ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Tillie's grin is getting a bit wider these days.
The 50-year-old mural of a clown's face with a Cheshire-cat smile, which once beckoned thousands to the now-crumbling Palace Amusements arcade, may soon have a new home.
The Palace, immortalized in Bruce Springsteen's 1975 anthem ``Born to Run,'' has been shut for a decade and is slated for demolition because its roof collapsed over the summer.
The city, too, is no longer the summer haven that drew people from across New Jersey, many of whom poured into the Palace to ride the Ferris wheel or take a turn on the merry-go-round.
City officials and members of the Save Tillie Committee said yesterday that they had agreed on a series of steps to preserve at least the clown, an icon of the Jersey Shore.
``When you see Tillie, you know you are in Asbury Park and nowhere else in the world,'' Deborah Robinson, a Baltimore lawyer and member of the Save Tillie Committee, said yesterday. ``Asbury Park has all these wonderful buildings that are falling apart. Maybe saving Tillie could be a catalyst.''
Engineers, volunteering their time, have drawn up plans to excavate the 20-by-25-foot section of wall with Tillie on it. Preliminary measures call for the concrete section, estimated to weigh two tons, to be framed in steel and then lifted from its foundation by a crane.
The mural would be housed temporarily at the Paramount Theater-Convention Hall at the northern end of the Asbury Park boardwalk.
It might then end up in one of two places: the historic Casino, which was an arcade and dance hall, or a bus and rail station operated by New Jersey Transit on Main Street.
Like several landmarks in the area, the Casino has been closed for years because of disrepair. But the city, which owns the building, is considering renovating the Casino and placing Tillie inside it, according to the Save Tillie Committee and City Manager Wilbert Russell.
If city officials determine that the Casino cannot be renovated, then Tillie would be placed in the James J. Howard Transportation Center.
``This guarantees that we have a permanent home for Tillie,'' said Bob Crane of Silver Spring, Md., head of the Save Tillie Committee, a collection of Springsteen fans from across the country.
The Palace has seen better days. Its aqua paint is peeling, and its concrete is cracked. In the summer, city officials deemed it structurally unsound when its 50-year-old roof gave way.
When word got out that the Palace would be demolished, Springsteen fans banded together to save the mural and, if possible, the beloved building itself.
The Palace may still have a chance. The area along the waterfront has been designated a redevelopment area by the city. Asbury Park officials are working to select a developer who they hope will revitalize the area. Whether the Palace would figure into any redevelopment plan is not yet clear, Russell said.
Tillie ``represents the linkage to Asbury Park and the entertainment and tourism industries that used to be here,'' said Werner Baumgartner, a city resident for 20 years and president of the Asbury Park Historical Society. ``Tillie evokes fond memories from everyone who used to come to this area during the summer. We need to get back to that if we're ever going to move forward.''
