🕶️ Those characters you meet | Down the Shore

So. The Memorial Day Weekend is over, the weather was unexpectedly pleasant, lots to do, people to see, beautiful sunsets, but the aftermath has left some people on edge. Police departments were tallying their incident numbers (Ocean City, 999; Ventnor, 365), people were sweeping up broken bottles left outside their homes, surf shop clerks were on alert for shoplifters, and cities were tightening (again) laws aimed at teenagers. A BMW was stolen in Longport.

Ocean City announced it would close beaches at 8 p.m., move up curfews to 11 p.m., and ban backpacks in response to beaches once again mobbed at night with teenagers.

The islands felt overrun. People came in hot, lots to get done. TikToks from Sea Isle saw crazy long lines to get into the Ocean Drive bar. Waits for a sandwich were an hour in Margate. There were numerous car crashes and ocean rescues. Is this just the way things are now? Are things getting worse?

📮 Let me know what you think by replying here.

In the meantime! Let’s not lose sight over the more simple joys of being all together again. My colleague Stephanie Farr asked people on Twitter to describe the indelible characters they meet at the Shore, and she got some hilarious responses. Stephanie started things off with “dude with Delco flag” (Delco flag?) and a seagull feeder.

From there, people got very specific (with varying levels of crankiness): “Local aestheticians decked for a girls night out in A.C., the Kitchen Sink family (shades of beach-spreading), the ubiquitous MAGA people (still) marking their beach territory with Trump flags, the Eagles fan rocking his socks and Adidas slides, the seasoned tanner with the cheetah bathing suit logging another day, teens obsessing over their phones, the New Yorkers obliviously overdressing for Jersey, couples in matching tracksuits speed-walking on the Boardwalk, the recent Villanova grad reliving his college football days throwing 50 yard passes into the dunes.”

And to think I used to just lump everyone together as “Shoobies.”

I would add: middle schoolers hanging in the hot sand, locals who only come out when everyone has left, the schmoozers talking their way down the beach, the aging surfer guys squeezing into their wet suits (but still at it!).

Lars Leetaru put a bunch of these into an illustration and The Inquirer’s Gabe Coffey made a video which may hit a nerve with a few of you. See the full video here.

Read all about those people you meet down the Shore (you might even spot yourself.)

📮 Let me know what you think by replying to this email, or find me on Twitter or Instagram.

🥾 You love the Shore, so you must like the outdoors. You’re going to want to sign up for The Inquirer’s new Outdoorsy newsletter, by Paola Pérez, with content from Jason Nark, Frank Kummer, and others (possibly me!). Sign up for free here!

🌕 Full moon weekend, should be a sparkly ocean at night (if your beach is open).

— Amy S. Rosenberg (🐦 Tweet me at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Insta at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me at [email protected])

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🚫 No boating for you: The state Department of Environmental Protection has again blocked access to “Horseshoe Island” off Brigantine.

🎒Teen angst: One poster described the Wildwood boardwalk as “an overblown bar brawl,” with teenagers “fleeing from under the boardwalk” after a party broke up, “throwing beer cans, knocking over people.” Ocean City reported vandalism, assaults, a confiscated firearm, and teens drinking themselves into unconsciousness. There’s an emergency council meeting Thursday.

🦈 Shark week: A 522-pound great white shark was tracked near Ocean City.

🌮 Taco Tuesday®’s last stand: We did the hard work of checking out the original Taco Tuesday at Gregory’s Bar in Somers Point, which is fending off Taco Bell and LeBron James.🔑

🎣 Grassy sound rebuild: Cape May County is replacing the dilapidated Grassy Sound Fishing Pier.

💥 Teardown of the week: Atlantic Avenue in Margate is just pockmarked with newly-emptied lots. How about this stately one from the beach block of South Pembroke?

🎇 Beach rave: It’s a full moon and that means a full moon beach rave Saturday night into the wee hours at Crystal Beach in the South Inlet of Atlantic City.

🐕 Remember Kato, a white German shepherd from the Humane Society of Ocean City, the city’s no-kill animal shelter, who died in January. “Skato Remembering Kato” will honor Kato with a skateboarding celebration June 3 at 5th and Asbury. Live music from Ill Rendition. Proceeds benefit the Humane Society.

🍎 Be patient: Britton’s Gourmet Bakery in Wildwood Crest had a line out the door for its apple fritters before 7 a.m. last weekend. I hear they’re worth the wait.

🍳 Visit a place … you go to at home? Look, are you really here to just go to places that you can go to in Philly? But if you insist, count Green Eggs Cafe with a new Ocean City outpost.

🧊 Boardwalk Eats: Ventnor’s Fishing Pier added a snack shack featuring cold brew from Remedee Coffee, biked in kegs from A.C.’s Bartram Avenue, where the Escobar sisters are in their second season selling their micro batch coffee from their garage.

Backpack ban (noun): A now-common law at the Jersey Shore aimed at stopping teenagers from bringing alcohol to the beach, among other items.

Does Ocean City’s backpack ban mean an adult can’t bring a backpack at night? (Yes).

Last week’s question: What landmark restaurant is just down the street from the new Good Dog Bar in A.C.’s Chelsea neighborhood?

Congrats to reader Chrissy with the first correct response! D, the Knife & Fork Inn. No better place to sit at the bar in my opinion, though I did enjoy the Golden Repriever drink at Good Dog, featuring A.C.’s Little Water Distillery’s Rusted Revolver gin and yellow chartreuse.

Also nearby is A.C.’s refurbished O’Donnell Park, where my husband and I went after picking up a pizza (by bicycle!) from Tony’s Baltimore Grill. We sat on the grass, like it was Rittenhouse Square or something, a game of cricket nearby. Looking good, Atlantic City!

❓ This week’s question: Which Shore town employed a white bus to round up underaged drinkers (until legal challenges put a stop to it)?

A. Sea Isle City

B. Avalon

C. Beach Haven

D. Wildwood

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

Lauren Maynard asks:

What native plants can we grow at our tiny OC cottage? I’m sure lots of other folks would love a primer on what and how to plant more sustainable, low-maintenance plants that use minimal water and help prevent erosion on our precious barrier island.

We turned to Karen Walzer, senior outreach coordinator of the Barnegat Bay Partnership and coleader of the Native Plant Society’s Jersey Shore chapter, and a big believer in the value and beauty of native plants that will thrive without chemicals, need little watering, and attract birds and butterflies.

She told me about a great website, jerseyyards.org, where you can search and filter through a database for native plants that thrive in sandy soil and drought conditions.

Specific plants include butterfly weed, goldenrod, beach plum, blue wild indigo, bottlebrush grass, mapleleaf viburnum, purple lovegrass, and bayberry. Sounds lovely!

🦋 What’s in your Shore garden? Let us know!

Have a question for us? Reply to this email.

We compiled your beautiful Shore memories here and will keep publishing them this summer. Keep them coming!

I was touched by this memory from Elaine Hay of her family’s visits to Ocean City over the generations:

My grandchildren are my family’s fifth generation to vacation there! During happy 1970s college summers, I was a waitress at Del’s, still thriving on the fun-filled boardwalk. Later, as a 1989 mom, my family received prizes after I won a writing contest, and we were named the resort’s “First Family” that year.

A sad memory — also while in OCNJ but decades later — was the realization that my 30-year marriage had to end. But since, I’ve created new, wonderful memories!

A surreal one was a 2017 stay at the Impala, demolished weeks later and rebuilt. I was randomly given, from hundreds of possibilities, the exact — and virtually unchanged since the 1960s — room where I’d stayed with my parents when I was 14. During that vacation, I poured a bottle of peroxide over my hair. Ugh! I became “Miss Brassy Teen!”

Miss Brassy Teen!

📮 Send us your Shore memory in 200 words, or a simple Shore moment, for a chance to be featured here or tweet me @amysrosenberg.

🩴 See you next week. Things should mellow out down here … for awhile.

— Amy