24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Leonardo, NJ

Leonardo is an unincorporated community and census-designated place on the north shore of Middletown Township in Monmouth County, along the Raritan Bayshore in the Jersey Shore region.

Leonardo is named for Henry and James Leonard, who are remembered as the first ironmasters of New Jersey.

The 2020 census counted 2,549 residents in Leonardo living in 1,000 households, within a compact area of just 0.60 square miles.

During World War II, the large dock complex of Naval Weapons Station Earle was built in the Leonardo area to supply ammunition to American forces.

Leonardo is the site of the only casualties of the U.S. Nike missile program: on May 22, 1958, an Ajax missile exploded at the Nike base here, killing six soldiers and four civilians; after the base (designated NY-53) shut down in 1974, the site was redeveloped into single-family homes.

Leonardo is best known to film fans as the home of the Quick Stop convenience store and RST Video at 58 Leonard Avenue, where Kevin Smith worked and filmed his 1994 debut Clerks; the stores also appear in Chasing Amy, Clerks II and other Smith films.

The fictional characters Jay and Silent Bob, Dante Hicks and Randal Graves from Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse are rooted in Leonardo, and the animated series character Leonardo Leonardo was named after the community itself.

Leonardo is home to Bayshore Middle School and Leonardo Elementary School, both part of the Middletown Township Public School District.

New Jersey Route 36 forms Leonardo's southern border, with Atlantic Highlands to the east and the community of Belford to the west.

Notable figures associated with Leonardo include sculptor Donald De Lue and Bill Kunkel, who was both a Major League Baseball pitcher and an umpire.