🥶 Winter solstice report card from the Shore | Down the Shore

Hello from the Shore, currently the land of icy sidewalks, snow-dipped dunes, and pink sunsets. The December snow brought a couple of beautiful inches to most beach towns, where out-of-town homeowners rarely, if ever, think to get someone to shovel their sidewalks. Ah well. As a griper on Facebook noted, Ventnor doesn’t hesitate to cite you if your grass needs mowing (or, I might add, if you run with your dog on the boardwalk), but everyone’s looking the other way for the shoveling. It adds to the atmospheric beauty, maybe, and the roughing-it feel, but those sidewalks can be treacherous, especially for the mail carriers and dog walkers.

Down the Shore is back for its solstice edition, in which we check in with your favorite beach towns and score how they’re doing.

Atlantic City is top of mind, with its lovely holiday traditions like the elaborately decorated and festive iconic spots, from the Irish Pub to the Knife & Fork Inn, its new skate park and casino giveaways. But behind the salt air tinsel, A.C. is juggling some drama: Its mayor is on trial for alleged child abuse that could cause him to forfeit his office, three New York City casinos have been green lit, the state is moving to increase its authority over the city. A recent casino revenue report had good news for only three of the city’s nine casinos. A+ for its holiday sparkle and sunsets, C+ for the drama.

In Ocean City, meanwhile, the identity crisis continues. The town did a complete turnaround earlier this month with respect to the former Wonderland Pier site, voting to ask the planning board whether the site is in need of rehabilitation as requested by developer Eustace Mita, who wants to build a luxury hotel. Meanwhile, its mayor declared bankruptcy and got sued by his stepmother. The iconic McDonald’s in town abruptly closed. Still, Playland’s Castaway Cove is offering its half-price ticket sale through New Year’s Day. B-

Ventnor and Longport have both begun rebuilding work on their iconic spots, with a big chunk of Ventnor’s boardwalk, and Longport’s beautiful Point, a place of magical sunsets and long winter shadows, closed for construction. I knocked those places down to a B and let’s hope work is done by spring.

Avalon, which came in for some summer criticism for its off-the-charts exclusivity, gets an A+ from me for its sensible and family-friendly 5:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve fireworks plan.

My full Jersey Shore offseason report card, including Stone Harbor, Brigantine, LBI and Cape May, is here.

📮 Should second-home owners be responsible for shoveling their sidewalks down the Shore? 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.

☀️ Look for a warming trend which I hope lasts until New Year’s Day’s polar bear plunges. But then more snow please.

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

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🚨 El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City reported the presence of federal immigration agents in both Atlantic City and Ventnor. The group was also collecting donations for an expectant mother whose husband was detained.

🏠 Selling the family Shore house can be traumatic.

🍔 The McDonald’s in Ocean City is closing, stunning its customers and employees alike. Here’s how you can help.

🌬️ The land-based wind turbines in Atlantic City, which once vexed a casino owner who went on to become president, turned 20.

⚖️ The jury in the Mayor Marty Small trial was deliberating.

🚭 Atlantic City casino workers asked a judge to ban smoking in casinos.

🎡 Diplo mused about filming the massive “Heartless” video with Morgan Wallen in Atlantic City for $10,000.

🏖️ Shore erosion funding was left out of the federal budget, then put back in. But is it enough? Here’s Frank Kummer’s analysis.

🚨 Congressman Jeff Van Drew, meanwhile, called on Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency for the state’s eroding beaches, which Murphy has declined to do. Brigantine, on its own, declared its own state of eroding emergency.

💸 Buy a luxury condo in the heart of Atlantic City.

🐻‍❄️ Polar bear plunge on New Year’s Day at an ocean near you! Or, watch from this beach cam.

🐟 Order your seven fishes from Atlantic City’s Barbera Fish Market.

🕯️ Take a candlelight house tour in Cape May.

🎰 Win a million dollars at the slots, like this guy.

🎰 New Year’s Eve is a great time to hit up Atlantic City.

🎣 Wildwood’s Fishing and Boating Expo beings Jan. 9.

Its announced closing shook employees and customers alike. Just how long has the landmark McDonald’s in Ocean City been at 900 West Ave.?

A. 47 years.

B. 60 years.

C. 25 years

D. Since the town’s founding

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

If we come visit in the winter, does this count against our time in the summer?

Visitors in the offseason are most-welcome! It gets lonely down here. We get to show off how actually great it is to live here year-round, and sometimes how amazing the beach looks with snow on it. And listen, after entertaining guests in the winter, pulling out the board games, stoking the fire, hoping the heat actually works, a summer visit where everyone just goes to the beach all day is a snap. Come on down.

Have a Shore etiquette question or sticky situation? Email us here.

PJ Hondros 23, lives in North Wildwood, and runs the North Wildwood Coastal Processes Facebook page that documents the erosion and sea level rise along the shore town’s fragile coast. Hondros is in grad school studying coastal zone management, and works part-time in the coastal sedimentology field. He says his research includes, “sea level rise/ coastal flooding risk, sediment (sand) fluxes along our coastline, and mapping suitable habitat along our back bays.” PJ answered our rapid-fire questions.

Favorite beach/beach town: North Wildwood.

Favorite Shore breakfast: Aloha bacon egg and cheese sandwich — nothing even comes close.

Perfect beach day: A searing 90 degrees with minimal wind.

Perfect night at the Shore: Hit the bars!

Best season to be down the Shore? Late summer to early fall.

Surfing or fishing or … Bodyboarding and swimming.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset.

What’s the best Wildwood? All offer something unique.

What’s one thing you wish people knew about the Shore? There’s more than the beach (e.g. zoos, campgrounds, state parks).

What is the most critical issue facing Shore towns? Short-term: the lack of beach replenishment funds allocated for FY25 and 26. Long-term: accelerating coastal flooding.

Tom McCourt gave up the Shore for sunny Florida and Las Vegas. But the memories linger.

Despite currently living in the desert, I am a Philly native. I grew up going to the shore. As a small child I went with family, then Senior Week, and later fishing as often as I possibly could. As a young adult, that morphed into an annual week in the Wildwoods, fishing nearly every day, spending some time on the beach, and enjoying life at the shore.

Then the greed happened.

Mom-and-Pop houses, apartments, and motels were bulldozed in favor of massive cookie-cutter condos, all of which have the character and personality of a trash bag. The owners now had large mortgages and construction bills to pay, and greed. They all had greed.

As a solo fisherman, the Jersey Shore, as much as I loved it, priced itself out of my range. It was less expensive to fly to Fort Lauderdale, rent a convertible for the week (just because), stay along A1A, and enjoy the week than it was to drive to Wildwood for a week.

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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