By Gary Wien
originally published: 07/31/2025
Paul Bomba came of age in Asbury Park during the No Lifeguard on Duty era and brings personal insights to a story set in an historic time and place. In the book, three unlikely teenage friends struggle with family conflicts and their racial, cultural and class identities while Asbury Park erupted with racial unrest in July 1970. The idea came to him as a teenager, and it traveled with him when he graduated from Asbury High (class of 1974), and through careers in academia and business.
You can meet the author and learn about his fifty-year journey with his award-winning debut novel at a few upcoming book signings.
* August 9, 2025 from 11:00am-1:00pm at Thunder Road Books, 1108 3rd Avenue in Spring Lake
* September 10 @ 6:30pm at the Long Branch Free Public Library, 328 Broadway, Long Branch
* September 11 @ 7:00pm at West Park Recreation Center, 615 West Park Avenue, Oakhurst, sponsored by the Township of Ocean Historical Museum
You can learn all about the book in our feature article published in May 2024. Now that the book has been out for a year and he's had several book signings, New Jersey Stage reached out to Bomba to see how the book tour has been going.
You've been part of several events since the book release, what has been the general response to No Lifeguard on Duty?
The best part of publishing the book has been the response from readers at readings, signings, and through my website, paulbombabooks.com.
Readers enjoy the nostalgia of old shore towns, especially Asbury Park - its old-school Beach Life and Carnival Life on the boardwalk in the 1960s-70s. They are eager to learn about Asbury's history and walk the streets of the town among its old landmarks, some of which are gone or shadows of themselves. And they love the characters, because they seem like people they know, and they get emotionally involved with them.
Have you had any conversations with readers who were around in the times of the riots and remember those days well?
Because I have a personal connection to the town, a lot of people at my signings and readings are eager to exchange stories about that time and place. This is especially true for the dozen or so readings I've done at private book clubs, libraries and social clubs where the theme is "the story behind the story" which describes how the idea for the book came to me the same night that the riots started. I've spoken from Keansburg to Bayhead, in living rooms and ballrooms, and received a wonderful response.
Have your books sold best in New Jersey or are the sales from all over?
The book has sold best at the Jersey Shore where smart, indie bookstores recognize its regional appeal. In one store it is far and away the best-selling local author book, having sold more than two-hundred copies. At another, the book sold nearly as many copies in its first year as the national book of the year.
The challenge is getting brick and mortar distribution outside the Shore Area, in the northern counties, home to many frequent Shore visitors who have followed the Asbury story for the last fifty years.
I am certain this book, if placed in the "New Jersey" section of any bookstore in New Jersey, will sell more than the books currently in that section.
The book also appeals to anyone with beach town memories from Santa Monica, CA to Ocean City, NJ. And I've received positive feedback from readers in Canada. Michigan and Australia. It's just a good story with twists and turns and it pulls at your emotions.
It's not a Springsteen book, but it appeals to his fans because the themes of his music are between the lines: youthful angst and rebellion, the joys and disappointments of love, the importance of friends and family, and the dignity of ordinary people making their way in the world.
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of
Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and
Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station
The Penguin Rocks. His personal website is at
lightyscorner.com. He can be contacted at
[email protected].
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