⛱️ We’re back together! | Down the Shore

Hello! You’re back. I’m back. Actually, as a (sorta?) local, I never left. And once again, the deluge of people who’ve decided they urgently want to be where I live is upon us. From my vantage point, it never ceases to seem a bit absurd, but also reassuring. We’re back together! Hey Philly!

How was the offseason? Did you get caught up in various agitations like wind turbines and whales? Unleashed dogs? Historic teardowns? Municipal rulings against beloved food institutions (again!). Is COVID still making you cautious? Can’t even remember what that was like? What will this summer end up being? Let’s explore together.

I’ve spent the offseason thinking about the big stuff, good, bad, and sad. I wrote about the passing of two of the greats, my pal Bobby Perloff, a regular guy who was a superstar, and Chris Ford, a superstar who was a regular guy.

And a more personal loss: This summer won’t be the same without my older sister Donna camping out in my basement, heading out for all of the Phish concerts on the beach. She insisted on the basement bedroom, the better not to bother anybody with her dogs, odd hours, and various rituals. Look, I hate Phish as much as the next person, but I’m grateful they showed up in Atlantic City and brought my sister with them. She made us laugh.

People opposed to wind turbines spent the winter at maximum freak out as dead whales washed up on the beach. I wrote about what some called “amateur scare tactics” and others admitted was consuming their lives in a deeply personal way as whale-wind conspiracy theories spread.

The debate is a clash of some big beach issues, including climate change and Shore ownership, and not just the kind of ownership that has made the Jersey Shore towns all but out of reach for anyone without tons of dough.

Will the ocean turbines “ruin” your view? Does the view from the beach even matter when the issue is rising sea levels that threaten to obliterate the entire island? Who owns the Shore and its pleasures? Who gets to decide? Who is the Shore for?

📮 Let me know what you think by replying to this email and I’ll include the most interesting and provocative responses.

🌧️ A cooler and wetter summer, wait what? Alas, that’s what Nor’easter Nick of Norcast TV predicts, because of El Niño.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (🐦 Let’s talk on twitter at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Instagram, tag me in Shore pics at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me at downtheshore@inquirer.com)

🆕 Look for my new feature ⬇️: Ask Down the Shore.

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🚫 Wild in Wildwood: The mayor and a commissioner, 2/3 of the governing body, are under indictment. The mayor will be sentenced, inconveniently, in August for a federal charge. 🥨 True to form, there’s a Wildwood (plot) twist.

🦈 Shark week? A teen surfer bitten in Stone Harbor told Jesse Bunch she “felt a tug on my foot.”

🎒 Backpack bans: Henry Savage on new laws aimed at teenagers at the beach.

👕 Boardwalk T-shirts getting more wholesome?

🏖️ North Wildwood gets an emergency sand fix.

⚖️ Sea Isle condo. The Spinnaker reopened after a balcony collapse that killed a worker. Eric Conklin reported on legal repercussions.

📻 Sad memories RIP Jerry Blavat, the man you thought would spin records forever. Memories, in Margate, is for sale.

🌊 Waterpark watch: Bart Blatstein’s people now say July for the game changing Island Waterpark.

🍔 Holiday Snack Bar: LBI’s favorite burger joint was threatened with closure. Then there was a reprieve.

💥 Teardown of the week: Steve Wynn’s former mansion on Ventnor’s Boardwalk, where the Clintons once stayed, is kaput.

🍻 Bars! Can dive bars survive the bougiefication of the Jersey Shore? Do you have a favorite? Let me know here. Meanwhile, check out Jenn Ladd’s guide to 16 Jersey Shore bars.

🎸 Listen to music Dan DeLuca has the big summer preview, including this weekend’s Adjacent Festival in Atlantic City.

🌊 Dance ! Ocean Casino’s HQ and HQ2 clubs have the big MDW EDM DJ lineups.

👗 Shop at new stores Owners are taking the leap in Ocean City.

📚 Toni Morrison and 💃🏾 Celia Cruz?! Tommy Rowan asks: Do rest stops on the way to the Shore live up to the people they’re named after?

🎣 Hipster or Bougie? Wahine Wine and Fish & Whistle Market at the foot of the Ventnor’s Dorset Avenue Bridge is having Fishtown-centric pop-ups starting Saturday, including seafood, pasta, and more from Fishtown.

🥔 Potato love? Margaret Eby tells how to get up close to the Cape May County Zoo’s capybaras.

🦞 Find a seafood shack with our updated guide.

🫐 Cookie Till is warning you. Steve & Cookie’s owner says her employees “won’t holler back.” But people are already throwing tantrums over blueberry pies.

🎡 Boardwalk Eats: We’re all over the Boardwalk this summer. Up first: Jenn Ladd finds contentment at A.C.’s My Friends Diner.

Consumption lounge (noun): A place to legally buy marijuana and consume it, presumably in plush chairs with snacks. Coming to A.C.

Read Henry Savage’s guide to weed at the Shore.

🍔 The Good Dog Bar A.C. on Atlantic Avenue opened in a long-shuttered building in Atlantic City’s Chelsea section that was once a swinger’s club. Welcome Good Dog Bar ! But why aren’t dogs allowed inside?

❓Question❓I was going to see if anyone remembered the name of the old place, but eh. So answer this:

What landmark Atlantic City restaurant is just down the street from the Good Dog Bar? (so if you can’t get a Happy Hour seat, there’s a backup plan)?

A) Dock’s Oyster House

B) Kelsey’s

C) Cardinal

D) Knife and Fork Inn

📮 If you think you know the answer, email us here. First one will get a shout-out next week.

🐕 And email the City of Atlantic City here to plead your dog’s case.

💨 We are here to answer your questions about the Shore. Ask us anything, we will try to help! No question too small, or big! Bars, flies, barflies, etiquette, the best empanadas.

Please reply to this email with anything you’re curious about!

For our first edition: Are the wind turbines killing whales?

We unpacked the misinformation about the turbines and the perilous route the whales travel. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center compiles necropsy results here.

And here’s the 900-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Atlantic Shores Project from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (see about page 400 for marine mammals.)

Ben Gravy, of Ventnor, is one of the coolest locals you’ll meet down the Shore. You might have seen him on YouTube, where his novelty surfing has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers. Ben’s surfed all 52 states, the wake of the Cape May Lewes Ferry, every Jersey beach town in one day, three coasts in one long day.

He’s got an amazing sobriety story, told in this documentary. The breaking point was getting thrown out of Maynard’s in Margate after arguing with the bartender. Am I that dude? he asked himself.

It was after you got sober on Christmas Day 2015, that your surfing career exploded.

I had a spiritual awakening. I started making the YouTube videos to help me stay sober. Surfing was reintroduced to my life. I had a lot of time on my hands. I surfed every day. I became the novelty guy. I think I popularized it.

You described the day you surfed every New Jersey beach town as the “gnarliest” day of your life.

There’s a lot of unique beaches. Going from Cape May to Asbury is definitely a different vibe.

What advice or insight do you have that people at the Shore need to hear?

Jersey is a lot more of a beautiful place than people give it credit for. When I come back from a long trip, I feel so relieved. I think if you get it, you get it.

Read the full Ben Gravy interview.

Send us your Shore memories! Or tell us a funny or poignant moment that made you think, this place.

My moment is this: This spring, a block from the beach, walking my dog, all the cars plus me stopped to cheer on a high school crew team on an early run from the Boathouse to the Boardwalk. A sign that summer is near!

Truth be told, I’m often on the other side of this hibernation equation. Going for a run in May is a joyful encounter with locals, everyone with a wave and a smile. Soon, it’ll be reunion time with the Shoobs. We’re together again, still running, or walking, hanging on the beach, jockeying for Happy Hour seats, squeezing into a beach club, nursing a daytime hard (or not) seltzer under the pier. Say hi!

📮 Send us your Shore moment or memory in 200 words. We’ll include them this summer. Send them here.

🏄‍♀️ Bye for now! Looking forward to surfing another season of Down the Shore.