☀️ Chicken Bone Beach and Atlantic City’s moment | Down the Shore

Atlantic City historian Ralph Hunter is not a fan of calling the Missouri Avenue Beach “Chicken Bone Beach,” a name that goes back to the 1920s, when Atlantic City hotel owners met at the Seaview Country Club and hatched a plan to move Black beachgoers off beaches in front of their properties and to the beach in front of Convention Hall.

Born of racism, the beach nonetheless flourished. It became a gathering spot for celebrities and politicians, bathing beauties and entertainers, locals and visitors. Among those photographed on the beach in the 1960s were Martin Luther King Jr., who is pictured with his friend and former seminarian the Rev. Russell Roberts of A.C.’s Shiloh Baptist Church, and boxing champ Joe Louis, sitting on the sand, surrounded by a group of joyful friends.

Henrietta Shelton reclaimed the name in an “homage to the historical segregation of African Americans on Atlantic City’s world-famous beaches” when she founded her Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation, whose weekly jazz concerts at Kennedy Plaza in front of what is now Boardwalk Hall continue Thursday, July 14, with Tia Fuller’s Intersections at 7 p.m.

And while no longer the gathering spot it once was for Atlantic City’s Black community (the Caspian Avenue beach has stolen that thunder), Chicken Bone Beach has gone on to become a significant place, and name, in Atlantic City’s history. Hunter featured the beach in an exhibit at his African American Heritage Museum of South Jersey, located in Atlantic City. A new mural at 3400 Atlantic Ave. depicts the famous MLK beach photo, a photo of Fannie Lou Hamer from the 1964 Democratic National Convention, and a rare image of Muhammad Ali in Atlantic City in front of 419 Madison Ave., once a Nation of Islam School.

And beginning Thursday and through July 20, that history will be celebrated, as Atlantic City welcomes the National Convention of the NAACP to town and marks the high points of its own civil rights history, including the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected in town early next week.

On Wednesday, July 20, from noon to 5 p.m., the spotlight will turn to Chicken Bone Beach itself, with a day of jazz and dance performances and presentations about the beach’s historic legacy.

Most events will be held at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Info and registration for all NAACP events is here. Read a deeper dive into Atlantic City’s Black origins and legacy.

🌤️ Looks beautiful for A.C.’s moment in the sun.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (🐦 Tweet me at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Insta at @amyrosenberg. 📧 Email me at downtheshore@inquirer.com)

🍕Pizzagate Tony’s Baltimore Grill, to which I professed my undying love here, has been experimenting with outdoor seating along its stretch of Atlantic Avenue. Now the A.C. pizza joint says someone made off with one of the tables, six chairs, and an umbrella, and is offering the reward of $1,500 cash, and free pizza and a beer every week for life. A.C.P.D. says it is investigating. Meantime, savor this story about the iconic pizza box art show at the gallery next door.

❤️ Love, John Where is all of Pennsylvania on a summer weekend? Down the Shore, of course. So Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman followed, taunting Republican opponent and sometimes New Jersey-dwelling Mehmet Oz with a banner plane ad that read: “HEY DR. OZ, WELCOME HOME TO NJ! ❤️ JOHN.” My colleague Jon Tamari has the inside story of Fetterman’s beach trolling.

🚢 Sinking ship The Coast Guard says local boaters rescued 22 people off the Starfish charter boat that struck the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge and started taking on water off Sea Isle City.

🏀 Michael Jordan was in Atlantic City competing in Jimmy Johnson’s Atlantic City Quest for the Ring Championship Fishing Week. Check out Jordan’s Catch 23, an 80-foot Viking yacht. And here, he’s at Steve & Cookie’s wearing a Florida Cold Cuts hat, naturally.

🍦 Older teens can now work 50 hours a week in summer jobs in New Jersey, the result of a new law, and are entitled to overtime after 40 hours.

😋 Check out Chef Sheed’s BBQ Shack. Local NAACP organizers are spotlighting Atlantic City’s Black-owned restaurants, including the famed Kelsey’s on Pacific Avenue, Kelsey and Kim’s, Yardy’s, Ahkii’s Soul Meals Ft. Chef Legacy, Di’Oasis & Shugs, Leavander’s 22, Vegans Are Us, Tha Afty, and, my current obsession: Chef Sheed’s BBQ Shack at 501 Atlantic Ave.

✅ The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey is receiving a pair of rare artifacts on Monday: a wooden tool chest believed to have belonged to Lucy Harris, the last enslaved person to be freed in South Jersey, according to Census records, and a set of wooden chimes believed to have been used to call enslaved people in from the fields. This museum is always worth a visit.

🍅 Shop local. Here’s our guide to the Shore’s best farmer’s markets.

🎹 Gardner’s Basin concert series kicks off July 16, sponsored by the National R & B Music Society. Headliners are The Jones Girls featuring Shirley Jones, Honey Cone, Ladies of Skyy, and Lillo Thomas.

🤑 One Bougie Summer: Too bougie or not too bougie? Big reaction to the Bougie Ventnor story, which asked the question: As towns go upscale, is the Jersey Shore leaving the middle class behind?

It was definitely the talk of Ventnor and beyond. 😬 Here’s a sampling:

Goudy’s (noun) Alternately The Goudy’s. Pronounced GOW-dees.

The final race of the South Jersey Lifeguard Races. The Goudy’s, more formally the John T. Goudy Memorial Rescue Races, will be Aug. 19 this year in Ventnor. Unlike other races, the Goudy’s simulate rescues and other lifeguarding skills. All the races are great fun.

I look forward to the Goudy’s to see lifeguards lug the heavy bag simulating a rescue.

Find the full lifeguard race schedule here.

Tough trivia question by Tommy Rowan. Karen Schroder was first with the answer: Long Branch was where Ulysses S. Grant vacationed and where President James A. Garfield was brought to die after being shot at a Washington train station in July 1881.

This week’s question is two parts:

In what town did Philly sports radio host Angelo Cataldi pick a legendary fight over beach tags?

A. Avalon

B. Stone Harbor

C. Loveladies

D. Cape May

And, a bonus: What is the name of the Beach Patrol captain who was Cataldi’s nemesis?

A. Stan Bergman

B. Murray Wolf

C. Bob Levy

D. Len Desiderio

If you think you know the answers, email me here and the first one will get a shout-out.

Joanne Demyun beautifully evokes the rituals of arriving at the Shore that echo down the generations:

Being at the shore started even before we felt sand on our feet. As soon as we started to drive over the bridge entering Manahawkin to Long Beach Island my late husband would excitedly call out to our young children “Kids, roll down the windows...smell the ocean. ... Do you smell the ocean air?

My children would give each other the “There goes dad again” look. No matter how old the kids got the yearly scenario would be the same. Now, I and my adult children recall my husband’s delight in anticipation and bring up the loving memory whenever we recall family vacations down the shore.

📮 Send me your Shore memory for a chance to be featured here or tweet me @amysrosenberg.

It’s mid-July, is the summer almost over? Just kidding! See you next week.