BRIGANTINE, N.J. — With its full moon and stacked high tides over multiple days, last week’s nor’easter left Shore towns with some of the worst flooding and erosion since Hurricane Sandy.
In dramatic fashion, the nor’easter produced some feared Shore scenarios: dunes sliced into cliffs, beaches vertically eroded, popular restaurants flooded to the point of closing altogether for the season, water lapping into ground floors, cars ruined. Days later, firefighters were responding to raging electrical fires, at least one of which was linked to a flood-soaked golf cart.
Still, the nor’easter was also a testament of what went right, a test of flood resilience tactics implemented in the 14 years since Sandy — a series of flood pumps in Brigantine, an elevated artery in Ocean City, raised homes throughout the Shore — that prevented a much worse outcome.
During the September 2026 nor’easter, metal floodgates were brought in to the city’s Municipal Boat Ramp by the city of Brigantine to physically block flood waters.John CunnionBrigantine’s municipal boat ramp was previously an entry way to devastating flooding. But city officials installed flood pumps and metal gates to keep the water off the island, and to drain the island between high tides.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
‘Our girl took a beating’
In parts of Holgate, Brigantine, Atlantic City, and North Wildwood, the storm left cliffs six feet or higher, cutting off access to the beach at multiple street ends. Vertical erosion uncovered old structures including rotting old wooden piers.
Streets in Long Beach Township, West Wildwood, and Atlantic City took on water through multiple days of high tide, damaging residential garages and other ground floor spaces.
Abby Mason, of Pottstown, looks at storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
On Sigsbee Avenue, contractor Vincent Allen of B. Grigoletto Contractors was ripping out ruined insulation and dry wall on two houses, both second homes.
He noted that since Sandy, a lot of the smaller homes had been torn down and replaced by elevated homes, where the ground floors are not, technically, living spaces. “Basically, if you lived on the bay, you got water,” he said. “This wasn’t as high as Sandy, nowhere near it.”
Owner Mike Franzoni at what’s left of his BLVD Pizza in Beach Haven, which was flood damaged days before a fire broke out.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
On Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, numerous businesses were mopping up or closing early for the season after flood damage.
“We are truly sick to our stomachs, and it hurts,” Moments at Scannicchios, a restaurant on Fairmount Avenue in Atlantic City, said in a Facebook post. “In the end we will reopen.” The restaurant asked people to help out a nearby corner bodega, El Rinconcito Grocery, it said lacked similar resources.
On Long Beach Island, the ruined insides of the Dockside Diner were strewn across the front of the restaurant. “Our team, our family, is safe,” the owners wrote on Facebook. “But our old girl Dockside took a beating.”
Nearby, Mike Franzoni looked at the charred remains of BLVD Pizza’s Beach Haven location, which suffered flood damage and had a fire a few days later. Another location, in Surf City, was undamaged.
Storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
On Long Beach Island, the beloved “karaoke garage,” belonging to the family of Diane O’Donnell, 80, of Yardley, Pa., took on two feet of water, half of Sandy levels.
Last week, an Indigo Girls song was playing out of the space where Kelly Kolbjornsen and her family would recruit people to stop and sing karaoke on their way down Long Beach Boulevard.
“It’s part of having a beach house, but it’s a little overwhelming,” Kolbjornsen said.
‘A good gauge’
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew brought representatives from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to focus on severe damage to ramps from Brigantine’s concrete promenade in the north end and the near breaching of a private retaining wall that was the only line of defense after surging waves destroyed dunes at the promenade’s edge.
But Mayor Vince Sera also pointed out that neighborhoods devastated during Sandy remained mostly damage-free.
“We put floodgates in before the storm came into Brigantine,” he said. “They closed all of the floodgates and prevented a lot of water from coming in. On each low tide, they let the water out to drain, and closed them again for the next high tide.
“Any water that comes into the streets, we have pumps around the island,” he said. “It pushes the water out over the bulkhead and back into the bay. It drains the island.”
Residents near those points of vulnerability took note.
“Without the pumps, it would have been horrible,” said Terri Cunnion, whose home sits on Bayshore Avenue across from the boat ramp, a major thoroughfare of flooding during Sandy (when the previous home on her lot was destroyed). “Without those gates, this block wouldn’t be.”
Through multiple high tides, last weekend’s floodwaters never got past the lip of the garage in the Cunnion’s house, whose living spaces are built 14 feet to new elevation standards.
Ocean City’s newly elevated Roosevelt Boulevard was also credited with mitigating damage from the nor’easter, staying above floodwaters and allowing an evacuation route, said Mayor Jay Gillian. The road was reconstructed so that portions were raised by 12 to 20 inches.
During Hurricane Sandy, bay waters roared right up Brigantine’s municipal boat ramp and surged across Bayshore Road, totaling houses with four feet of water.
Since the installation of eight permanent flood pumps and two portable flood buster pumps, vulnerable spots like Bayshore Drive and the neighborhood around the town’s golf course are newly fortified. In addition, bulkheads were raised.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, together with federal, state, and local officials, tour storm damage in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
Atlantic City, similarly, installed pumps at its Atlantis Avenue station and rebuilt bulkheads in Chelsea and Chelsea Heights. It has yet to complete similar projects in its Ducktown neighborhood, which saw major flooding last weekend, leaving some businesses with tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and merchandise loss.
Van Drew pointed to other improvements since Sandy that protected utility infrastructure and homes. Homes that were elevated had ground levels that allow water to flow in and then out, he noted. He is advocating a permanent $1 billion “Coastal Trust Fund,” funded by revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases to provide a stable source of funding for beach fills, dune restoration, and other coastal remediation.
“The good news is we’ve done a lot of good work,” Van Drew said. “We’ve hardened a lot of structures. When you look at electrical substations, in many cases, they’ve been raised. When you look at transmission lines, rather than being on wooden poles, they are now on industrial grade steel lines that are actually put on much, much stronger holes.”
Kelly Kolbjornsen looks at the damaged bar from her garage, where she and her family recuited passers by to sing karaoke, on Wednesday, days after the nor’easter.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
‘Sacrificial sand projects’
On an Oct. 1 tour from Long Beach Island to North Wildwood, Van Drew made the case for continued beach replenishment funding, despite the storm eating through a good chunk of the $99 million in recent beach replenishment, most recently in Sea Isle City, Strathmere, Ocean City, Avalon, and Stone Harbor.
D. Lee Forsgren, the performing assistant secretary for the Army for Civil Works, who oversees the Army Corps, made a point of calling beach replenishment projects “sacrificial sand projects.” He compared the engineered beaches to your car’s “crumple zones” that are made to take the initial beating.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (left) talks with Holgate Mayor Joseph H. Mancini in front of beach erosion in Holgate on Thursday.Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
“We don’t put sand on these beaches to make them pretty beaches,” he said. “They are designed for storm damage reduction.”
Still, he cautioned Van Drew that “the best opportunity to really make progress would be with a supplemental appropriation associated with the storm because there’s not a lot of pocket change sitting around in the core budget.”
That will require a disaster declaration from Sherrill, who toured Brigantine on Tuesday.
Aside from more sand, Van Drew said the towns, state, and Army Corps were looking at funding hard structures — like jetties, groins, and seawall extensions — as ways to keep the elevated tides that accompany storms from overwhelming beaches.
A house on Brigantine’s north end belonging to Clay and Lori Goldsmid and other nearby homes were spared major damage during the recent nor’easter.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
In Brigantine, Mayor Sera rode out the storm at the tip of the promenade, watching railings get blown off, dunes disappear, and the nearby retaining wall nearly buckle. He said city officials had compiled a list of who was in nearby homes in case of an emergency evacuation.
He is seeking to extend the promenade another 250 feet north, and says the state is studying whether adding hard structures to keep the sand in place will help a situation where a sandbar that has in recent years grown into what is now called Horseshoe Island is starving Brigantine of sand.
The city’s flood mitigation efforts since Sandy have resulted in a 25% discount for residents on flood insurance, he said. And he wholeheartedly recommends flood pumps and gates to other municipalities, like Ventnor, whose Ventnor Heights section was cut off at both ends by flooding for hours during high tides.
Sera and other knows the big storms will come again, probably this winter, with the El Niño warming in the equatorial Pacific.
With sea levels rising, some residents who came out to see the federal officials in Brigantine wanted to know about timelines.
“How fast is fast,” interrupted Louise Seitel, of nearby Absecon, as officials spoke of extending the seawall.
“A study is probably going to be 18 months,” Nate Barcomb, an Army Corps deputy district engineer based in Philadelphia, acknowledged.
“Government is tough,” Van Drew said.
Aerial photograph of New Jersey’s Horseshoe Island in June 2021.N.J. Department of Environmental Protection / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, N.J., has been a research and education stalwart for decades, instructing thousands of visitors annually on the importance of salt marshes and the marine world.
Starting this week, though, the nonprofit’s staff will pack up and move to a temporary headquarters, so its main trail can be raised to stave off sea-level rise.
The existing headquarters will ultimately be razed, with a new, elevated building rising in its place. The current wooden headquarters was built in 1972 and was originally intended for short-term seasonal use.
Sea level“is rising fast enough that it’s outpacing the ability of the marshes to keep up,” said Lenore Tedesco, executive director of the Wetlands Institute. “They’re starting to drown.”
“You can see that even right at the institute, where there are more open-water pockets and mud flats, instead of the grasses,” she added.
Much of the institute’s 34-acre campus sits on low marsh and has become increasingly at risk due to flooding.
In 2000, the Salt Marsh Trail flooded twice a year. Now, it is flooding up to 70 times a year, Tedesco said.
For now, staff will move from the Stone Harbor Boulevard location to the New Jersey Coastal Conservation Center on North Delsea Drive in Cape May Court House.
All programs have been paused as of Tuesday, but the Wetlands Institute will reopen Nov. 7 at the temporary location.
The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor plans to raze its existing building and replace it with a larger, more resilient, expansive structure big enough to house growing levels of research, conservation, and education. This is a rendering of the back of the structure.The Wetlands Institute
Salt Marsh Trail
Most of the 31,000 annual visitors to the Wetlands Institute walk the quarter-mile Salt Marsh Trail looking at the bountiful birds and wildlife.
About half of it and the surrounding ecosystem will be considered unstable low marsh by 2030 if nothing is done. The surrounding marsh sits at about two feet of elevation, while the Salt Marsh Trail, built on an old 1950s road, ranges from three to four feet.
Tedesco said dredge material from Avalon will be spread on the trail to raise it and surrounding land to create a new high marsh. It will have more vegetation to help buttress the area from storm-driven waves and provide habitat for diamondback terrapins and at-risk coastal birds.
Tedesco expects trail work to start in October. It will be paid for through a $3 million grant from New Jersey’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Natural Climate Solutions program.
The work will not affect the existing elevated metal boardwalk, which will remain as is.
The institute undertook a similar project last year with state and federal officials to save the adjacent Scotch Bonnet Island, which was drowning.
About five acres of Scotch Bonnet Island was raised with dredge material to keep it above rising seas.
The island is situated in Scotch Bonnet Channel, a waterway that cuts through the bay to connect the barrier island to the mainland. The channel has widened by 70 feet since 1970.
Scientists say sea-level rise in New Jersey is running at twice the global average. They estimate the sea could rise 2 to 5 feet along the coast by 2100.
New Jersey has 200,000 acres of tidal wetlands, valuable habitat used by shore birds and other wildlife. The Wetlands Institute abuts those tidal wetlands.
Tedesco said the lessons learned on Scotch Bonnet Island are being used to reimagine the institute’s campus.
Construction on the Salt Marsh Trail is expected to continue through spring before sensitive wildlife returns.
File: A snowy egret flies over the salt marsh at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor where dredged material was used to raise the height of the marsh at Scotch Bonnet Island.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
A new building
Tedesco said architects and engineers are working with the institute’s board of trustees on a proposed new building.
Those plans call for both the building and grounds to be elevated, while maintaining the “coastal character” of the current institute.
She said federal, state, and local permits are needed given the sensitive area.
The Wetlands Institute is getting construction bids for the new building but does not have a final estimated cost or timeline. Tedesco said the institute is still raising money.
The new headquarters would be built using sustainable methods, such as mass timber construction that uses engineered wood panels, columns, or beams.
The facility would have more indoor and outdoor classroom space for educational programs, a new lecture hall, modern labs with twice the space, outdoor decks, an aquarium enlarged by 50%, and new exhibits.
Tedesco said the institute worked with experts to explore keeping the existing building, which was designed by Malcolm Wells, a mid-20th-century designer famed for his “gentle architecture.”
The structure was used as a biological research station by Lehigh University from 1972 to 1986. It has been expanded multiple times over decades.
Tedesco said it became clear that it is not feasible to continue using the building because it is so outdated and cannot be raised. She said the institute has expanded into “world-class” research and the facilities are at capacity.
“We’re in a 55-year-old wooden building in the marsh that was built to residential standards for seasonal use,” Tedesco said. “But you have to give kudos to the building. Nobody expected that a wooden building in a marsh in 1972 would still be functional today.”
The Jersey Shore is like the old joke: Nobody goes there anymore, and also, it’s more crowded than ever.
It is true that many Shore stalwarts have been priced, or annoyed, off the beach. And that towns feel busier and sometimes tenser than ever: more cars, not enough parking, canopy-to-canopy beaches, prohibitive housing costs, that occasional rudeness.
Not to mention rising sea levels, nuisance flooding, and seemingly regular tornado watches.
To move from complaining to solutions, we racked our brains, asked experts, and solicited ideas from our readers for ways to improve the Shore experience for everyone.
A car with a parking ticket on 96th Street, the main shopping and dining street in downtown Stone Harbor on July 12, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Leave the cars off the island
So many of the suggestions had to do with reducing traffic and the sheer number of cars in beach towns during the summer.
Wrote one reader: “We need fewer cars on the island so bikers can safely travel — need to open lots on parkway and run shuttles.”
This reader proposed giving every homeowner two parking passes. “I live in Sea Isle,” the reader said. “Too many cars.”
Kara Cumiskey said that tenants brought seven cars to her four-bedroom rental in Ocean City.
“I think that there should be a ‘beach tag’ for cars,“ Cumiskey wrote to us. “Or some type of ‘congestion pricing’ for bringing your car onto the island. Something that gives people some pause for bringing a car for every person.”
While a mandatory ban or limit on cars seems unlikely, giving people the option of leaving their cars off the island and shuttling or Jitney Guy-ing into paradise seems like an interesting idea. The golf cart and e-bike rental business would definitely pick up. Fewer turtles would be squashed.
A NJ Transit train en route to Atlantic City is shown at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on May 12, 2019.JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photograp
We need more trains
Relatedly, there were calls to increase and improve public transportation to the Shore. The current NJ Transit train is fantastic to take (and from the Shore end, NJ Transit riders can park their car for free at the A.C. Convention Center), but man, is it slow.
An hour and 34 minutes at best between 30th Street Station and Atlantic City? Two hours between trains? Connections to the PATCO high-speed line only help a little. Still, I’ve noticed a lightness in the steps of the people who get off in Atlantic City with their suitcases and sunglasses. They’re onto something.
Others noted that train service once ran down to various towns in Cape May County. Wouldn’t that be lovely.
The Ocean Sands Motel at 3710 Ocean Ave. in Wildwood, N.J., on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Convert old motels to affordable housing
Ariela Rutbeck-Goldman, senior staff attorney at Fair Share Housing Center, says the Shore’s housing crisis is “increasingly a threat not just to affordability, but to the Shore economy itself.”
“The Jersey Shore can’t remain a place where the people who work in restaurants, hotels, shops, and other local businesses can’t afford to live,” she said.
Belmar, for instance, is “repurposing dilapidated motels and other underutilized properties to increase their housing supply,” she said.
“The goal shouldn’t simply be to create “employee housing,” so that workers can make it through the summer,” she said. “The Shore needs enough homes that teachers, nurses, service workers, young families, seniors, and other people who make these communities work can afford to live there year-round.”
A shore home is under construction along the boardwalk by the Ventnor City Fishing Pier in the Jersey Shore town of Ventnor City, N.J., on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021.HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
‘Stop the monster houses’
As one reader wrote, “Stop the monster houses being built. The charm of the shore is getting bulldozed one lot at a time. These new builds are ugly!”
Another noted the homogeneity of the new construction, in particular the white boxes with the black roofs and trim. In a lot of Shore towns, this ship has sailed. Sea Isle City, for example, is almost totally built out. But there is some hope for others, where the old Shore houses, whether they are the big turn-of-the-century Dutch colonials or the small ranchers of the Wildwoods, are hanging in there.
Fair Share Housing is advocating for programs that help nonprofits acquire and preserve older homes to protect housing for year-round residents, as well as expanding tenant protections to prevent evictions.
“Monmouth Beach, one of the Shore’s wealthiest communities, recently authorized the purchase of a two-bedroom condominium that will be deed-restricted and sold to an income-qualified household,” said Rutbeck-Goldman. “That’s a relatively small investment, but it demonstrates that municipalities don’t have to wait for a large development project to create affordable homes.”
Shanna Killion, of Northeast Philly, works as a beach tag inspector in Avalon, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022. Killion said among the interesting items she has seen people carrying to the beach was an inflatable bed.DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Eliminate beach tags (or at least make them reciprocal)
Lots of people urged New Jersey beach towns to do away with beach tags. Dream on. Strathmere, one of the last three free beaches in the Philly area of the Jersey Shore, just voted to start charging $10 a day, $45 a season, or $30 if you buy a tag before Presidents’ Day. That leaves just Atlantic City and the Wildwoods beach-tag free.
One interesting idea was to make the beach tags reciprocal to other towns. Some towns, like Ventnor and Margate, do have reciprocity, but readers imagined a Cape May County beach tag, for instance, that would encourage exploring.
Related, a bill that would require towns to be transparent about where their beach tag revenue is actually going has stalled in the New Jersey legislature.
Bike riders on the promenade boardwalk in Sea Isle City at the Jersey Shore on May 24, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Make the Shore better for bikers and pedestrians
Many towns have expanded bike lanes and redesigned roads to calm traffic. More of this, please! No matter the pedestrian laws, the reality is, it’s still a miracle if the cars stop for you as you start to cross, or if the bike lane isn’t clogged with runners going in the opposite direction.
Roads one block from the beach should be one lane in each direction, with traffic calming measures like flashing pedestrian lights and bright flags for the pedestrians to carry across. It will require a lot more patience than Jersey is known for. It’s OK! There should be a safe way to commute to jobs by bicycle and return home at night.
A flight at Behr Brewing in Cape May in 2023.Jenn Ladd / Staff
Let Ocean City BYOB already
I know this is not going to happen. But what a wonderful restaurant renaissance might follow! A mini Cape May! As one reader wrote, “I have had a place in OC for 25 years and other than [Ocean City Yacht Club], have never eaten dinner in OC because can’t even have a glass of wine!”
A backyard with access to the bay, at a Beach Haven, Long Beach Island home on June 13, 2024.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Embrace ‘coastal naturalization’
Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, worries that the entire Jersey Shore is becoming more high-end resort, less natural coastline.
Zipf advocates a concept known as “coastal naturalization” and says residents and visitors must rally against the “overdevelopment and citification” of Shore towns. That includes expanding parks with native plants and trees, which Zipf says will increase both quality of life and resilience to storms.
Zipf advocates an end to “the unchecked paving and urbanization that erodes community character while contributing to increased flooding, polluted runoff, and litter.”
A snowy egret flies over the salt marsh at the Wetlands Institute on May 19, 2025, in Stone Harbor, N.J. Dredged material was used to raise the height of the marsh in the Scotch Bonnet Island project.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Increased marsh restoration and flooding mitigation measures
Speaking of increased flooding: The Wetlands Institute announced that it’s temporarily retreating from its half-century headquarters on the Stone Harbor Causeway to rebuild its trails and building because of increased flooding.
The institute focuses on coastal resilience and marsh restoration, with nature-based solutions. It is elevating and widening its Salt Marsh Trail and creating a new high marsh designed for diamondback terrapin nesting and coastal birds.
Lenore Tedesco, the institute’s executive director, says marsh rescue is critical for storm-risk reduction.
“By elevating the Salt Marsh Trail, we are also creating a barrier to storm waves but unlike many coastal protection features that wall off people and wildlife, we are doing it in a way that benefits marshes and wildlife,” she said.
The Wetlands Institute is hoping other coastal communities learn from the approach.
Dogs and their owners enjoy the sand and water at the Malibu Beach Wildlife Management area in Egg Harbor Township at the Shore during the Memorial Day weekend, on May 28, 2023.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
More dog beaches and dog hours
Are dogs so bad? What if every town, or every island, had a beach dedicated to dogs and their owners? What if there were dog hours … on the boardwalks? What if all the towns allowed dogs to run free on the beach before, say, 8 a.m. in the summer? As Bob Dylan wrote, “In harmony with the cosmic sea / True love needs no company / It can cure the soul, it can make it whole / If dogs run free.”
Fans pack the beach for blocks as Phish performs a beach concert in Atlantic City, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021.VERNON OGRODNEK / For The Inquirer
Fully fund A.C. concerts
There’s been a welcome uptick in big-name acts booked to A.C.’s estimable Boardwalk Hall, including Shakira, Phish, and Goose (also, Disney on Ice). Rüfüs du Sol performed on the beach this year. But the sophisticated and intimate Thursday night jazz concerts on the Atlantic City Boardwalk only started in August this year. In previous years, this popular tradition ran all summer long. There were a few A.C. beach concerts this summer and a couple jazz nights at Gardener’s Basin, but nothing like in past years.
On the upside, there is a robust food truck scene at the A.C. Seawall and at O’Donnell Park, and new housing construction projects in places that have long been vacant. And no beach tags. But the city is under increased pressure from expected job losses due to New York casinos. Will Atlantic City put the pieces together?
Have more ideas? Email us at downtheshore@inquirer.com!
Mita says the 17,694-square-foot home at 5475 Dune Drive is not for his personal use, but rather a house built by his Achristavest construction company that will be offered for sale. There is no designated buyer yet, he said.
“This is a spec home,” he said by telephone. “Is it the biggest home in Avalon? Yes, absolutely. It’s not just one big home. It’s a home with a carriage house.”
Construction will require additional sand trucked in to fortify the dune for the property, which will include a 14,000-square-foot main house connected to a 3,000-square-foot carriage house.
Mita said he will continue to personally use a home on the beach in Ocean City, at 28th and Wesley.
Two stories in the new house will be subterranean and three will be above ground, he said. The below-ground floors will include a bowling alley, golf simulator, indoor pool, home theater, recording studio, and cold plunge.
He said has secured state environmental proposals and emphasized that the house, because it will occupy the same footprint as the existing house, did not need a zoning variance from Avalon borough.
Avalon’s impressively high and vast dune system has 11 homes. The largest existing house in the dunes is at 5299 Dune Drive and owned by the heirs to the Utz potato chip family business. It is 12,631 square feet.
In Mita’s case, the Avalon planning and zoning board approved the plans June 9, with the only notes being that the sand brought in should be “clean, uncontaminated, and free of hazardous substances.”
At the July borough council meeting, several residents expressed concern about the size of the project and its impact on the dunes.
Mita said the additional sand was requested by state environmental officials to fortify the dunes and will be placed on the street side near the retaining wall, not “onto the dunes” as some residents feared.
“I didn’t even need variances,” he said. “The renderings make it look overpowering.”
The additional sand, he said, was mandated by CAFRA (Coastal Area Facility Review Act) regulations.
“I can’t build one inch into the existing toe of the dunes,” he said. “I have to build a retaining wall as to not to encroach on the dune. It preserves the integrity.”
Eustace Mita, arriving at the Ocean City Music Pier for a city planning board meeting on Jan. 7, 2026, about the old Wonderland Pier site he owns.Amy S. Rosenberg / staff
Residents expressed concerns at a recent Avalon council meeting.
“It’s just a ruin, a ruin of the dunes,” said Elaine Scattergood, who said borough officials were being misled by claims that the property would stay within the footprint and elevation of the existing house. “If the dunes were a child, I think the protective agency would have taken it away from us.”
In Ocean City, those engaged in the back and forth over the Wonderland site also had a lot to say about Mita’s plan for Avalon’s high dunes.
“His home looks bigger than the hotel he wants to build in O.C.,” said one Facebook commenter.
“Barge the old home up to the Wonderland site,” said another. “Problem solved.”
Mita said his company is currently building three beachfront spec homes at 77th in Avalon, and three beachfront homes at 116th Street in Stone Harbor.
He said building a spec home of this size and expected sale price in the many tens of millions was “so risky.”
Who would be a potential buyer?
“LeBron James,” he mused. “Or Taylor Swift. She spent summers in Stone Harbor. There’s a recording studio. You can’t even buy a beach block lot in Avalon or Stone Harbor for $5 million.”
Farmers markets are more than just an alternative to grocery stores — they offer a direct line to local farmers, bakers, and artisans. Instead of buying a mass-market bag of greens, you can chat with the person who planted the seed and ask them questions about how they raise their vegetables. And what better way to experience the abundance of South Jersey produce and products than a beach-adjacent market?
Here are seven weekly Shore markets worth a trip, from Wildwood to Ocean City.
Margate Community Farmers Market
Every Thursday morning from mid-June to early September, tables filled with fresh produce — cherries, peach cider, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and more — populate the corner of Monroe and Amherst. There’s fun on offer, too: This year, the market hosted a peach pie contest and dog show.
Thursdays, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.; Parking lot at corner of Monroe & Amherst Ave, Margate City
West Cape May Farmers Market
Located at the West Cape May’s Backyard Park, the borough’s late afternoon-to-evening farmers market runs June 23 until Aug. 25, rain or shine. While there are a plethora of fresh produce and local food vendors, the market also offers open mic from 3 to 5 p.m., followed by live music performances after 5 p.m.
Tuesdays, 3 to 7:30 p.m.; 732 Broadway, West Cape May
Sea Isle City Farmers Market
From June to September, vendors descend on Sea Isle’s Excursion Park on Tuesday mornings.. Shop tomatoes, peaches, snap peas, and other seasonal finds from Al’s Produce. Pick up a monstera, peace lily, or an alocasia from Petals and Plants. Or grab a treat from Duck Donuts as you walk around. Other sellers at this year’s market include Telford, Pa. ‘s Nutty Novelties, art-kit expert the Crayon Lady, and Petersburg, N.J.’s Salt and Clover Sheep Farm.
Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to noon; Excursion Park, Pleasure Avenue & JFK Boulevard, Sea Isle City
Wildwood Farmers Market
It’s the 13th season of the Wildwood Farmers Market, and this summer there are over 100 vendors attending, including artists and clothing retailers, plus weekly entertainment for the kids in attendance. There’s plenty of produce to choose from and baked goods to try, including gluten-free options. Grab an iced coffee or cold-pressed juice from one of the vendors and get lost among the booths selling hot sauces, jerkies, spice mixes, wines, sea glass art, and more. This market runs Saturdays till Labor Day, so get there while you can.
Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; 3400 Pacific Ave., Wildwood
Brigantine Farmers Market
Rain or shine, the Brigantine Community School parking lot plays host to the Brigantine Farmers Market every summer Saturday, until Sept. 5 this year. Munch on Kismet bagels and Duke’s Dogs hot dogs.Get Pickled pickles, and Maui Joe’s shaved ice as you shop from farm vendors like Nectar Flow Farm with mushrooms and berries, Recklesstown Farm Distillery’s craft spirits, and Sam Mento Farms with Hammonton blueberries.
Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon; 205 Sheridan Pl., Brigantine
Ventnor City Farmers Market
Farmers market season in Ventnor runs from May 22 to Sept. 4. The market, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, takes place in the parking lot at St. James Church. With more than 80 farmers, food vendors, and crafters, this market is a great place for stocking up on fresh-cut flowers from Far & Away Flowers; grass-fed, free-range meats products from Giordano’s Family Farm; smoked salmon and pastrami from South Jersey Smoke House; and fruits and veggies from Peplowski Fruit Farms.
Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to noon; 6421 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor
Stone Harbor Farmers Market
Every Sunday morning from Memorial Day until Sept. 20, vendors set up shop at Stone Harbor’s Water Tower Plaza. Fill up a tote with tomatoes, sunflowers, cherries, peaches, and other produce from vendors like The Potato Homestead, Springhouse Farms, and Brookeberry Farms; coffee bean bags from Harry & Beans Coffee and fresh squeezed lemonade from Twisted Lemonade Beverage Co.; and specialty foods like Pickle Girl Pickles, RSK Doughnuts, and Carlo’s Empanadas.
Sundays, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; 95th St. and 2nd. Ave., Stone Harbor
Ocean City Farmers Market
Wednesdays in Ocean City mean a stop at the farmers market. In the summer, local farmers and vendors sell cherries, peaches, cucumbers, and corn at the Tabernacle Grounds. There are also stalls offering tomato pies. Head to Sixth Street and Asbury Avenue for other items — think baby onesies and framed art. This market runs through mid-September.
Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to noon; 550 Wesley Ave., Ocean City
It’s possible that nobody knows the stretch of Brandywine River that meanders through the heart of Wilmington better than Missy Morrissey.
Since her sister Susan’s battered body was discovered there nearly seven years ago, the West Chester native regularly returns to its banks, mulling a question:
How exactly did the 50-year-old Delaware County schoolteacher arrive in the shallows more than three miles downriver from where her car was found abandoned early on a July morning in 2019 in what authorities said was a homicide?
And how, she wonders, has the crime gone unsolved for all these years?
Susan Morrissey, who had been sipping wine and texting with friends into the early morning hours, left her Wilmington home just after 3 a.m. for reasons unknown, authorities said, and turned up dead in the river hours later.
Surveillance cameras captured Morrissey’s black Honda Civic as it left her home and headed to the gates of a nearby office building, where it was parked haphazardly and left unlocked with her cell phone and purse inside.
It was not until about four hours later that a construction worker discovered Morrissey’s body floating in the water miles away near the Northeast Boulevard bridge. She had died from blunt force trauma and drowning, the medical examiner found.
A photo of Susan Morrissey.Missy Morrissey
Investigators can’t say for sure how Morrissey’s body made it to the opposite side of town, though they believe she was alive when she entered the river and that she did not do so near where her car was parked.
“A friend refers to it as ‘the magic carpet ride,’” Missy Morrissey said of the distance between her sister’s car and where her body was discovered. “We just can’t figure anything out.”
It’s a puzzle that brings Missy Morrissey, the oldest of four siblings, back to the Brandywine each year, where she lays a bouquet of roses to honor her sister’s memory.
But this year, as yet another anniversary of Morrissey’s July 23 death nears, her family has begun to wonder whether after years of efforts to uncover the truth, her killer may never be found.
“On the first anniversary in 2020, I couldn’t have imagined that we would be sitting here in 2026 talking about this,” said Meg Morrissey Heinicke, the second-youngest of Susan’s siblings. “I would say time doesn’t heal all wounds. It is just as painful this year as the first year, the second year, the third year.”
Homicide detectives with the Delaware State Police say the investigation continues, but they have no suspects or motive, and there are no new developments in a crime that has divided the Wilmington and Chester County communities and drawn attention from true-crime podcasts and amateur sleuths across the country.
Missy Morrissey appreciates that people have taken an interest in her sister’s death long after it faded from the headlines.
Still, she and her family just want the crime solved.
A sister with flair
Susan Morrissey did just about everything with flair, her siblings said.
She grew up around West Chester and Wilmington and attended the city’s prestigious Tatnall School before heading to Georgetown University and later to San Francisco State, where she earned a master’s degree and began her career as an educator at a public school in a low-income Bay Area neighborhood.
Morrissey volunteered often, her siblings said, working with young people at a juvenile detention facility and devoting hours to an animal rescue, where she combed frigid Northern California beaches for stranded sea lions.
She was the first to read up on far-flung conflicts and the world’s injustices, and she loved sitting with a book on the beach in Stone Harbor.
It was she who recommended Noam Chomsky tomes and George Carlin stand-up specials to her less-enlightened siblings, they said. Everything from her CD collection to her handwriting oozed taste and personality.
The Morrissey siblings (from left: John, Meg, Missy, Susan).Missy Morrissey
“I don’t know how many people feel this way, but I kind of felt like the coolest person in the world happened to be in my family,” said John Morrissey Jr., the youngest of the siblings.
Morrissey eventually returned east and, after a disappointing stint of online dating in her 40s, reconnected with a former schoolmate, Ben Ledyard, an investment consultant and a regular on the Wilmington social scene.
The two soon wed, and each weekday morning, Morrissey drove to Pennsylvania to teach English at Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill, Delaware County, where she worked for 13 years until her death on July 23, 2019.
Her brother now lives in Virginia but regularly returns home to the Brandywine Valley, where visits have begun to trouble him.
With each crossing of a bridge, each riverside drive, he said, a reminder of his sister’s killing lurks beneath the river’s surface.
“Susan liked true crime,” he said, “especially local crime.”
The mystery of her death, he said, is “exactly the kind of case that Susan would have been interested in.”
A body in the water
Even after all these years, Missy Morrissey still has the texts saved to her phone.
It was 12:29 a.m., she said, and the sisters casually exchanged messages while Susan Morrissey relaxed with a glass of wine on the back porch of her Riverview Avenue home.
She was a night owl, her sister said, and often stayed up late chatting with family or friends, especially during her summer break from school. Morrissey, she said, had been looking forward to attending a Rolling Stones concert with her husband at Lincoln Financial Field the next evening.
Phone records showed that Morrissey texted with friends and updated her storefront on Poshmark, an e-commerce site for secondhand fashion, until 2:45 a.m.
Then at 3:02 a.m., a nearby security camera captured Morrissey’s car leaving her driveway, according to Delaware State Police. It traveled around a mile through Wilmington to Walker’s Mill, a historic riverside property that had been converted into offices.
In the dark of night, however, detectives who later reviewed the footage could not determine who drove the vehicle to Walker’s Mill or see who left the car after it was parked.
Map of Wilmington, Del., showing locations in the death of Susan Morrissey, whose death seven years ago remains unsolved.John Duchneskie
What happened in the nearly five hours between the car’s arrival at Walker’s Mill and the discovery of Morrissey’s body downriver remains a mystery. Investigators say they have not determined why Morrissey would have entered the water that morning.
“She got her injuries close in time to when she died, and she died close in time to when her body was found” at 7:39 a.m., said Detective Daniel Grassi of the Delaware State Police.
He believes she may have entered the river anywhere from the Brandywine Zoo to the 16th Street Bridge, more than two miles downriver from her vehicle.
A water tower is seen from the top of the Northeast Boulevard Bridge in Wilmington, Del., on Friday, June 26, 2026. Susan Morrissey, a schoolteacher in Delaware County, was killed in Wilmington, Del., seven years ago this summer. Her body was found in the Brandywine River near the Northeast Boulevard Bridge.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Using data from Morrissey’s Fitbit device, investigators have pieced together the barest of timelines from that morning.
The tracker did not record Morrissey’s GPS location, so investigators cannot trace her movements, but they know she walked about a mile within an hour of her vehicle arriving at Walker’s Mill.
And at 7 a.m., the device stopped recording her heartbeat.
“I don’t know why she left the house at 3 a.m., and I don’t know what she was doing between 3 and 7,” Grassi said. “That four-and-a-half hour gap is a major issue with the investigation.”
What happened to Susan?
At her West Chester home, Missy Morrissey, 58, keeps hundreds of pages of notes and documents related to her sister’s case, making her something of an in-house historian of the family’s tragedy.
Since 2019, she has studied the river’s edge between Walker’s Mill and the Northeast Boulevard Bridge, poring over maps, interviewing store owners and strangers, and posting flyers seeking information about the killing near where Susan Morrissey may have been.
It is not only the lack of a suspect that vexes her. Police have not detailed the cause or extent of Morrissey’s injuries, beyond saying that they were traumatic.
Morrissey had been home alone that evening while her husband attended a screening of a documentary about the jam band Phish along with a friend. When he came home, Ledyard told investigators, he and Morrissey sharedhalf a bottle of wine before he took a sleep aid and went to bed around 11 p.m.
Delaware State Police Master Cpl. Michael Austin speaks in 2019 to brief reporters about updates in the death of Susan Morrissey Ledyard. With him were her brother, John (second to left), and husband, Ben (third from left).Katie Park/Staff
He said he had no idea what happened to his wife — a woman he told reporters was “the love of my life, my best friend” — until police came to the house around 9:30 the next morning to tell him she was dead.
Ledyard could not be reached for comment.
Two years after Morrissey’s death, Ledyard remarried, and in 2023 he was charged with assault for attacking his wife with a marble figurine and smashing her head into the floor after she asked him to turn down loud music on New Year’s Day.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The charges brought fresh attention to the Morrissey case and fueled internet speculation that he could have harmed his former wife.
But police say he is not a suspect in the homicide and has cooperated fully with law enforcement.
‘A hope you desperately cling to’
Morrissey’s parents, Serena and John, died last year at 89 and 91 — without learning what happened to their daughter and without seeing anyone brought to justice for the crime.
John Morrissey’s death from advanced dementia came just two days after the anniversary of his daughter’s death.
“It’s been a tough year for our family,” said Meg Morrissey Heinicke, who lives in San Francisco. “This year’s anniversary feels particularly sad and painful.”
Yet there remains “a hope that you desperately cling to” that the case will be solved, she said.
Susan Morrissey with her nieces and nephew. Missy Morrissey
In honor of their sister, the siblings started the Susan Morrissey Foundation, which awards an annual scholarship to an Academy Park student for excellence in English, a small way of keeping her memory and love of the written word alive.
In their quest for answers, the family has promised a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“I just want us to have some answers,” Missy Morrissey said of the family’s ongoing grief. “I don’t think that any of us can really process, or go on, without knowing.”
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call detectives with the Delaware State Police at 302-365-8441 or email daniel.grassi@delaware.gov.
Hidden deep in the Orange Crush heart of the Jersey Shore, there’s a beloved dive bar near West Wildwood’s bay that ignores all the common rules of commerce and good cooking. And yet its ceiling is covered in money and its unlikely hit sandwich is a Reuben made with … scallops?!
Not far away in Cape May, a new Italian restaurant is also doing things differently, crafting extraordinary meals from the highest quality ingredients ― with eye-popping prices to match. At the other end of the dining spectrum, there’s a destination-worthy cutlet sandwich in Sea Isle City and a hot new cheesesteak stand on the Wildwood boardwalk where the crowds come in hopes of glimpsing the owner, an alleged former mob boss who’s refashioned himself as a South Philly sandwich king. A very different kind of celebrity in the making — a giant seagull mascot — is aiming to energize a lively new outdoor restaurant and bar in Avalon and give fresh meaning to “Go Birds!”
Such eating adventures across the southern end of the Jersey Shore this summer were an exploration of dining culture extremes, but never dull and frequently delicious.
These 11 places from Cape May to Ocean City are the ones I’ll remember most.
Dollars hanging from the ceiling at Westside Saloon in West Wildwood, N.J. Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
WEST WILDWOOD
Westside Saloon
Everyone talks about the dollar bills tacked to the ceiling of the Westside Saloon like Monopoly money confetti, the result of a barroom challenge that’s added a distinctive dive bar quirkiness to this venerable tavern on the tiny isle of West Wildwood. To me, however, those bills are the least intriguing aspect of the Westside Saloon, as this watering hole — which dates to Prohibition and was once known as the Bridge Cafe — was renamed in 2003. My eyes are drawn to the crates of ripe fruit stacked near the front door, set to be juiced daily for the lineup of dangerously smooth crush cocktails made with all-natural ingredients — orange, grapefruit, pineapple, watermelon — shaken with vodka (or tequila) and seltzer. “My mother always told me that drinking would get me nowhere,” says the bar’s manager and chef, Billy Scott, 52. “But it’s worked out pretty well for me here. These drinks are my babies. They make people smile, and I’m definitely the King of the Crush now.”
The saloon is owned by the McCoy and Keating families, but Scott, a family friend, is also the culinary mind responsible for the strokes of whimsy — or cheese crimes against seafood, depending on your perspective — that have prompted the Westside Saloon to tout itself as a “five-star dive bar” that’s booming despite an independent streak with its hours (“We open when we feel like it; we close when we feel like it”) and a published phone number that’s never answered because they ripped the phone off the wall 15 years ago. (“It wouldn’t stop ringing.”)
A bartender making crush cocktails at the Westside Saloon in West Wildwood.Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
That reclusive attitude hasn’t slowed the crowds that wander into this trapezoid-shaped building for one of the 28 seats at the trapezoid-shaped bar (or 40 outdoor seats) to listen to live music and indulge in one of the Shore’s most unusual seafood menus, headlined by the iconic scallop Reuben. It’s an odd combination that by most conventions should not work, but Scott has access to some of the best ingredients on the East Coast through nearby Dock Street Seafood. The plump Jersey scallops offer a meaty alternative to corned beef, with a briny sweetness that harmonizes with the tangy sauerkraut, piquant Swiss cheese, and butter-toasted rye. It’s not Scott’s only seafood and dairy gambit. The stuffed long hot pepper is exploding with fresh crab and provolone, a prosciutto wrap, and a Gorgonzola finish. There’s so much crustacean in the she-crab soup that our spoon nearly stood up straight. (If it had been hotter, it would have been perfect.) Sesame-seared local tuna comes piled over crisped wonton chips for Asian nachos. But Scott’s most audacious creation is the option to order your seafood “blue,” a marinara sauce blended with Gorgonzola that added an unexpectedly appealing cave-aged funk to our bountiful seafood pasta.
Seared tuna nachos at the Westside Saloon in West Wildwood, N.J.Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
For those averse to seafood spectacles, the Westside’s chicken wings and “volcanic eruption” burger (a cheese-stuffed patty topped with bacon and long hots) also have fans. But what surprised me most was that the saloon makes its own desserts, including a towering key lime pie and an Oreo-encrusted cheesecake we could not stop eating. This won’t be news to anyone who knows how much passion Scott and his crew, who also recently bought a bakery, have put into making this iconoclastic institution so much more than a random dive bar.
“The only thing artificial here are my initials — B.S.,” says Scott. “When you come to the Westside Saloon, everything else is real.”
Westside Saloon, 770 W. Glenwood Ave., West Wildwood, N.J. 08260, no phone; on Facebook
Chef Alfredo Dapi rolls out pasta for pistachio gnocchi in the kitchen at Il Riccio in Cape May, N.J. Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
CAPE MAY
Il Riccio
There are so many Italian restaurants at the Jersey Shore, I was not particularly excited about the prospect of yet another, especially considering the newcomer most recommended to me this offseason by my local sources was located in a turnstile Cape May address where I’ve reviewed three different restaurants since 2003.
Chef Alfredo Dapi pauses while making pistachio gnocchi in the kitchen at Il Riccio in Cape May.Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
Number four — Il Riccio — turns out to be anything but ordinary, and not simply because the lofty prices, with dinner entrees ranging from $38 to triple digits, will make you wonder if the food is gilded. In fact, it is. But the shimmering stamps of 24-karat gold hovering above the cacio e pepe risotto are not the prime reason this showstopper dinner indulgence costs $99. That would be the quarter-pound of meltingly rich A5 Wagyu tenderloin from Hokkaido that comes seared on top, as well as the raisiny sweet swirls of reduced Amarone wine, not to mention the coveted seven-year-old aged Acquerello rice that’s cooked to al dente perfection by chef Alfredo Dapi for 19 minutes on the dot, adding the imported butter from Parma and pecorino cheese only at the end to keep it light.
“We wanted a dish that touched all the senses — sweet, salty, sour, and bitter,” says Il Riccio’s gregarious co-owner Luca Cimmarotta, 52, a Tuscan winemaker, olive oil producer, and importer who, since his earlier days as a sommelier for both Aldo Lamberti and Georges Perrier, has always wanted to open an Italian restaurant that made no compromises when it came to quality.
Il Riccio in Cape May, N.J.Ted Nghiem / For The InquirerPistachio gnocchi at Il Riccio in Cape May, N.J. Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
That is exactly what he’s done at Il Riccio (“the sea urchin” in Italian), the posh 50-seat BYOB he opened a year ago in a Victorian bungalow beside Collier’s Liquors with his wife, Stefania Chiaro, 46, who works in the kitchen, and their son, Michele Cimmarotta, 21, who charms the dining room as lead server.
Our night, he was offering a wild fresh Holland Dover sole whose beguilingly firm texture, delicate flavor, and roe sack (a bonus!) were expertly deboned tableside, and tasted clearly superior to the more common farm-raised and prefrozen sole found elsewhere for a third of Il Riccio’s $135 price. That includes a side of spaghetti alla chitarra laced with Cimmarotta’s own olive oil and colatura di Alici (Italian fish sauce), and easily feeds two.
Cured ham aficionados will also find rare treasures here, from the acorn-fed Spanish Ibérico ham Cimmarotta slices from a rolling cart in the dining room to the multiple varieties of Italian culatello available with truffled sottocenere cheese. The lunch menu is slightly more affordable, when you can order that risotto minus the Wagyu for $39. You can also still taste the restaurant’s signature baby octopus, a pom-pom of grilled tentacles posed over spicy broccoli rabe. I’d also suggest the soulfully stewed beef braciole stuffed with pecorino. One dish that should not be missed is Dapi’s amazing gnocchi, ethereal dumpling clouds floated across a pool of a creamy Gorgonzola turned pastel green with blended pistachios.
Nutella gelato affogato at Il Riccio in Cape May, N.J.Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
For dessert, ignore the more ubiquitous options and head straight for the affogato. A silky Nutella gelato is topped tableside with dark and roasty Caffé Toraldo espresso from Naples poured from a gorgeous little red moka pot designed by Dolce & Gabbana. Like everything else at Il Riccio, it brings luxury, design, quality, and flavor all together into a special fine-dining experience that actually delivers exactly what you pay for.
Il Riccio, 311 Mansion St., Cape May, N.J. 08204, 609-554-3165; ilricciocapemay.com
Mediterrano
The demise of the Exit Zero Filling Station has left a kraken squid curry-sized hole in Cape May’s funky fusion dining scene. But its unique location — a soaring dining hall fronted by a former gas station pump turned breezy al fresco patio — has been salvaged and retransformed into a vision of Greece. Cue the potted palms, painted faux-cobblestones, and cerulean blue paint job for the old filling station portico that is now a BYOB called Mediterrano. New owner Florian Furxhiu has used his playbook from Santorini, the popular Greek haunt he owns in Wildwood.
Exterior view of Mediterrano in Cape May, N.J.Ted Nghiem / For The Inquirer
A statue of Hebe, the daughter of Zeus, presides over the columned fireplace of this handsomely renovated dining room lined with blooming fake bougainvillea vines, while Santorini’s former co-chef, Caesar Jeromino, and Alban Presheva, newly arrived from Albania, turn out one Greek standard after the next.
Considering their experience, my meal was more inconsistent than I’d hoped for. The Greek meatballs in tomato sauce were unyieldingly dense. The single-serving moussaka built à la minute over a solo eggplant lacked the satisfaction of the traditional large-format casserole.
The big lamb shank, however, was impressively tender, and the butterflied whole branzino, a favorite at Santorini, was as good as ever, its flaky white flesh glazed in lemony butter sauce and capers. I have little doubt Furxhiu’s time-tested team will level up to fine-tune the rest of these dishes as summer progresses. With Ionian-like breezes whistling off the nearby Atlantic through this unique patio and the goddess Hebe casting her magic powers, one can only hope.
The remarkable reinvention of Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino from infamous wiseguy to cheesesteak mogul has been well-documented by my colleague Michael Klein. But the arrival of his popular South Philly sandwich stand at a satellite on the Wildwood boardwalk still begs a clear-eyed review, especially with his partner Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. perpetually hyping the project on social media. It’s a great story, but does that mean it’s also a tasty lunch?
Cheessteak and pizza at Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino’s new Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks during a soft opening of his new location on the boardwalk in Wildwood.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
I admit an initial pause of disappointment that the best sandwich from OG Skinny Joey’s — the roast pork sandwich — did not make it to the beach. But the marquee cheesesteaks are consistent with the original, bountifully portioned and ever-cheesy with molten Cooper Sharp on a seeded roll. It’s overall better than I anticipated given the marketing bluster, but not quite elite (I worked through a clump of gristle amid the otherwise tender chopped meat; the coarse-cut, barely cooked onions also need more love).
The gloriously messy Buffalo chicken is the true steak star here. Skinny Joey’s also does pizza in Wildwood, unlike the original, and while the round pies are average, the strombolis are fantastic. They take extra time to make, because they’re baked to order. They’re also perfectly sized to fit into the slender holster of a cardboard cheesesteak box to go. Or, eat it on-site in Skinny Joey’s pleasantly cool indoor dining room, which has the rare boardwalk perk of a private bathroom, plus the opportunity to buy lots of branded merch.
You can get pierogi and all sorts of other Eastern European treats on the boardwalk at Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, famed for its Slavic community. A notable counterpart to be found at the Jersey Shore is the Pierogie Place, which has two separate stands on the Wildwood boardwalk. It has such a loyal following that a customer who sidled up to the register beside my family swore it was always her first stop when she arrived at the Jersey Shore (“we actually come daily”), not to mention when she visits Lincoln Financial Field, where Pierogie Place founders Liz and Bohdan Kulchyckyj also operate a location of their six-year-old comfort food tribute to Ukraine, where they lived for two decades as expats.
The Pierogie Place has two storefronts on the boardwalk in Wildwood. Pictured behind the counter at the 3116 Boardwalk location are employee Anastasiia Oleska (left) and co-owner Liz Kulchyckyj.Craig LaBan / Staff
The draw are the pierogi (or “vareniki,” as they’re called in Ukraine) offered in a variety of fillings and served with deeply caramelized onions and a dollop of sour cream. I enjoyed the potato and farmer’s cheese filling best, with the jalapeño-cheddar stuffing following close behind — even better crowned with a snappy link of kielbasa. The tortellini-like dumplings filled with pork and veal known as pelmeni are also irresistible. But don’t miss dessert of sweet cheese dumplings topped with strawberries, blueberries, or both and a cloud of whipped cream. Mingling with the aroma of salty sea air, this Slavic carnival in a box tastes particularly sweet.
The Pierogie Place, 3116 Boardwalk and 4302 Boardwalk, Wildwood; thepierogieplace.com
STONE HARBOR
Mother’s Market & Bakery
Mother’s Market & Bakery in Stone Harbor is a family affair, operated by Jennie Mopsik (center), her father, Eugene Mopsik (left) and mother, Helen Mopsik.Courtesy Mother's Market & Bakery / Eugene Mopsik
This charming new prepared foods shop in Stone Harbor checks a longtime bucket list wish for Jennie Mopsik to work alongside her parents in the Shore town where they’ve long summered together, and where she now lives year-round. This storefront market with patio seating was inspired by the home entertaining she saw her parents, Eugene and Helen Mopsik, refine over the years. So, while the shelves are stocked with well-chosen products, from top-notch pasta to Samaki smoked fish and frozen pierogi brought in from Port Richmond’s Czerw’s Polish Kielbasa, the real gems here are the specials cooked daily by her dad, a retired photographer who became known as the “Philly Loxsmith” in his tenure at Biederman’s, where he rediscovered a love of cooking. At Mother’s you’ll find him whipping up homey daily soups (cream of asparagus, gazpacho, matzo ball), fresh quiches, muffins, and excellent grab-and-go salads, including his legendary whitefish salad and a farmer’s cheese spread blended with labneh, shallots, and dill that’s my new favorite bagel schmear (not to mention Helen’s favorite happy hour snack). Jennie Mopsik is involved with the baking, too, but her talent and former business for flower arranging is also on display with custom hand-tied bouquets and orchid arrangements that she says will bloom all summer long.
Mother’s Market & Bakery, 8307 Third Ave., 1st Flr., Stone Harbor, N.J. 08247; on Instagram
Hanging candied bacon served over grits and Gully’s Blooming Potato at Gully’s in Avalon, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
AVALON
Gully’s
When I was little, the notion of a human-size seagull flapping its wings at my table might have scared me right out of my swim trunks. But the team behind Gully’s is betting on the “sassy but good-natured” energy of its friendly weekend-only mascot, Gully, along with competitive Monday minnow races and updated American pub fare to bring some “old-school beachy vibes” to their makeover of the pergola-wrapped al fresco resto-bar in Avalon that was previously Black Cactus. And … it just might work?
Gully’s is more affordable than its predecessor and the diner-plus menu has a lower success bar to clear. But the food is also a notch better than it has to be, with fresh figs scattered over balsamic and a creamy hunk of burrata with prosciutto, a well-built chicken Caesar wrap, plump shrimp for the feta-dusted Mediterranean salad, and “skinny” crushes made with fresh juice and seltzer (not soda) to wash it down.
The Orange Crush and Super Spritz cocktails at Gully’s in Avalon, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
A bland and creamy “peri peri” chicken entree was one disappointment for a sauce that should have been spicy. But stick with the menu’s less challenging top half and you should be fine, especially with a tray of spiralized “blooming potato” chips and a clothesline of candied bacon that dangles over a tasty plate of grits — not an original idea, but delicious. They’re so good, I was thinking Gully’s mascot should actually be a human-size piece of bacon just as our outdoor table was suddenly attacked by a relentless swarm of dune gnats. The service team stepped up when a cheerful manager appeared to offer guests some bug spray. (“BYO-bug spray next time?” he joked.) Of course, seagulls eat bugs, too, so Gully the mascot may, in fact, be just the hero we’ve been waiting for. Go Birds!
The exterior of Johnny Cutlets in Sea Isle City, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
SEA ISLE CITY
Johnny Cutlets
The old Steve’s Grilled Cheese is out. The crispy new swagger of Johnny Cutlets is in. And this smartly revamped Sea Isle City shop is already making a serious bid to join the elite ranks of the Jersey Shore’s sandwich derby. The cutlets are the main event, hand-breaded with two kinds of crumbs, Parmesan and herbes de Provence for a soft herbal note, then fried daily at a lower-than-usual temperature to try to maintain the juicy tenderness of a home-cooked cutlet. I was impressed, especially with its South Philly-style signature served with sharp provolone, broccoli rabe, and a long hot pepper draped over the top of a seeded Aversa’s roll. The Drunken Johnny with vodka sauce and the MJ with fresh mozz and balsamic are also popular cutlet options, but don’t sleep on Johnny’s steaks. They’re more manageably portioned than the overstuffed, overly cheesed steaks currently trending on social media, but I admired the balance of quality ingredients here.
Chef Shawn (no last name given), fries cutlets at Johnny Cutlets in Sea Isle City, NJ.Monica Herndon / Staff PhotographerThe MJ features a chicken cutlet with mozzarella, arugula, cherry tomatoes, hot honey, and balsamic glaze at Johnny Cutlets in Sea Isle City, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
This project is a collaboration between Steve’s former owners, twins Stephen and Fred Freda, and their new partner, “Johnny Cutlets” Markulics, who concluded that fried chicken and cheesesteaks have more “healthy living” appeal than grilled cheese. That’s probably not a scientific conclusion. But if early sales are an indication — selling up to 400 sandwiches a day — the theory wins a popularity contest. It’s just as likely that rebranding with Markulics front and center was also key. An AI-generated portrait of the vividly tattooed body shop owner, whose look Stephen Freda affectionately characterizes as “a friendly, semiscary face,” became the shop’s logo and sign, along with the bold catch phrase, “famous ‘cause I say so.” It’s a bravado this feisty little sandwich shop might actually live up to.
Johnny Cutlets, 27 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Sea Isle City, N.J. 08243, 609-486-6003; johnnycutletssic.com
Dylan Bear, owner of Alex’s Pizza, at 1214 Boardwalk, Ocean City, N.J.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
OCEAN CITY
Alex’s Pizza
A smash burger with onions and cheese is one of the specialties at the new boardwalk location in Ocean City for Alex’s Pizza from Roxborough.Craig LaBan / Staff
The best part of opening a Jersey Shore branch of a classic Philly pizzeria is that you have a built-in loyal clientele. The bad news is that loyal clientele. They know your pies better than anyone, and if it doesn’t measure up then … well, meet Michele B., a lifelong Roxborough resident seated beside me who grew up eating at Alex’s Pizza, a standby at Pechin and Leverington since the 1960s. She traveled to the Ocean City location specifically to taste a slice of her youth, and while these thin-crusted rounds looked the part, with a signature swirl of red sauce spiraled across the top, there wasn’t nearly enough of it: “It’s too dry!” said Michele bluntly. “Not enough sauce.” To his credit, the manager of this new boardwalk venture was eager for feedback, since he’d never eaten at the Roxborough original himself. An experimental pie with sauerkraut and hot dogs had more pizzazz, albeit a niche audience (me). But Alex’s does one thing especially well: smash burgers. The patties on my double stack were swiftly griddled to an impressively crisp and lacy skirt, then layered with onions and oozy cheese that trapped all of its juices. While Alex’s may indeed one day offer an upgrade to the multitude of boardwalk pizza mediocrity, the local burger competition is considerably more scarce. And this one’s worth the trip.
Alex’s Pizza, 1214 Boardwalk, Ocean City, N.J. 08226; 609-862-0062; alexspizzaocnj.com
Kyma
The Beach Baklava yogurt topped with chunks of the Greek pastry, chocolate sauce, and pistachios is one of the highlights at Kyma, a new Greek yogurt cafe in Ocean City.Craig LaBan / Staff
When it comes to island refreshments, Greece has a historic head start of a few thousand years on the Jersey Shore. So I was excited that the Siganos family behind Ocean City’s classic Greek diner, Yianni’s Cafe, opened a frozen treat destination nearby on Asbury Avenue with something different from the norm. Kyma serves Greek-style frozen yogurt that carries a refreshing tartness absent in most standard soft-serve, but its elaborately composed bowls are what caught my eye, especially the “Beach Baklava,” a swirling tower of frozen yogurt drizzled with chocolate, pistachios, berries, and flaky hunks of baklava pastry. There’s another bowl scattered with crunchy kataifi, almonds, and honey and another trendy Dubai-themed bowl drenched in green pistachio sauce and chocolate. There are some more familiar offerings — smoothies, açaí bowls — for maximum audience appeal. But the other prime bonus for me is the bold punch of one of the world’s original iced coffees: frappé, a Greek specialty invented in 1957 that whips instant Nescafé with sugar, water, and milk into a stiff peak that gets shaken with ice into a powerfully caffeinated foam.
Kyma, 838 B Asbury Ave., Ocean City, N.J. 08226, 609-545-2290; kymaoc.com
Island Grill
Crab imperial is one of the classic standards at Island Grill in Ocean City.Craig LaBan / Staff
The last time I visited Island Grill in 2021, the chowder and coconut shrimp were being delivered by Peanut the robot, on lease by the restaurant’s owners to cope with a severe pandemic labor shortage. Peanut is gone from Island Grill now, even if food service robots are now everywhere else. But this standby on the island’s northern end is once again humming full steam ahead for walk-in crowds that pack the nautical-themed space, now in its 30th year cooking fresh seafood from its retail market. The vast menu offers classics like fried or broiled fish platters from its extensive fresh catch board, fish tacos, and a broiled crab imperial glazed in zesty sauce that showcased the bounty of sweet meat. What’s also laudable about Island Grill is an extensive selection of gluten-free offerings that are carefully made to avoid cross contamination, from the pecan-crusted salmon to a gf key lime pie and twin crab cakes that were so good my celiac daughter questioned whether she’d received the wrong order. She had not. The kitchen also offers traditional crab cakes, but the gluten-free variety is convincingly bound with rice.
Island Grill, 100 Atlantic Ave., Ocean City, N.J. 08226, 609-391-9616; ocnjislandgrill.com
You open the door to the rental and let in the roaring summer sun, and you’re fully prepared for a relaxing day on beach: Toy Story-themed towel, Cherry Float Coke Zeros, and a thin layer of suntan spray coating everything in the canvas tote bag.
But you could really use a snack.
There’s a lot going on this holiday weekend, and it’s a mess. So the last thing you need is another one.
What you’re looking for is a classic Jersey Shore treat, but ice cream isn’t built for travel and a slice of pizza has too many variables.
You need a “Walking Taco.”
Walking tacos are offered at the Wells Fargo Center.Michael Klein / Staff
I’m Tommy Rowan, and I’m once again subbing in for Amy S. Rosenberg. I’m a lifelong Jersey Shore-goer who was raised on visits to the Ocean City boardwalk and Wonderland Pier. I spent my teenage years on the Wildwood boardwalk, my 20s in Sea Isle City, and nowadays I have family in North Wildwood. And maybe it’s because I’m within spitting distance of 40, or because places I once loved are being torn down, I find myself wanting to cram in more of everything.
Which brings us back to the food that moves.
The “Walking Taco” is for people who want to walk and talk, and who want to fit in more and keep moving.
It’s a snack-sized bag of Fritos that’s crushed into pieces, garnished with seasoned ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, and homemade pico de gallo, and eaten with a plastic spoon.
It encourages you to get your steps in, but it’s not quite fast food. That’s why they don’t call it a “Running Taco.”
It’s best eaten on the walk to the beach, but if you’re a “save for later” kind of person, it still works: The bag is self-contained, and yet it’s protected from splashes of sand and saltwater. And it’s an easy disposal: Just crush the bag into a ball and toss it in a trash can.
It’s salty and crunchy and cheesy, but it’s not a true overindulgence.
A cheeky hot dog stand in Sea Isle City has unfound claims to “the original,” but the product can be found up and down the Philly-favored beach towns between Atlantic City and Cape May — and many swap out Fritos for Doritos.
And, honestly, what better way to ring in the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than with a uniquely American product: a nonrecyclable bag of ultraprocessed salty particles, topped with chemically altered cheese strings, covered in oily animal fat, and topped with what can only be described as a “modern interpretation” of pico de gallo.
It’s America in a fun-size.
📮 What’s your favorite beach snack? And how do you feel about the “Walking Taco?” What are you eating this holiday weekend? Let me know what you think by replying to this email, and your most interesting responses may end up in a future newsletter. Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them here.
😡 We’re in for a dangerously hot holiday weekend. Remember to hydrate.
🏖️ Pumped up. Sand-pumping operations are expected to begin next week in Ocean City, while replenishment of the Seven Mile Island Beaches will reportedly begin toward the end of the summer. Avalon’s beaches are up first, with work scheduled to start in mid-August, followed by Stone Harbor in October.
🛵 Take a number. A reminder that New Jersey is now taking appointments for e-riders to register their e-bikes, per a new state law (which doesn’t seem to affect visitors from Pennsylvania). We have a full look at the confusing law here.
🎃 Halloween in July? Spirit Halloween is getting a head start on the spooky season and listing seasonal job openings on its website, including for pop-up stores at the Shore in May’s Landing, Rio Grande, and Egg Harbor Township.
🏫 Stretching out. Dominique Dawes, a former Olympian who founded a chain of gymnastics schools, is planning to open a new location in South Jersey this fall. The new school is part of the former gold medalist’s expansion into the greater Philly region.
🇺🇸 The Declaration. Two days before the country’s 250th anniversary, on July 2, Avalon is hosting a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. And then a few days after, on July 8, Cape May is planning its own public reading and reenactment. Both are worth checking out.
👻🦀 Ghost crabs! Every Thursday between 8 and 9 p.m., the Nature Center hosts a ghost crab hunt on the beaches of Cape May. So grab a flashlight and watch the translucent crustaceans scurry in the spotlight. Preregistration is required.
🌭 Hot Dog Tommy’s in Cape May. No. 1, fantastic name. No notes. And No. 2, helluva chili cheese dog.
🎥 Beach movies. Catching a flickoutdoors at the Shoreis underrated. Ocean air, salty breezes, and overpriced ice cream cones coalesce to create the most perfect conditions to take in a picture. Cape May and Margate show movies on the beach, Sea Isle utilizes the Band Shell in Excursion Park, and Wildwood hosts at Byrne Plaza.
🧢 Card show. If you’re looking for an escape from the heat this weekend, the Sports Card, Toy, Comic & Collectibles Show will be trading in childhood treasures and autographed memorabilia at the Wildwoods Convention Center on the boardwalk.
🎸 Free tunes in Atlantic City. On Wednesday, Bayou Blues guitarist-vocalist Tab Benoit is playing Mardi Gras on the Boardwalk, a New Orleans-themed concert series at Kennedy Plaza. The free show starts at 7 p.m.
🥡 Delicious takeout. Craig LaBan is a big fan of the General Tso’s at China Sea of Absecon. He went inland for his latest list of places to eat at the Shore.
Shore snapshot
Jason Kelce takes a selfie with fans at his annual fundraiser in Sea Isle City.Courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles
After starting last year’s fundraiser with tear-away shorts and a Speedo, Jason Kelce was comparatively reserved this year for his entrance at his and wife Kylie Kelce‘s sixth annual “Shore Birds” event at the Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City. The event benefits the Eagles Autism Foundation.
I hope the next milestone after the Semiquincentennial is easier to pronounce and simpler to spell.
🧠 Trivia time
On June 27, 1958, this civil rights leader addressed a convention of Quakers in Cape May in a little remembered episode in this cultural icon’s extraordinary life.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Wonderland Pier and the unmistakable value boardwalk rides bring to the Jersey Shore, which is what made Joseph Farley’s recent submission jump out.
The station wagon seemed to bulge like in a Willie the Worm cartoon; where endless hordes of Mickey Mouse types invade a building. Our family of ten filled the seats with the baby on mom’s lap. It was 1955, the tires were near bald and Dad kept a gallon of water handy to feed the radiator should it geyser in heavy traffic. We left Cheltenham, PA for Wildwood already singing, “On the Way to Cape May.” My pockets bulged with the contents of my piggy bank, my life’s savings. It was a six-hour trip, four of them spent in Dorothy, a town on the Tuckahoe Road, enjoying lunch while Dad made repairs to the car.
That night I choose to ride the “Salt & Pepper Shaker” on Morey’s Pier; a scary ride that took you into the stars. At the top, it flipped upside-down. All the coins in my pockets fell out, clanking off the girders to oblivion. This broke ten-year old, turned moocher, still had a glorious vacation. I returned home brown as a berry with a tale that became family lure, a “feel sorry for dad story” that still brings sympathetic sighs every time I tell it.
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.
✌️ That should do it. Amy’s back from vacation next week, so I’ll see ya at the rest stops.
— Tommy
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This Fourth of July will be unlike any in recent memory. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Philadelphia and the surrounding region are packed with celebrations — and fireworks displays. From the city and suburbs to South Jersey and the Shore, there are dozens of opportunities to catch a show.
Whether you’re staying in Philadelphia, heading to the suburbs, or spending the holiday down the Shore, here’s where to find Fourth of July fireworks across the region.
Wawa Welcome America: 🕙 July 4, 5 p.m. 📍Christina Aguilera and Philadelphia native Jill Scott headline a concert followed by fireworks, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa., 19130, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Conshohocken Fireworks Display: 🕙 July 3, 9:15 p.m., 📍The fireworks will take place at Sutcliffe Park, but the borough is closing the park and surrounding areas to the public due to the size of the display. (They advise you to watch the show from another vantage point in town.), 🌐 conshohockenpa.gov
Yes, Memorial Day weekend is the official start of summer, but there’s a pleasant lull down the Shore between then and when kids get out of school. These are the final moments to enjoy the excellent weather and relative serenity of the microseason, and Seven Mile Island — home to the bougie siblings of Stone Harbor and Avalon — has rolled out the white-sand carpet.
These towns contain some of the most expensive real estate at the Jersey Shore, and in the height of the summer, staying anywhere nice is prohibitively expensive for anyone who is not on a Comcast C-suite salary or whose grandparents didn’t buy a house in 1975. This is another benefit of visiting before July 4. Rates are lower, reservations are easier, and the line at Springer’s is only slightly less insane.
Situated right in the center of Seven Mile, at the southern end of Avalon, beachfront ICONA has the location edge over the island’s other luxury hideout, the Reeds at Shelter Haven, which is convenient to Stone Harbor’s 96th Street shopping district. Both properties are expensive, but you can still find some lingering June rates under $400 a night. ICONA’s beach is beautiful and peaceful, with a breezy bar and lounge between the property and the shoreline, and Avalon Brew Pub is a popular canteen for locals and Shoobies alike.
The origins of Pete Smith’s Surf Shop lie in Virginia Beach, but the boutique has been part of the Jersey Shore for decades. The Stone Harbor location, spread across two storefronts, stocks men’s and women’s swimwear, woolly shackets for chilly nights, and enough Sun Bum for the entire summer. Pick up a branded T-shirt; Pete’s releases a new design every Christmas.
📍 285 96th St., Stone Harbor, N.J. 08247
Learn: The Wetlands Institute
Whether you’re visiting the Shore with kids or simply marine-curious, the Wetlands Institute, located just before crossing the bridge into Stone Harbor, makes a perfect stop. Learn about the local terrapin turtles, pet a sea star in the touch tank, or walk along the marsh trail and elevated boardwalk for views of an integral Jersey ecosystem that most of us rarely see up close.
📍 1075 Stone Harbor Blvd., Stone Harbor, N.J. 08247
Surf: Avalon Surf Camp
Don’t be dissuaded by the multitude of kids on Avalon Surf Camp’s website. Their instructors teach wannabe surfers of all ages and experience levels through group and private lessons on 12th Street beach at the north end of Avalon. The camp provides everything you need: boards, wetsuits, and a working knowledge of the ocean’s mercurial temperament before ever getting in the water. With a little luck and a little wind, you’ll be up on a board by noon.
Because surfing is a workout, and because you’re a good person who deserves nice things, book a treatment with 7 Mile Island Massage. This isn’t a spa but a mobile studio that comes to you. Owner and therapist Nik Pattantyus, who’s also a registered nurse and avid stand-up paddleboarder, will set up in your hotel suite, on the back porch of your rental house, or wherever else you happen to be staying. In addition to deep-tissue, reflexology, and other massage styles, he’s recently added manual lymphatic drainage to the menu.
The fire wood grill cooking various meats at La Portena in Stone Harbor, N.J., on Thursday, June 12, 2025.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Dine: La Porteña
Lucas Manteca has been cooking down the Shore for two decades, and La Porteña, a few blocks from his Quahog’s seafood tavern, is his most personal project yet. The menu and family-style format draw from the chef’s Argentine heritage. Every table receives a spread of snacks and salads to share, including Manteca’s famous empanadas, followed by each diner’s choice of entrée: New York strip, short ribs, Iberico pork secreto, and more. At the time of this writing, dessert is dulce de leche rice pudding with compressed rhubarb. Make reservations.
The line stretching from the white-sided front porch of Springer’s Homemade Ice Cream down Third Avenue is legendary. You might run into your college lacrosse coach, the kids you babysat who are now disconcertingly grown and lifeguarding on 88th Street, or the local girl you spent that one magical summer with in 10th grade. Springer’s has been scooping since the early 1900s, and the nostalgia it inspires is as much a part of the appeal as flavors like banana fudge, the slightly salty butterscotch brickle, and Cookies in My Coffee, crushed Oreos veined through dark coffee ice cream. Worth the wait, always.
