris Christie and President Barack Obama participated in an official ceremony before a crowd of 4,000, marking the reopening of Asbury Park and other parts of the Jersey Shore. The "Stronger Than The Storm" motto was emphasized at this ceremony.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 1.61 square miles (4.17 km), including 1.43 square miles (3.70 km) of land and 0.18 square miles (0.47 km) of water (11.18%).


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include North Asbury and Whitesville (located along the city's border with Neptune Township).


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The city borders the Monmouth County communities of Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Neptune Township, and Ocean Township.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Deal Lake covers and is overseen by the Deal Lake Commission, which was established in 1974. Seven municipalities border the lake, accounting for of shoreline, also including Allenhurst, Deal, Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Neptune Township and Ocean Township.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $33,527 (with a margin of error of +/− $2,802) and the median family income was $27,907 (+/− $5,012). Males had a median income of $34,735 (+/− $3,323) versus $33,988 (+/− $4,355) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $20,368 (+/− $1,878). About 31.1% of families and 29.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 44.9% of those under age 18 and 26.0% of those age 65 or over.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: As of the 2000 U.S. census, there were 16,930 people, 6,754 households, and 3,586 families residing in the city. The population density was 14,290.0 per square mile (5,629.4/km) making it Monmouth County's most densely populated municipality. There were 7,744 housing units at an average density of 5,416.7 per square mile (2,090.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 15.77% White, 67.11% Black, 0.32% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 6.49% from other races, and 5.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.58% of the population.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: There were 6,754 households, out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 20.2% were married couples living together, 26.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.9% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.36.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 30.1% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.2 males.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The median income for a household in the city was $23,081, and the median income for a family was $26,370. Males had a median income of $27,081 versus $24,666 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,516. About 29.3% of families and 40.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.5% of those under age 18 and 37.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Portions of the city are part of a joint Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) with Long Branch, one of 32 zones covering 37 municipalities statewide. The city was selected in 1994 as one of a group of 10 zones added to participate in the program. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the UEZ, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half of the % rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. Established in September 1994, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in September 2025.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: At one time, there were many hotels along the beachfront. Many were demolished after years of sitting vacant, although the Sixth Avenue House Bed & Breakfast Hotel (formerly Berea Manor) was recently restored after being abandoned in the 1970s—it is no longer operational and was sold as a single family home. Hotels like the Berkeley and Oceanic Inn have operated concurrently for decades, while the Empress Hotel and the former Hotel Tides were restored and reopened. The Asbury Hotel, located on 5th Avenue, was the first hotel to be "built" in Asbury Park in 50+ years. It stands where the old Salvation Army building once stood, which has sat vacant for over a decade. The building itself was not torn down, but the entire inside was gutted and redone. Glass paneling was added to the front and all the original outside brickwork was kept. While located a block and a half from the beach, a great view of the ocean is still offered by the upper floors and rooftop.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Currently open hotels include the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel (formerly the Berkeley-Carteret Oceanfront Hotel), The Empress Hotel, the St. Laurent Social Club (formerly known as Hotel Tides), Asbury Park Inn, Oceanic Inn, Mikell's Big House Bed & Breakfast as well as The Asbury Hotel and The Asbury Ocean Club Hotel, both developed by iStar, the master developer for the Asbury Park Waterfront.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Asbury Park music scene gained prominence in the 1960s with bands such as the Jaywalkers and many others, who combined rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul and doo-wop to create what became known as the Sound of Asbury Park (S.O.A.P.). On December 9, 2006, founding members of S.O.A.P. reunited for the "Creators of S.O.A.P.: Live, Raw, and Unplugged" concert at The Stone Pony and to witness the dedication of a S.O.A.P. plaque on the boardwalk outside of Convention Hall. The original plaque included the names Johnny Shaw, Billy Ryan, Bruce Springsteen, Garry Tallent, Steve Van Zandt, Mickey Holiday, "Stormin'" Norman Seldin, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, Fast Eddie "Doc Holiday" Wohanka, Billy "Cherry Bomb" Lucia, Clarence Clemons, Nicky Addeo, Donnie Lowell, Jim "Jack Valentine" Cattanach, Ken "Popeye" Pentifallo, Jay Pilling, John "Cos" Consoli, Gary "A" Arntz, Larry "The Great" Gadsby, Steve "Mole" Wells, Ray Dahrouge, Johnny "A" Arntz, David Sancious, Margaret Potter, Tom Potter, Sonny Kenn, Tom Wuorio, Rick DeSarno, Southside Johnny Lyon, Leon Trent, Buzzy Lubinsky, Danny Federici, Bill Chinnock, Patsy Siciliano, and Sam Siciliano. An additional plaque was added on August 29, 2008, honoring John Luraschi, Carl "Tinker" West, George Theiss, Vinnie Roslin, Mike Totaro, Lenny Welch, Steve Lusardi, and Johnny Petillo.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Musicians and bands with strong ties to Asbury Park, many of whom frequently played clubs there on their way to fame, include Fury of Five, The Gaslight Anthem, Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band, Jon Bon Jovi and Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Patti Smith, Arthur Pryor, Count Basie, The Clash, U.S. Chaos, Johnny Thunders, The Ramones, The Exploited, Charged GBH, Marty Munsch, Gary U.S. Bonds, and others.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1973 Bruce Springsteen released his debut album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." On his follow-up album, "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle", one of the songs is entitled "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)". Several books chronicle the early years of Springsteen's career in Asbury Park. Daniel Wolff's "4 July Asbury Park" examines the social, political and cultural history of the city with a special emphasis on the part that music played in the city's development, culminating in Springsteen's music. "Beyond the Palace" by Gary Wien is a comprehensive look at the local music scene that Springsteen emerged from, and includes many photographs of musicians and clubs. Against the backdrop of the fading resort, Alex Austin's novel "The Red Album of Asbury Park" tracks a young rock musician pursuing his dream in the late 60s/early 70s, with Springsteen as a potent but as yet unknown rival.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: A black-and-white multi-camera recording of Blondie in 1979, just prior to the release of their fourth album, "Eat to the Beat", was taped at the Asbury Park Convention Hall on July 7, a home-state crowd for Jersey girl Debbie Harry, who was raised in Hawthorne.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The New Jersey Music Hall of Fame was founded in Asbury Park in 2005. There have been plans to build a music museum somewhere in the city as part of the redevelopment.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The West Side of Asbury Park has traditionally been home to Black music, including jazz, soul, gospel, doo wop, and R&B. African American artists such as the Jersey Shore's own Count Basie as well as Duke Ellington, Lenny Welch, the Broadways, Josephine Baker, Claude Hopkins, Bobby Thomas, Rex Stewart, Manzie Johnson, Sidney Bechet, Clarence Clemons and others "either played or were inspired by the [Black]-centered Springwood Avenue club circuit on the West Side of Asbury Park" in the early to mid-century period at places like the Smile-A-While and Gypsy George's.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: During a visit to the West Side in 1928, Fats Waller wrote "Honeysuckle Rose" with Andy Razaf at 119 Atkins Avenue in a home that still stands.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Billie Holiday, Tina Turner, Little Richard and the Four Tops all played at Cuba's on the West Side in the mid-century period. The former home of the Turf Club, once a well-known mid-century jazz and R&B joint across from what is now Springwood Park, was recently decorated with jazz-themed mural art by a team of local artists to mark its heritage. At the present-day site of Springwood Park in 1918, Black entrepreneur Reese DuPree turned Lafayette Hall (later the Roseland Hall auditorium) into a popular nightclub. The location was also used for civil rights activities; Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois both spoke at Roseland Hall.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Asbury Park Music Foundation, working with Lakehouse Music Academy and the Boys & Girls Club of Monmouth County, founded the Hip Hop Institute to teach music and life skills education relevant to young hip hop enthusiasts.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Asbury Park Museum hosts an exhibit on the history of music on the West Side, spanning the decades from 1880 to 1980.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Asbury Park African-American Music Project, or AP-AMP, created a virtual West Side museum dedicated to the history of Black music in the city.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Asbury Park is considered a destination for musicians, particularly a subgenre of rock and roll known as the Jersey Shore sound, which is infused with R&B. It is home to venues including:


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In a town that was once nearly abandoned, there are now a large number of restaurants, bars, coffee houses, two breweries, a coffee roastery, and live music venues situated in Asbury Park's boardwalk and downtown districts.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Noted muralists and other local artists have installed various murals along the Asbury Park boardwalk and the cityscape in recent years. The 2016 Wooden Walls Mural Project began in July of that year and reimagined the Sunset Pavilion building with around a dozen new murals.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: On October 5, 2013, the largest gathering of zombies was achieved by the 9,592 participants in New Jersey Zombie Walk at the Asbury Park Boardwalk, an event held in Asbury Park every October.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Asbury Park has been a "hub of gay life" for decades. Since the 1950s at least, Asbury Park has had a growing LGBT community. After property values plummeted locally in Asbury Park, gays from New York City purchased and restored Victorian homes, leading to a rejuvenation of parts of the city.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Garden State Equality, the LGBTQ+ rights organization, is headquartered on Main Street. In 2021, the LGBTQ+ community center QSpot relocated back to the west side of Asbury Park, having been established there in 2005. The center opened the QSpot Café, a queer-centered coffeehouse open on weekends only. Another notable establishment is Georgies (formerly the Fifth Avenue Tavern).


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Every summer the Jersey Gay Pride parade, the state's largest, draws hundreds of thousands of people to this LGBT destination. Project R.E.A.L. is a community organization for young LGBTQ+ socializing in Asbury Park.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The LGBTQ-centered St. Laurent Social Club on Seventh Avenue first opened as the woman-owned St. Laurent Hotel in 1885. It eventually became the iconic Jersey Shore LGBTQ mainstay Hotel Tides, and reopened again as the St. Laurent in 2022 following a sale.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1999, Madonna producer Shep Pettibone opened Paradise, a gay discotheque near the ocean. He has since also opened the Empress Hotel, one of the state's only gay-oriented hotels. Asbury has a long history of welcoming gay men. Other well-known now-defunct gay clubs include Down the Street, so named because it was located down the street from other popular gay clubs, Odyssey and M&K.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: One subset of the LGBTQ+ community is the lesbian community of Asbury Park, a city with a tradition of lesbian bars stretching back to the 1930s. In the late 1930s, 208 Bond Street was the location of a women's bar. In 1965, former nun Margaret "Maggie the Cat" Hogan opened the groundbreaking lesbian club Chez Elle (French for "her house"), also known as the Chez-L Lounge, and eventually joined a lawsuit that defeated efforts to discriminate against gay patrons at New Jersey nightclubs.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Bond Street Bar was a lesbian joint in the 1970s, and the third floor of the M&K nightclub, a gay disco on Cookman Avenue, was for lesbians. The 1980s lesbian resort, the Key West Hotel, was a large source of community for New Jersey women during that decade, as were lesbian venues like the Owl and the Pussycat, which relocated to the Key West. A Key West Hotel reunion in 2016 drew 400 people.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The Asbury Park Women's Convention is held annually, typically during March, with a focus on women-led workshops, musical performances, comedy sets, guest speakers, spoken word and other performing arts including poetry and artwork featured in a number of female-operated businesses in the Asbury area.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Every winter, when the surf grows colder and rougher than in the summer, the city is home to the Cold War, an annual cold water surfing battle.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In 1943, the New York Yankees held spring training in Asbury Park to comply with restrictions on rail travel during World War II.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Asbury Park is the nominal home to Asbury Park F.C., described as "Asbury Park's most storied sports franchise and New Jersey's second-best football club." The project is a parody of a modern pro soccer team born out of a joke between social media professional and soccer tastemaker Shawn Francis and his friend Ian Perkins, guitarist with The Gaslight Anthem. Despite never playing games the club has an extensive merchandise line available online, including new and retro replica jerseys.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The City of Asbury Park is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Council-Manager form of government. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide governed under this form. The city was previously governed under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law form of municipal government until voters approved the Council-Manager form in 2013. The government is comprised of a five-member City Council with a directly elected mayor and four council positions all elected at-large in non-partisan elections, to serve four-year terms of office on a staggered basis in elections held in even years as part of the November general election.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: The form of government was chosen based on the final report issued in August 2013 by a Charter Study Commission that had narrowed its options to the weak Mayor Council-Manager form or the strong Mayor Faulkner Act form, ultimately choosing to recommend the Council-Manager form as it would retain desired aspects of the 1923 Municipal Manager Law (non-partisan voting for an at-large council with a professional manager) while allowing a directly elected mayor, elections in November and grants voters the right to use initiative and referendum. The four winning council candidates in the November 2014 general election drew straws, with two being chosen to serve full four-year terms and two serving for two years. Thereafter, two council seats will be up for election every two years.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: , members of the Asbury Park City Council are Mayor John Moor (term of office ends December 31, 2022), Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn (2024), Eileen Chapman (2024), Barbara "Yvonne" Clayton (2024) and Jesse Kendle (2022).


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: In May 2016, the City Council appointed Eileen Chapman to fill the vacant council seat expiring in December 2016 that had been held by Joe Woerner until he resigned from office.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Myra Campbell, the last mayor under the old form of government, was the first African-American woman to be chosen as mayor when she took office in July 2013.


title: Asbury Park, New Jersey

text: Beyond providing emergency services, the Asbury Park Fire Department works to prevent future fires and accidents. Department responsibilities range from fire code enforcement, arson investigations, and fire prevention activities to fire and life safety education programs for children, families, and seniors.