Tag: Jersey Shore Guide

The unofficial end of summer is here, and I’m (Jason Nark) back to write one of the final Jersey Shore newsletters of the season. I’ve done a few of these end-of-summer newsletters over the years, and they get me feeling a little introspective. I’ve written about getting ditched by my teenage kids on the Wildwood boardwalk in the past, the ebb and flow of nostalgia I experience there, and the joy of getting to do it all over again with a toddler.

And that’s what I’m doing this year, too.

For almost 30 years now, most of my Shore time has been at my parents’ two-bedroom condominium on Hereford Inlet in North Wildwood. It’s been a real blessing, particularly with my four kids, and I’ve grown more grateful for it as time passes. I made a few trips to other shore towns, like Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, this summer that really cemented that for me: I couldn’t afford to spend even one night there.

I’ve always been concerned with the affordability of the Shore, how that goal of a weekend at the beach must be a real struggle for working families, and the hassle of finding a hot shower if you’re a day-tripper.

I visited North Wildwood irregularly myself this summer, a few days here and there with my daughter but never anything too long. Still, I found a nice rhythm, some real peace in walking my dog, Wanda, at night — bless my parents for letting me bring her — after my daughter went to bed. I’m talking two-hour walks, along the sea wall, on side roads, past the bars, etc. During many of those walks, I just studied houses, watching people watch the Phillies or hearing them laugh on a deck. Some were too brightly lit, others a bit cookie-cutter for my taste, but I found myself pausing at the interesting ones and the smaller homes with faded siding and old screen doors. I take photos of them, sometimes, from afar.

One of those houses, a 760-square-foot cottage that was built in 1950, was up for sale. It was bright yellow and charming. It was going for just over $2 million and, as I suspected, probably wouldn’t be there next summer.

“They’re not buying the house, they’re buying the location,” a local real estate agent said in a Facebook video about the home. “Most likely, this place gets torn down and replaced with a luxury shore home.”

The wrecking ball has been cruel to me in the Wildwoods, taking the Thunderbird Inn, the Golden Nugget ride on the boardwalk, and the postcard-perfect Château Bleu hotel. There are too many to name.

I’ll feel it a bit next summer when that cottage is gone. I’d love to be wrong.

As I get older, I’ve tried to loosen my grip on nostalgia, to not waste emotions worrying about the long-gone Lamp Post Diner, or bait shops that seem to be barely hanging on.

I’ve even accepted that my parents’ place may someday change hands. They are older now and deserve to reap the rewards of a wise investment, whether it’s retiring there or selling altogether. They get plenty of feelers from real estate agents.

Still, watching my daughter — she’s 5 — on the beach this summer, seeing her eat all the pepperoni off her slice of Sam’s Pizza, or work up the nerve to ride the log flume I’ve been on 100 times, I feel nostalgia’s strong grip again. I’m not sure I’d be able to afford all those memories without that cozy, little condo.

“I love it,” my father told me when I asked why he’s held out so many years. “Plain and simple, I love it.”

My parents’ place is in a whole unit of condos, and I couldn’t fathom it being torn down for something larger, but I’ve been wrong before, and stranger things have happened… in Avalon.

📮 What do you think about the tear-down trend at the Jersey Shore? Do you see it as progress? Does it hurt a bit, or can you look on the bright side and see the rising tide — property values — lifting your boat, too? Let me know what you think by replying to this email. Have ideas or news tips about the Shore? Send them to us here.

— Jason Nark (🐦 Tweet me at @jasonnark. 📧 email me here.)

Shore talk

🐟 What happened to all the weakfish?

🐺 Coyote concerns grow in Wildwood.

🐢 Here’s what the new Wetlands Institute building will look like.

🎰 One-third of Atlantic City’s 21,000 jobs could be lost to New York and North Jersey casinos, a report says.

🏋️ Is a Jersey Shore reboot filming in Seaside Heights?

📣 Two Shore locals, including Cape May’s Jackson O’Brien, were named to the Eagles cheerleading squad.

What to eat/What to do

🎪 Catch a show at the Hook before it closes for good on Sept. 6. Chuck Darrow considers what should replace it.

👑 Miss the Irish Pub? Check out the Green Goddess wings at King’s Pub in Atlantic City

🧑‍🍳 Visit the Ocean City bakery where Dominic Sessa learned to become Anthony Bourdain.

💡 Check out these ideas to make the Shore better.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

Tom Cramp was first with the correct answer to last week’s question. Ocean City officially outlawed BYOB in 1984.

How old was the first Miss America when she was crowned in Atlantic City on Sept. 7, 1921?

A. 19

B. 23

C. 16

D. 26

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out.

Ask Down the Shore: Where have all the manners gone?

We asked our text group The Shore Line about changing manners down the Shore after a reader observed that people were angling for the right of way even on mobility mats leading to the beach.

Here’s a sampling of the response:

• Just the other day, walking to the beach with little ones and a group of teens did not move over, even a little bit. I’m 70, and the kids are 4 & 2. They acted like I was the one who SHOULD move out of their way. No manners. I blame the parents.
• It’s not just beach etiquette — all manners have declined, and proper decorum isn’t valued like it used to be. I definitely agree that walkers rarely drop into a single file on those mats. Fortunately, I do still see people move aside for wheelchairs, as they should.
• Periodically, I experience the same obstruction behaviors. I hold my ground until they move; I’m in my seventies! Manners everywhere are deteriorating, not just at the shore, though many who vacation here seem entitled.

Your Shore memory

An end of summer memory from Jacqui Delario:

My sisters and I grew up in South Philly and summered with my aunt and uncle on Cresse Ave in Wildwood Crest. I live in Margate now; nothing was as magical as Wildwood in the 60s. Just before Labor Day, we always had a big crabs and macaroni dinner. My dad purchased the crabs somewhere offshore, with corn from a Goshen farm.

Aunt Betty declawed the crabs — she wore sturdy black shoes and wielded her kitchen tools like weapons. My mother and Aunt Sue were inside preparing the rest. Aunt Betty and Uncle Joe had a big picnic table. They removed the umbrella and added newspaper. Shortly before sunset, we started eating. First was the linguine. The crab gravy was so sweet you hated to stop at one serving. Then magically, the crabs appeared, later the corn. We stayed at the table for hours. My mom and my aunts somehow kept the food coming while never appearing to leave the table.

But it was also a bittersweet occasion — a highlight of the summer, which was ending.

Keep sending us your Shore memories! You never know when Down the Shore will pop up in your inbox. In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

It’s not all spike ball and boogie boards at the ocean’s edge. That singular spot can be a place of reflection, beauty, memories both welcome and painful, a grasping for meaning, a bracing crash of the waves of time.

One recent evening, I went to sit out after work, a perk of living here, but it started with an uncomfortable land breeze: hot, flies, stifling air, and existential doubt. Should I just go back inside and watch Jeopardy? But then, a lovely wind shift, spectacular in its suddenness. Things became lighter, cooler, calming. Everything seemed, well, solvable. There was that lesson again: perspective, insight, change, sometimes just a wind shift away. I stayed for that lovely pink dusk.

This week, I spoke with Shanda McManus, former resident of Ventnor, family physician and professor, and author of the riveting new memoir Brother Epistles, a collection of letters to her little brother, Monir Hall, who was shot to death in Philadelphia in 1992 at the age of 20. Now living in Monmouth County, not far from Sea Bright, McManus, 56, has written vividly of her girlhood in North Philadelphia, across from the old Connie Mack Stadium — it’s “a really Philly book,” as she says. She also writes of the adulthood she moved through without her brother, most of it at the Jersey Shore. How, and why, their trajectories diverged underscore McManus’ intimate storytelling.

“I do feel like young Black boys aren’t given the same opportunity to be children,” she said. “Even when I lived in Ventnor, two nephews came to visit, and the police chased them home, they assumed they would have stolen those bikes. What does that do to you if you’re always suspect?”

Shanda’s decades of proximity to the ocean, to the natural beauty and spaces that were mostly missing from her Philly childhood, she says, has helped her grieve.

“The access to the ocean and the beach, natural places in general — if you grow up in the inner city, North Philly, there’s not a lot of places,” she said. “Growing up, my grandmom and granddad, they used to drive down the Shore, but we would never go on the beach. We would go in the stores and get saltwater taffy. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I actually sat on the beach. To have the community here, with my children. It was restorative.”

As she writes in Brother Epistles, “Grief for me is not a series of five steps, but a spiral and a repeating loop. I walk alone outside of time. The past is the present is the future — it is infinite and eternal, like you and me.”

Like the ocean.

Keep scrolling for a slam book Q&A with Shanda, and a Shore memory. Plus, your thoughts on Ocean City remaining a dry town. Shanda’s forthcoming Philly appearances are here.

📮 What is it about the ocean that transcends the usual pandemonium for you? Has it helped you make sense of things in your life? To grieve? Find joy? Let us know, and we’ll feature some of your thoughts in an forthcoming newsletter.

👋 That’s it for me this season. Jason Nark, as usual, will wrap up Down the Shore next week. Thanks for playing along! Let us know what you liked and didn’t like! What would you want to see more of in this newsletter or in our Shore coverage? Send your thoughts to us here.

🥶 Nights are starting to cool off down here, bring on September (local’s summer).

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Follow me at @amysrosenberg, on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Shore talk

🌊 As seas rise, scientists race to save coastal marshes.

🛥️ Townsend’s Inlet is becoming difficult for boats to navigate, says CBS3’s Joe Holden.

💰 Strathmere approved beach tags.

🎶 Asbury Park got $75 million to restore Convention Hall.

🐢 The Wetlands Institute is temporarily retreating from its causeway headquarters to elevate marshland trails.

🏄🏾‍♂️ Surfboards but no Wifi for this Ocean City family cottage.

What to eat/What to do

🦀 Go crabbing like this Philly chef.

🌝 Look for Thursday’s near blood moon and near total eclipse.

🏖️ Australian electronic dance music trio Rüfüs Du Sol will perform Saturday on the beach in Atlantic City.

⏰ Be patient. Restaurants have lost employees who’ve gone back to school, and have had to reduce hours or hire new people.

🦪 The inaugural Cape May Oyster Festival is this weekend, with local oysters including those from the elusive Sweet Amalia’s.

🎣 The 72nd annual Surf Fishing Classic begins this weekend on LBI, a Shore sign of fall.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

Rich Coniglio was first with last week’s answer: Atlantic City has the country’s oldest operational beach patrol, established in 1855.

This week: Ocean City’s been dry since 1909, and drinking on the beach was officially banned in 1951. But it took a city council vote to totally eliminate BYOB.

What year did Ocean City do away with wine-with-dinner?

A. 1984

B. 1964

C. 1979

D. 1929

If you think you know the answer, email us back!

Ask Down the Shore: Should Ocean City remain dry?

We asked our Shore Line texters. Not many advocated bringing bars or liquor stores to Ocean City, but there was some sentiment for BYOB.

The best case for remaining dry: For years I wanted BYO’s but lately the old charm of this town seems to be drifting away. I have little doubt that the OC would lose its unique identity. It should remain a dry town.

The best case for BYOB: I think it would be nice if Ocean City was at least a BYOB. So many wonderful restaurants, but we just don’t go for that exact reason.

Let us know what you think by replying to this email.

📖 Shore slam book

Author Shanda McManus shared her faves. (She’s still got a soft spot for Ventnor after all these years in Monmouth County.)

Favorite beach: Ventnor. We live 10 minutes from Sea Bright, but we’ll drive down to go to the beach in Ventnor. The sand is softer. I love the community.

Favorite summer breakfast? Blueberries. Fresh.

Perfect beach day: Going to the beach with two books and finishing one and a half and sitting on my chair all day.

Perfect night: Walking on the boardwalk, stopping for ice cream, walking back with that nice wind.

Favorite Shore sandwich: I don’t usually buy lunch meats, but when I’m down at the beach, it’s Lebanon bologna, peppered turkey, Martin’s potato rolls.

Water ice order: Classic lemon water ice.

When the end of summer approaches I feel: Devastatingly sad. I can feel the winter coming.

Surfing or fishing? Reading.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise.

Shore pet peeve: People riding their bikes on the boardwalk during the hours they’re not supposed to.

The Shore could be improved if: It enlarged access. I would love if the beaches were free and open to all. Up here [Sea Bright], I live in the land of the beach clubs. It’ll cost you $5,000 for a locker.

Your Shore memory

In Brother Epistles, McManus writes: I lived a short walk from the ocean for five years. You know where? Ventnor, the town right next to Atlantic City. I could see the casinos from the beach. AC was the place to go and party. Dad never took us to the beach because he didn’t like sand, and that was even before he had his prosthetic foot. Grandmom took us to Atlantic City and Wildwood, but that was to ride the rides on the boardwalk and get saltwater taffy. It never occurred to me that we might sit on the beach like the white people we saw. Grandmom laughed at them for “trying to get Black.” I never thought of Atlantic City being a place of natural beauty either, where ocean waves crashed and foamed. But it is. From my house in the next town over, I could hear the steady, endless roll of waves crashing at night. The sound made me think of infinity or eternity or our souls. I would pack up however many kids I had at the time, and we’d spend days in the sand and water.

Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space.

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By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

How to fix the Shore?

As we alluded to last week, we at Down the Shore are moving from complaints and pet peeves to soliciting solutions, including from our text group, The Shore Line.

We received many ideas, mostly grouped around a few big problems: parking and cars, costs, public access, plus some thoughts on restaurants.

Several proposed off-island parking and shuttles to reduce the number of cars on barrier islands. One suggested congestion pricing for cars on the islands, or beach tags for cars (oof). Another idea: beach tags that could be used in any town, like a museum pass.

Keep scrolling for a roundup of more ways to fix the Shore, and please keep sending us your own ideas.

We’ll be consulting with experts and wracking our own brains for a future story (my ideas will involve dogs and bicycles). Email us here.

Meanwhile, a local paleontologist is debunking aspects of a widely reported story about a boy and his dad finding a prehistoric shark tooth dating back millions of years in the rocks near Townsend’s Inlet.

Kenneth Lacovara, founding executive director of Rowan University’s Edelman Fossil Park & Museum, said in an interview that, while not questioning that the father-son team found the Megalodon tooth as they said, there is no chance the tooth originated in Sea Isle.

“I don’t see how a Megalodon tooth could naturally occur on the coast of Sea Isle City.”

Deposits from the Megalodon’s Miocene epoch would be 500 to 600 feet under the sea along this part of the coast, Lacovara said, as the cakelike geographic layers get deeper and deeper as you head from, say, Philadelphia, down to Sea Isle.

Even with ocean dredging for beach replenishment, Megalodon shark teeth fossils from that depth would not surface.

“That fossil didn’t come from Sea Isle City,” Lacovara said.

Michael Bowers, 42, said he discovered the fossil while visiting Sea Isle City with Bo, 11, a dirt bike rider, who documented the find on his YouTube channel, Fastkid71. They sought out experts from the Cape May Whale Watch & Research Center and from the New Jersey State Museum, who validated the tooth’s authenticity.

“I’m not suggesting they are faking it,” Lacovara said. “That Megalodon tooth is not there naturally. It was maybe dropped by somebody, or lost by somebody. It’s more like finding a treasure than a paleontological discovery.

Mystery unlocked? Or deepened? I’m just the messenger!

📮 Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Thoughts about the Megalodon? More suggestions for improving the Shore experience? Send them to me here.

🌧️ A little rain in the forecast but not a washout.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Find me at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Shore talk

🐟 Police in Bay Head are warning about drone fishing.

🛟 Atlantic City’s Beach Patrol brings the South Jersey championship back to Absecon Island with a dramatic win in Avalon.

☕ The Landmark Cafe in Ocean City is getting a lot of attention on TikTok for its church ownership.

🎸 Gully’s and Avalon reached an agreement to give the popular bar an extra hour of outdoor music, until 9 p.m.

🚓 Cape May implemented curfews after incidents of juveniles drinking and fighting in public places.

🏖️ Wildwood is reducing the number of guarded beaches for the remaining season.

🤍 A Barnegat man whose two grandchildren were killed after the boat he was piloting struck a channel marker in Barnegat Bay was charged with operating a boat while intoxicated and two counts of death by vessel.

What to eat/What to do

💪 Downtown Wildwood is hosting Pilates on the plaza.

🌳 Atlantic City has a new midtown park.

💵 A.C.’s Black business expo returns Aug. 25.

🧀 Inky food insider Michael Klein is recommending the Oui Oui Wee Wee (basically a cheesesteak topped with French onion soup, Gruyère, and crouton dust) at Tony Boloney’s. We also love the Tuscan mozzarella and those flatbreads sold at Shore Farmers markets.

🎤 Diana Ross and Keith Urban are both performing Friday in Atlantic City, Ross at Ocean Casino and Urban at Hard Rock.

⛴️ Glass Onion will perform at sea on the Thursday Rock the Boat cruise at the Cape May Lewes Ferry.

🥎 Brigantine is holding its fourth annual Wiffle Ball Home Run Derby.

🔥 Long Beach Township continues its Firepit Friday concert series at the 68th Street beach with Karly C and the Rebel Y’all Band.

Shore snapshot

Your thoughts on: Shore fixes

Jenifer Baldwin says towns should focus on sustainability and public access:

Make townships responsible for providing public parking and public restrooms with outdoor showers and changing rooms. Start working toward zoning that requires new development to include affordable public accommodations (motels, campgrounds, public beach facilities). Get creative about linking our barrier islands with alternative modes of transportation. Go car free in designated areas.

Kara Cumiskey says the problem is “cars, cars, cars.”

I think that there should be a “beach tag” for cars. Or some type of “congestion pricing” for bringing your car onto the Island. I have a rental property that has 4 bedrooms. The tenants this week brought 7 cars.

One texter thinks Shore towns need to add a golf cart lane.

Maybe either a lane or certain streets to use golf carts. It is horrifying the way people pack kids in them and drive in traffic. Many do not drive safely either. Toddlers sitting on someone’s lap or just on a seat!

Several texters, like this one, urged everyone to just … be nicer.

It really comes down to respecting one another and that starts at home. I know I sound like an old head (I’m only 45) but it’s what is wrong with the world today.

🧠 Trivia time

Kevin Pellegrini was first with the answer to Avalon’s old white underaged drinker roundup bus, the Magic Bus.

This week’s question:

This beach town established its beach patrol in 1855, making it the oldest operational beach patrol in the country and the future home of an International Lifeguard Museum.

Which town is it?

A. Wildwood, N.J.

B. Rehoboth Beach, Del.

C. Atlantic City, N.J.

D. Huntington Beach, Ca.

If you think you know the answer, email us. First one gets a shout-out.

Your Shore memory

Not to shock everyone with a winter memory, but it’s almost Labor Day! This is from Lisa Guercio.

The best off season Shore memory was a weekend special at the Bolero Hotel in Wildwood. It was a snowy weekend with my first walk on the beach with snow over the sand. We also got to swim in the indoor pool on the roof while the snow was falling, which was a thrill. There were also ice chunks in the ocean that were a wonderful sight. The shore in off season is better than summer, as far as I’m concerned. Especially now that it so unaffordable during the summer season anyway.

Still time to send us your Shore memory! Tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

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By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

The algorithm has been working overtime down the Shore, with influencers riding those waves of attention.

There was Philly mom influencer Cait Vogel, whose video of herself walking to the beach in Sea Isle complaining about her $10,000 rental — where she still had to bring sheets, toilet paper, and her own coffee — went viral on TikTok and landed her in the New York Post (while still on vacation with her parents, she noted in a later post). She also lamented that despite her usually carefully curated posts, the one that went viral featured her in an oversized faux-bikini T-shirt.

“Basically, we’re paying $10,000 to camp,” she said to what grew to more than 600,000 views. The post sparked debate on Jersey Shore rental prices and comparison vacations. (See our annual take on that discussion here.)

Besides Vogel, this summer’s breakout influencers included Indy Atlantic City, who chronicles life on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, with regular updates on A.C. Batman. There’s Destiny Benway, whose amusing day in the life of a Jersey Shore lifeguard features an awkward, blurred-out interview with her beach patrol standmate, also her ex.

And working hard with videos of himself standing in a clear and sparkling ocean in Lavallette is Jersey Shore Marcus.

Consider me influenced; be right back after a dip in the ocean.

Meanwhile, there’s a luau update. Last week, we talked about the Deauville Inn canceling its annual luau because of a complaint by a neighbor. The Deauville, which dates to 1881 but has been under new ownership since 2019, characterized it as a “premature noise complaint.”

However, Upper Township’s administrator, James Van Zlike, tells me the township planning board limited the Inn in 2021 to six outdoor live musical events a year, and those are restricted to Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekends. So the luau, as advertised, would have potentially been in violation of that resolution.

Van Zlike says there was a complaint made to the township, but that the Inn canceled last week’s event on its own. Neighbors, meanwhile, are furious about the Deauville’s widely shared Facebook post, which they say unfairly puts the spotlight on them, not the Deauville. (The Deauville’s promise to give refunds and “Karen Krush” drinks to ticket holders also didn’t help.)

📮 With time running out on Summer 2026 (but not until Sept. 7, practically Halloween), we’re pivoting from complaints and looking for solutions. What are some of the ways you would fix the Shore? Be specific! Let me know by replying to this email and I’ll include your most interesting responses in a future newsletter and possibly an Inquirer story.

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

🌊 Forecasters like NorEaster Nick were side-eyeing Tropical Storm Cristobal way out in the central subtropical Atlantic.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Follow me @amysrosenberg, on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Join The Shore Line, our text message group, where you can message us and we’ll message you back.

Shore talk

🐟 A dearth of Atlantic menhaden may be behind a decline in osprey offspring and some osprey deaths.

🏖️ Strathmere residents told council they oppose the proposed $10 beach tags. “We are not an elitist community.”

🦋 Planting native species is gaining popularity. Terri Akman explains how Jersey Shore gardeners do it.

🚰 Cape May, Woodbine water systems were targeted in a cyber attack.

🎡 Ocean City community groups have filed suit challenging the designation of the old Wonderland Pier as an area in need of rehabilitation.

🏀 New York Knicks star and Philly native Mikal Bridges is fighting with Avalon’s floodplain manager over whether he can store gym equipment in his Shore house garage.

💸 Bart Blatstein’s Showboat Hotel is under threat of foreclosure after a lender sued to recoup $13.4 million in debt.

📈 The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey received a $100,000 donation from the Mack family to hire an executive director and move into a larger space in the Tanger Outlets in Atlantic City.

What to eat/What to do

🍔 Michael Solomonov of Zahav and Federal Donuts fame got maybe a bit carried away by his cheeseburger and called the Margate Burger Bar “the best restaurant in America.” (The veggie burger is great, too.)

🍦 Richman’s Ice Cream is throwing a block party Saturday in Brigantine. Mojoz Gummicone, the first cone designed for water ice, will be there.

🛟 The South Jersey Lifeguard Championships are Friday in Avalon, featuring the debut of the newly renamed Murray Wolf Singles Row in memory of the legendary Beach Patrol chief.

🎸 Phish is returning to Atlantic City this fall.

🎹 Atlantic City’s events this weekend feature a lot of musical nostalgia, including the Marshall Tucker Band at Borgata; Howard Jones, Wang Chung, the English Beat, and Modern English, also at Borgata; Widespread Panic at Hard Rock; and the Stray Cats at Ovation Hall. Melvin Seals, who played organ in the Jerry Garcia Band, will be at Tropicana.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

I stumped everyone last week with the shower question. The current price for a shower at Daytrippers in North Wildwood is $7 for an adult, $3 for kids (up from $5 a few years ago).

This week’s question: Avalon used to round up underaged drinkers in a white school bus until a judge ordered them not to. Was the bus nicknamed:

A. The Magic Bus

B. The Teen Tram

C. The Sober Van

D. The Call Your Parents Express

If you think you know the answer, email me here. If you ever rode on this vehicle, also email me. First one gets a shout-out in next week’s newsletter.

Ask Down the Shore

A reader asked what effect all the teardowns of smaller cottages were having on the Shore. We asked our Shore Line texters. Here’s a sampling of the replies, lightly edited.

• The classic old shore homes are disappearing. It is sad. Most of the new homes look alike. We should try to protect the old charm. It can’t be replicated.
• The shore is already overbuilt and has been for years. Adding ginormous sized houses only depletes the natural resources that make the shore unique. When my family drove to the shore when I was a kid in the ’60s you could smell the sea air before you could see anything that looked like the shore on the Expressway. I remember that smell fondly (mostly) and miss it greatly. I can’t pinpoint when it stopped. It gradually decreased in the ’90s and now it no longer exists.
• It is unrealistic to expect people not to tear down older homes. Yes there will be more traffic but maybe that will be self limiting.

Your Shore memory

Cathy Phillips sent us this memory awhile back. It’s just lovely, and sorry it took so long to publish it, Cathy!

I now live near Oak Island beach in N.C. but I was practically born on the beach in North Wildwood 77 years ago. Family lore has it that I picked up a sand crab and tried to stuff it in my mouth at about nine months old. My mom struggled with seven kids living in Kensington but got us to the shore as much as she could. I have a cherished photo of her with her Mom when she was about 10 years old, circa 1920, taken around 17th Street. Her mom is in an old fashioned bathing costume. We rented old rooming houses all over when I was a kid. We’re heading to the shore now in advance of a family wedding. Love reading the stories of others both old memories and new.

Thank you Cathy! Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

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By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Last week’s newsletter highlighting the band Three and One getting the hook midway through their outdoor 6 to 10 p.m. set at Gully’s in Avalon prompted a lot of soul-searching.

Even though Avalon liquor licenses have limited outdoor music past 8 p.m. for years (not far behind is Sea Isle, where outdoor bars end music at 9 p.m.), many people felt that it illustrated something essential, and frustrating, about Avalon and the Shore’s changing identity.

Meanwhile, in Strathmere this week, the Deauville Inn said it was canceling its annual luau because a neighbor had complained before the event.

“Apparently tropical vibes are louder than we thought,” the historic inn wrote on Facebook, citing a “premature noise complaint” from a neighbor who is “not a fan of live music, fun or people enjoying themselves.”

The luau, sponsored by Kona Big Wave, was due to begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; tickets for dinner and the show were listed as $117.23 plus tax. A Kona Big Wave Luau at Congress Hall on Aug. 20 in Cape May (no tickets required) looks like a go. (Deauville events director Judy Brenna Felicetta declined further comment).

What is the future of the freewheeling bar and music scene that has defined summers down the Shore, in Asbury Park legendarily, of course, but also in Avalon and elsewhere? Have things become too tightly controlled by the demands of wealthy homeowners who have scooped up real estate and turned the islands into noise-canceled enclaves?

Marc Ziss runs the Facebook page Bands in Avalon (and beyond). Last summer, he took me on a tour of the old Avalon, lamenting the fading of the live music scene.

He wrote:

Saw your piece on Gully’s and was reminded of our walk a while back where we saw the changes in Avalon. This year, like a breath of fresh air, a new venue tries to rekindle the soul of old Avalon, but new Avalon slaps it down and says that’s enough out of you!

Mike Hudome wrote:

What’s really going on here is people are searching for the Avalon of the ’70’s and ’80’s that no longer exists. They’ll never find it, and it is impossible to replicate.

Ira Dosovitz wrote:

I’ve been coming to Avalon for 40 years, and have seen the place transition from a somewhat casual, family-oriented beach town to a more corporate vibe destination. Having said that, I still feel that Avalon is right to place strictures on the music at Gully’s. Avalon is still a family town, and that should be respected.

📮 What is the future of music down the Shore? Has there been a culture shift? Where do you go to hear music? (I’m a fan of the free music series on the A.C. Boardwalk at Kennedy Plaza, where jazz returns this week.) Related, is $117.23 per person too much for a dinner and luau performance? Let me know what you think by replying to this email and I’ll include your most interesting responses.

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Pet peeves for us to opine on? Send them to me here.

🌞 Forecasters said it would rain all week but except for Monday, it’s been lovely. So just come down already.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Find me at @amysrosenberg, or on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

Shore talk

🎳 Avalon’s biggest home has been greenlit by borough and state officials: a whopping 17,694-square-foot house and carriage house to be built on Avalon’s high dunes at 5475 Dune Drive. In an intra-island twist, the builder is Eustace Mita, the developer who has proposed a luxury hotel on the site of Ocean City’s old Wonderland Pier.

Mita says the house is not for his personal use. He’s looking for a buyer who will appreciate amenities like a bowling alley, recording studio, golf simulator, and cold plunge. LeBron? Taylor? More on that house here.

☀️ The Soleil, a six-story hotel-condominium project at 11th and the boardwalk in Ocean City could break ground this fall, Bill Barlow reports.

🚀 Corson’s Inlet State Park was closed for about four hours this week after a rocket-assisted supply line launcher was found on the beach, state officials said.

🦀 Animal rights activists want Ocean City to use robot crabs instead of hermit crabs for its iconic Miss Crustacian Beauty Pageant and hermit crab races.

🎠 Relics from Wonderland Pier are still available for purchase at Obnoxious Antiques.

What to eat/What to do

🎶 Atlantic City’s beloved summer Chicken Bone Beach free jazz on the Boardwalk series returns to Kennedy Plaza this week with Warren Wolf and Wolfpack and local artist Keith Hollis beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday. Full schedule here.

🍸 Consider ordering a $1.1 million cocktail. It comes with a speedboat.

🍅 Check out Hira Qureshi’s guide and map of the Jersey Shore’s best farmers markets.

🍧 Here’s Hira’s report from Atlantic City’s water ice festival.

😋 In other water ice news, Ventnor’s North Beach Creamery is now offering a chocolate black cherry flavor. That’s chocolate with black cherries in one flavor.

😭 Visit the Wonderland Pier museum in the Promenade food court on the Ocean City Boardwalk through Aug. 9.

Shore snapshot

Vocab lesson: sea gorse

Not to be confused with seahorse, gorse (n) is a perennial, spiny shrub with green branches and shiny yellow flowers known to grow along coastlines, sometimes in an invasive fashion.

See the Shore memory below for its use in an ode to Avalon.

Ask Down the Shore: Ball playing

We asked our text group, The Shore Line, about etiquette around playing ball on the beach. Two texters said they’d been hit in the face with Frisbees, and one lost a tooth! My personal pet peeve is those who throw a football in the ocean over the heads of bathers, but I’m sure it’s fun.

Here’s a sample, lightly edited for clarity: Send your thoughts to us here.

• Hello from Wildwood Crest! Our borough lifeguards maintain a very publicized posted rule about playing ball at the beach: only on the “Back Beach.”
• I recently was sitting in a chair near the water’s edge and I got hit several times with either soccer balls or other throwable items. Most times the player apologized. It’s the beach, so you have to keep your head up and be on the defense at all times!
• Many years ago a bunch of guys were playing Frisbee. The Frisbee hit me in the face along with the guy diving for it. I lost a tooth from the force of the hit and also needed root canal. They should be far from the crowds.
• The beachgoer needs to relax. They are kids and we all did it as kids. It’s a public place and to expect kids not to be playing is ridiculous.

🧠 Trivia time

Reader Jacqui was first with the correct answer to last week’s water ice trivia question (Mento’s of course, which famously ended the free taste era with a sign: “Chocolate tastes like chocolate; lemon tastes like lemon.”

This week:

Bathhouses are vanishing at the Jersey Shore. Daytrippers, in North Wildwood, profiled by my colleague Jason Nark, charged just $5 for a shower in 2021.

Is the price for a shower in 2026:

A. $20 for adults, $5 for children under 42 inches.

B. $7 for adults, $3 for kids.

C. No change: $5.

D. $10 for everyone.

First correct answer gets a shout out.

Your Shore memory: A poem

Laurance Angelo submitted an ode, To Avalon.

It is only a walk to the bridge/though now the carpet swirl of Spring-whipped sand/bites like a raid of mosquitoes.

Once

sun burned with the taste of salt,/the hours soft as baby waves/cool as dawn tide.

Now

gulls stall in air/to hang like fixtures overhead/sea gorse crumbles and hisses.

the jettys like brown broken teeth/and broken too the half-shells/made a bracelet for the shore.

So cold/I will go back.

Send us your Shore memory! In poetry or prose, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space.

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By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

“More boring by a mile?” That was the assessment of one Facebook user after Avalon shut down a live music gig at Gully’s by the band Three and One, shortly after 8 p.m. on July 17.

Someone complained about the noise, and Avalon police arrived on Dune Drive outside Gully’s, the lively new bar and restaurant that serves a Craig LaBan-approved “clothesline of candied bacon that dangles over a tasty plate of grits.”

There was a flurry of outrage on Facebook and at a recent council meeting, along with despair over the state of the upscale town’s vibe, echoing last year’s angst over the Union League’s purchase of the Whitebrier.

Neighbors on 27th Street, meanwhile, tried to explain they weren’t against Gully’s — or even live music — but that the noise from the outdoor patio, either from live bands or amplified games like the Monday minnow races, were a “disruptive intrusion,” up and down the block.

It turns out that all of Avalon’s liquor licenses contain a special condition that permits outdoor music between noon and 8 p.m. Gully’s is now appealing that restriction through the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, arguing that it’s arbitrary and capricious, and an abuse of Avalon’s discretion. The town has indicated it wants to be reasonable and figure out a solution. One council member spoke of his love for Gully’s and said, “We do appreciate your business and what you’ve done there.”

I wrote about the Gully’s vs. Avalon controversy here.

Have a listen to Three and One here, or check them out again this Friday at Gully’s, with a new daytime slot: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

📮 Do you think it’s reasonable for Avalon to limit outdoor music at bars to between noon and 8 p.m.? Or should businesses be given more leeway to thrive during the summer? How much say should people who live near commercial establishments have, especially during the summer? Let me know what you think by replying to this email, and I’ll include your most interesting responses in a future newsletter.

Have ideas or news tips, memories or pet peeves about the Shore? Send them to me here.

🫨 It’s been another crazy week of storms, but the weekend looks decent.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Follow me @amysrosenberg, on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Sign up for our text group, The Shore Line.

Shore talk

🔥 A fire and flooding at Ocean Casino shut down gambling operations for a day.

💃🏼 Shakira closed out her World Cup Tour in Atlantic City.

👑 LeBron James merch is already available down the Shore.

🏄🏻‍♀️ Dept. of History: How surfing came to the Jersey Shore.

⚾ We miss Splash, the mascot. A look back at Surf Stadium.

🚨 Wildwood Crest lifeguard’s vehicle hits beachgoer.

🇮🇪 Derry Girls creator’s next project will be about a group of Irish girls who come to Wildwood.

What to eat/What to do

🎨 The 25th annual Art of Surfing is Saturday on the Ocean City boardwalk.

🎭 Pretty Woman: The Musical is at Surflight Theatre on Long Beach Island.

🎡 The St. Francis Festival of the Sea is on Brant Beach.

📖 Reed’s Farm is hosting a book group Saturday morning. The book is The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston.

👩🏻‍🍳 Why cook? Hire Instagram-famous private chef Keegan McManus. Or order delicious meal prep from Ventnor’s Chef G.

🎥 Check out The Odyssey on the A.C. Boardwalk at Tropicana’s IMAX Theatre.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

Lots of love for the Bongo Room, which was the Avalon bar that closed 39 years ago this summer and featured the Greaseband on Sunday nights. Betsy Strittmatter was first with the answer.

This week:

This legendary Ventnor ice cream and water ice shop’s recipes — particularly its black cherry water ice — continue on in another location, the North Beach Creamery.

Are the recipes originally from:

A. Custard’s Last Stand

B. Springer’s

C. Willow’s Way

D. Mento’s

If you think you know the answer, email us here. First one gets a shout-out.

More of your thoughts on: Sea Isle and the changing Shore

In response to my story about changes and upscaling in Sea Isle City, Down the Shore reader Nancy Bucher came to the Shore town’s defense.

As a retiree I find it magical to live here year round. Sea Isle truly is a City for All Seasons! Yes, people sold their quaint cottages and they are now replaced by 6 bedroom homes. But is that so bad? Large extended families get to enjoy a taste of beach life for a week or two, families get to bond, cousins get to play together and we all happily co-exist. Yes, some people have beautiful multimillion dollar homes …. but is that so bad? Our restaurants and shops stay prosperous and our town is thriving. Sure, we need more parking, but if people are honest, it is mainly in the busy summer season. We need more trees? Look around people, there are new young trees planted every year and right now the Crepe myrtles are blooming beautifully. Personally I applaud the growth and embrace the change and credit our community leaders for keeping our shoreline pristine and our beaches replenished!

Reader Joseph Higgins brings us back down to earth.

All of the shore towns are out pricing blue collar workers. My parents bought a trailer for $30,000 in 2000 outside of Wildwood Crest in Shawcrest. The land rental fees have climbed from $3,000 to $7,900 per year. The trailer next door is currently listed for $275,000 with land rental fees of $11,400. The working man’s shore vacation spot is quickly disappearing.

Ask Down the Shore:

We put the dress code question to our Shore Line text group (still time to join us here). There was a deluge of responses!

Here’s a quick sample:

“Down the shore everything’s alright.” Sure it’s OK to wear beach attire (not sandy though, and do brush ur hair 😉)”

“I don’t care how much money you have. Make an effort, for the sake of the restaurant staff and other guests, to put on clean shorts and a polo for men and a cute cover up/sundress for women. If you can’t do that, then there’s always takeout.”

“Some people, when they come to the beach, lose or abandon their sense of propriety. Decent, casual attire respects the restaurant and other diners.”

Your Shore memory

My sampling of Ocean City pizza triggered this memory from Susan Carlbaugh.

As a Roxborough girl who lives in Baltimore now, reading your tribute to pizza on Ocean City’s boardwalk hit every nostalgia button possible! In my teen years, our friend ran the rides in Wonderland and that saved our cash for the rest of the night including the slice of pizza. Life was good!

We knew it as “Mack” & Manco’s and it was always a stop on our night on the boardwalk. After waiting for my Grandma to get out of the Music Pier’s nightly performance, and before we left the ‘boards, it included a nightcap of fresh-squeezed orange juice from Litterer’s!

Alex’s was our Roxborough home pizza shop. I can smell all of them right now. You are bringing tears to my eyes!

Thanks Susan! You never know what will trigger a touching memory. There’s still time to send us your Shore memory, pizza or otherwise! Tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space.

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Are we even still talking about pizza down the Shore? Just on the Ocean City boardwalk alone, there are so many other intriguing options: lobster rolls, Greek nachos, pierogis, birria tacos, smash burgers, Korean corn dogs, japchae, acai bowls.

But, like the rhythm of the tides that everyone should be checking before deciding where to put their chairs (see more on that below), the Shore conversation invariably turns to pizza.

Even on Peacock’s megahit Love Island USA, where Cape May’s Sincere Rhea barely survived a villain edit this summer, he and Philly not-quite girlfriend Melanie Moreno were planning a pizza date for when they’re down the Shore. “Pizza is such a staple on the boardwalk,” muses Melanie in the Sunday finale. “Walking around with a big slice of pizza on the boardwalk,” agrees Sincere. So here we are. Genuinely, as the Islanders say over and over again.

In Ocean City, where people can, genuinely, be found walking down the boardwalk with whole pies under their arms, I have tried to settled the big debate: Manco’s, Preps, or, new this year, Alex’s? Or is there a wild card?

The big three feature the ringed sauce that is Ocean City’s signature. I liked my slice this week at Preps better than at a previous outing, so if you like a thicker cheese-forward slice, yet three solid rings of sauce, Preps is for you. I’m no Manco’s hater, and I am typically happy at the Ninth Street counter with a slice and a diet soda, but this time, at 12th Street, I was underwhelmed. Maybe it was just too hot out. Maybe it was that the hose-applied ring of sauce left too much of the slice near the crust sauce-free. Meanwhile, Alex’s, hailing from Roxborough, is a similar style, but crispier. The sauce on my slice was a bit well done. Maybe it had sat in the oven too long? It didn’t sing. I agree with others, including Craig LaBan in this summer’s Shore food review, that Alex’s standout is its smash burger.

So which is best? My answer: Roma’s!

The best slice I tried came from this shop in that famous 600 block of the boardwalk, shared with the former home of Wonderland Pier. That was a New York-style slice straight out of my childhood. Tangy, saucy, fresh cheese, just a hint of oil, charred yet foldable. Nicely done, Roma! If a big hotel will keep business humming at Roma, I say reason enough.

📮 What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten down the Shore? What do you wish there was more of (fresh seafood shacks)? And, OK, what’s your go-to pizza? Let me know what you think by replying to this email and I’ll include your most interesting responses in a future newsletter. And check out LaBan’s full Shore dining report here.

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

🌞 It’s heating up again, with a dreaded west wind and some weekend showers in the forecast. (Not to mention some air quality concerns from Canadian wildfires). But you never know.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg, on instagram @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

Shore talk

🏀 Jalen Brunson, the de facto mayor of Margate, was photographed outside the Other Lucy Grille near the Elephant with his arm in a sling. This caused an uproar in New York media and beyond.

🧹 Brunson, meanwhile, was plugging local business Shore Schleppers.

🏠 This couple wanted to recreate their Shore memories. So they rebuilt a house in Strathmere.

🛥️ John Kruk and Randy Quaid were named the grand marshals for this year’s Night in Venice boat parade.

🏚️ Neighbors demand action on a Wildwood abandoned house.

💃🏻 Thousands danced on Atlantic City’s beach during the 10th anniversary of the BRT Festival, this year featuring Lauryn Hill.

What to eat/What to do

🍅 Eat like LaBan: More suggestions from our restaurant critic Craig LaBan, from LBI to Cape May.

🏈 Vacation like Kelce: Sea Isle and Strathmere make the perfect Philly road trip, says writer Adam Erace.

🎭 Eye-gore: Go see the musical version of Young Frankenstein at the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven.

🎹 One of us: Joan Osborne is coming to Cape May as part of the city’s summer music series.

🖌️ Check out artist Johnny Dreamawake’s new painted electric boxes in A.C.’s Orange Loop neighborhood.

👩🏽‍🎨 Visit the new MudGirls Studios on Arctic Avenue in Atlantic City. MudGirls is a nonprofit whose mission is “empowering disadvantaged women through the making of functional ceramic art and architectural tiles.”

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

Which two beach towns had boardwalks that were destroyed in the Great Hurricane of 1944 and never rebuilt?

A. Margate and Ventnor

B. Beach Haven and Stone Harbor

C. Ocean City and Margate

D. Wildwood and Wildwood Crest

If you think you know the answer, email us here. First one gets a shout out.

👙 Ask Down the Shore

Tony Santini asks: I have been doing the Shore my entire life. I still pack an outfit for every day and an outfit for every night. Am I weird? Do other people do this or do they just throw stuff in a suitcase and wear the same things over and over because they are “on vacation down the shore?”

So this topic came up when I wrote about the Shore’s ultimate beach bum, Bruno Battaglia, who logged countless hours on Ventnor’s Newport Avenue beach and mentioned to me that he does, in fact, notice (and judge) when people wear the same bathing suit day after day.

But let’s face it, the Shore, not to mention the entire state of New Jersey, is nothing if not casual (just look at those lines to get into happy hour at classy places like Dock’s and the Knife and Fork). So I appreciate Tony’s effort to keep things elevated. But I think the majority is falling into the “throw stuff in a suitcase” camp. Plus, they need room for the sheets the rentals don’t provide down the Shore.

What do you think? How casual is casual? Should we be planning outfits for every day and night? Can Tony recycle a few shirts? Let me and Tony know what you think!

Your thoughts on: Tide chair etiquette

Does an early setup mean nobody can sit in front of you when the tide goes out? What about when the tide is coming in, do you have to go to the back of the line or just scrunch closer and closer? Is it just a free-for-all on a narrow beach? We asked our Shore Line text group (join here!).

We sit back, and like to have a line of vision to our kids but it never fails that people are gonna sit in front of you but I feel like that’s just the nature of the beast.

Ok to sit in front of others as long as you are willing to move behind others as the tide rolls in.

We try to get the sweet spot of finding the closest possible high tide placement that way we never have to move and those that grabbed the low tide real estate either head out with the incoming tide or relocate behind us.

Tide clock is a must.

I always try to put my chair where I won’t blocking anyone’s view of the ocean. I would hope others would do the same for me.

Send us your thoughts here.

Your Shore memory

Donald Haskin shared this Atlantic City memory:

My favorite memories come from working as a teenager for my grandfather, Lou Segal, at his North Carolina Ave. parking lot, just down the street from the Chalfont Haddon Hall: Lou, stout and ruddy-cheeked, deploying his incredible people skills on customers, friends and fellow merchants; Uncle Sid’s artistic talents displayed in his incomparable pencil-drawings on the interior walls of the shanty; Ray Martain, the perpetual prognosticator who regaled everyone with his mispronounced “trassic” [traffic] predictions; pre-dawn SOS breakfasts at Frank Burns’ Flying Dutchman on South Carolina Ave. and lunch runs to Kornblau’s on Pacific Ave. for their juicy corned-beef sandwiches. But the topper was the fleet of gleaming white Oldsmobile convertibles racing back and forth across the city during “Pageant Week.” Their annual arrival meant that Grandpop could raise the price for parking from $2.50 to $5.00!

Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Here we are, Fourth of July in the rearview mirror. Hang on, make those beach plans because it’ll be Labor Day before you know it.

It was a long holiday weekend that had towns and beaches bursting at the seams (also my house, with guests). But the heat that descended on Philly — and the towns just over the bridge from the Shore — never made it to the beach.

Nights cooled off for fireworks, and the daytime breezes stayed blissfully cool off the ocean. Sorry if you missed it, but the Shore was mostly just lovely.

Which I guess made those ridiculous lines you all waited in — for coffee, for doughnuts, for subs, for ice cream — a bit more bearable?

What is it about being on vacation that makes it tolerable to wait an hour for coffee in Ventnor, for doughnuts in Margate, for ice cream in Stone Harbor?

We asked our ever-ready group of Shore Line texters (sign up here) about these wild waits, and while some swore they’d never partake, or only go on off-hours, or find a way to circumvent, others made the case that those lines have actually become a sentimental, even enjoyable, part of their Shore journey. Here’s a sampling:

I’ll wait in a longer line down the shore. It’s tradition and fun to meet people in line.

It is akin to vacation time. No schedule; fun time. You just want go enjoy and socialize. Standing in line is a part of that experience and considered acceptable for that reason.

Only for Springer’s Ice Cream or The Lobster House. Hanging out on the wharf waiting for The Lobster House is as much fun as eating at The Lobster House!

Welcome to summers at the shore. The one thing you can count on is lines at the ice cream establishments. I often kid that, at a certain time on the weekends, an imaginary bell goes off and people rush out to get ice cream. No way around it.

Standing in line for ice cream is a social event as well as eating the ice cream. Also, the ice cream is usually special.

There’s just certain things we have to have for tradition’s sake and willing to wait 1-2 times a year.

OK, if you all say so! Glad you’re enjoying the lines, and so no need for me to share my avoid-the-line secrets!

📮 What are some essential Shore traditions you have to do no matter how long the wait? What memories or moments stick with you over the years of coming down the Shore? Keep scrolling for one of my essential Shore memories below, recreated this weekend for a new generation. Plus, send me yours here for a chance to be featured in this newsletter!

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

⛅ After a couple of rainy days, some beautiful weather appears to be on the way.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Follow me at @amysrosenberg, 📷 on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Shore talk

🧓 Atlantic County has joined Cape May County in having more people over 65 than under 18, new census figures show.

🔉Somers Point Council tabled a proposed ordinance that would have allowed outdoor music past 11 p.m.

🏄 The coolest people went surfing under the fireworks.

📱 His dream Shore house popped up on his phone while eating at a Wildwood tavern.

🏀 Knicks coach Rick Brunson brought the Larry O’Brien championship trophy around to some Margate hot spots, including Tideline and Betty’s.

🎡 Eustace Mita tells the Cape May County Herald’s Bill Barlow he will be flexible with his hotel plans for Ocean City’s Wonderland Pier site.

What to eat/What to do

🐷 North Wildwood is hosting the annual New Jersey State Barbecue Championship & Angelsea Blues Festival.

😌 Longport’s new Beach Terrace park with a zen garden is open.

🎙️ The Stylistics will perform in Cape May on Sunday.

🍴 Craig LaBan has food recs from LBI to Margate. He seemed especially fond of the deep-fried green tomato tots at Ellis’ Chicken & Crab Cakes in Beach Haven and the spicy Oaxacan chorizo meatballs from the newly reopened Iron Room in A.C.

🧘🏽‍♀️Try free yoga in Atlantic City’s O’Donnell Park.

🎹 Angeloni’s Club Madrid is hosting Sunday piano bar karaoke with Joe McGinty, former keyboardist for the Psychedelic Furs and Atlantic City native.

🛟 South Jersey lifeguard races have begun! Here’s a schedule.

🤫 Travel and Leisure thinks Stone Harbor is a secret and has some recs.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

In 2001, this city’s fireworks over the ocean led to a real show: The barge caught fire and burned out of control for hours, forcing the rescue of seven workers and a cascade of exploding shells.

Was this city:

A. Ocean City

B. Atlantic City

C. Avalon

D. Seaside Heights

If you think you know the answer, click on my pal Brendan Shur’s story from the wee hours of July 5 that year to find out (I went home to put my daughter to bed, what can I say).

Your thoughts on: Wonderland Pier

Ocean City’s City Council finally made it official: The old Wonderland Pier site was designated as being in need of rehabilitation. Let the negotiations over the hotel begin!

Here are your thoughts:

Bruce Sauerwine: It’s time to move on and build a hotel at the site. Mita proposed a nice looking hotel but some people want to live in the past and pretend that an amusement arcade was still a viable option at this time.

Kerri McGinley Kistler: There is absolutely no need or justification for Mita’s hotel plan. … “Hey kids, let’s go see the hotel”- said nobody ever!

Jeremy Maziarz: It is time for the Wonderland Pier to be re-developed. An amusement park use for this property is no longer a viable option. A mixed-use plan including a luxury hotel may actually be the best use for the site. If the height restrictions are an issue, then start the negotiation process with the developer. If he wants zoning relief, then he should offer up significant concessions to Ocean City to make it a win-win scenario.

Debbie Federico: We love Playland’s Castaway Cove, but it is now too small to accommodate all of the young children, strollers and families that use it. It would be very beneficial to reopen Wonderland.

Your Shore memory

This week’s Shore memory is my own.

For years, I had a toddler bike seat on an old green bike we’d bought for the boardwalk, and loved riding with one of my daughters on the back. I kept that bike seat on for much longer than they used it, sometimes sticking groceries into it. The rides were so special, so much fun, our way to wave to people we knew, pass the years, that I couldn’t bear to remove it, but finally took it off and stashed it in the basement.

I kept riding that bike though, a Specialized hybrid which was already used in 1995, and extremely used now, decades of sea air rust swirling through it. But let me tell you, that bike has good bones (better not to try to switch gears).

This past week, we dusted off the old bike seat, replaced the brake cables on the beloved bike, figured out how to replace the missing straps on the seat, and clipped it right there onto the back of the same green bike. And who wriggled happily into it under his new green toddler helmet, ready to do the obligatory “touch the end” at both the Margate and Atlantic City sides of the Boardwalk but my 2-year-old grandson.

Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell me how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

It may finally be decision time in Ocean City for the site of the former Wonderland Pier at 600 Boardwalk. It’s been nearly two years since the beloved amusement park owned by Mayor Jay Gillian shut down.

Eustace Mita, the developer who proposed a luxury hotel with a seashore theme anchored by Gillian’s old carousel and Ferris wheel and maybe a kiddie ride or two, told me he’s in the dark about what will happen. The Icona developer has turned his attention to other things lately, he says, like building a Soul Sanctuary Catholic retreat on the grounds of a once-notorious abbey in County Cavan, Ireland.

Closer to home, Ocean City’s City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday evening on whether to designate the Wonderland site is in need of rehabilitation, a designation Mita has been seeking that would then allow a negotiation with Council over zoning and other matters (the Boardwalk is not zoned for a hotel).

The council hired a planner to come up with a report, which pretty much said what an earlier report said: that there is justification for such a designation “to prevent further underutilization and deterioration of the Property and to encourage redevelopment of the Property.”

The city’s planning board in January deadlocked on a recommendation and punted the topic back to Council.

There are a lot of strong feelings about this in town, though the Save Wonderland movement seems to have resigned itself to the idea that an amusement park is probably no longer in the site’s future.

Council is expecting a big crowd and has moved the 6 p.m. meeting to the City’s Music Pier. Stay tuned.

📮 Is it time for Ocean City to move ahead with the hotel plan at 600 Boardwalk? Is it time for another idea? Let me know what you think by replying to this email.

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

🌤️ It’s quite lovely out there. Hope it lasts. The recent spate of land breeze days that left the beach a bit suffocating and ocean water temps plunging was not that great.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Find me at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Insta at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

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Shore talk

🚲 New Jersey says it is now taking appointments for people to get their e-bikes registered, as a new law requires (though not of Pennsylvanians). Read more about the confusing law here.

🚨 An Atlantic City police officer who was shot in the femoral artery, then saved during surgery at the city’s emergency room, was released from the hospital as hundreds gathered.

👰‍♀️ Taylor Swift may have other ideas than Sea Isle City for Jason and Kylie Kelce over July 4 weekend.

🐢 Diamondback terrapins are trying to find suitable nesting spots and are crossing busy Shore roads, especially causeways and blocks near the bay. Please watch out for them!

🤍 A plane took off from Ocean City’s airport and crashed on its way back to Maryland, killing its three occupants.

👑 Egg Harbor Township wrestling alum and Preps Pizza employee Kylie Wright was crowned Miss New Jersey.

🏀 Margate’s favorite basketball superstar, Jalen Brunson, celebrated Father’s Day with brunch at Steve & Cookie’s. His wife, Ali Marks Brunson, is teaching (sold-out) workout classes in Ocean City.

What to eat/What to do

🎡 Go to a pretend Shore Boardwalk at Six Flags.

🏁 Watch Atlantic City’s offshore powerboat high-speed Grand Prix.

📖 Read Brother Epistles, by Shore resident Shanda McManus, a memoir of her brother’s Christmas Eve 1992 shooting death in Philly. McManus talks here about holding joy and grief on the same page.

🫐 Savor South Jersey’s amazing blueberries here.

✈️ Fly direct from Atlantic City to Vero Beach on newly announced flights from Breeze Airways.

🍗 Check out the new New Jersey Black Heritage Trail marker commemorating Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, and the city’s new Black Cultural Heritage Tour.

🏖️ Spend a perfect weekend on 7 Mile Island.

🇺🇸 Indulge in a Mino’s Bakery strawberry shortcake (red, white) and the iconic blueberry pie (blue) at Ventnor’s 7311 and get ready for fireworks.

Shore snapshot

🧠 Trivia time

The pizza magnate whose family owns half of Ocean Casino is now buying the entire pie, and will be sole owner of one of Atlantic City’s most successful casinos.

Which pizza company is it?

A. Lorenzo’s

B. Domino’s

C. Tony’s Baltimore Grill

D. Little Caesars

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out.

Ask Down the Shore: Avoiding traffic

A reader wrote: “Friday used to be the heavy traffic day from Philadelphia to the shore on the Expressway. Now the congestion seems to start as early as noon on Thursday and continues straight through Friday night.”

We turned to our Shore Line group chat (join us here!) and asked: Which is the best window to drive to the Shore?

Here are some replies:

• I go down, believe best time is at 5:30-6 am or after 7 on Friday, still light out at both times, don’t like to drive when dark.
• Here’s my solution to avoiding heavy traffic to and from the shore. Go down on Wednesday before MDW and come back on Wednesday after LDW (it helps to be retired!).
• I work in Center City so I leave after work on Friday’s typically. Hit the road around 5:30, use Ben Franklin. Then on the way to the AC, 42 is a parking lot! Anymore, I’m thinking early morning Thursday or Friday before 8 a.m.? Just a guess.
• No window is better than another — I gave up and moved to the shore.

Have another Shore dilemma? Or an opinion on traffic? Let us know what you think by replying to this email.

Your Shore memory

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about changes in Sea Isle City for an upcoming story, and Diana Dougherty shared these reminiscences of the old days:

My husband was an altar boy at St. Joe’s. When we got married, we started renting for a couple weeks every year with in-laws, wonderful times, low key restaurants, crowds not as bad, felt safe, no issue with teenagers. Now it’s all changed in maybe last 20-25 years. We finally build our own house in 1985. It looks like a tiny house to what is now. Miss my beloved place, but will never sell and just redid inside.

Send us your Shore memory in 200 words! Tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

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