🧐 Avalon gets even more exclusive | Down the Shore

This week, we tackle a thorny issue: Has Avalon jumped the shark?

With the big-footprint arrival of the Union League, which paid $23 million (!) to buy the Whitebrier Bar and Restaurant for its members, the town feels more out of reach than ever, — even for some of the people who live there. Of course, many of the people who own homes in Avalon are also Union League members. As many as 1,500 of them live in Avalon and Stone Harbor alone, and about 2,500 of the Union League’s 4,000 members have second homes in Cape May County.

I interviewed some of the people still hanging onto the old Avalon vibe, including one that’s still in a summer share house at the age of 56, and another that owns a home valued at $2.9 million but now can’t get her usual limoncello martini and sushi at the Whitebrier. I also interviewed John Tracy, the grandson of former Whitebrier owner Anthony Zurawski, who is still the general manager under the new ownership. He had some thoughtful perspective. Check out my story here.

Keep scrolling for another round of disappearing-Shore trivia, a beach tent etiquette question, and an interview with David Litt, the former Obama speechwriter whose fun yet sneaky-deep memoir It’s Only Drowning, A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground, has just been published.

📮 Is Avalon losing its way? Does the Union League’s arrival change something fundamental about the town? Or has that ship sailed? Let me know what you think by replying to this email and I’ll include your most interesting responses.

Have ideas or news tips about the Shore? Send them to me here.

🥵 It’s hot down here too. Ocean has been beautiful though.

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

🤝 If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

🏈 It’s Kelce and Eagles autism foundation week in Sea Isle! Jason and Kylie were doing yoga on the beach and Kylie was taping a podcast with Jenni “JWoww” Farley of MTV’s Jersey Shore fame. Jason and fellow Eagles were doing their celebrity guest bartending at the Ocean Drive.

🍤 Kylie, meanwhile, reports Matt Breen, refuses to call her regular buffalo shrimp order at Mike’s Seafood in Sea Isle City “Kelce’s Buffalo Shrimp.”

♾️ The Kelces and owner Mike Monichetti share another passion: supporting autism research.

🏘️ Tiny house: Jason Nark takes a look at the endless appeal of the Shore’s backyard bungalows.

🤠 The Barefoot Country Music Festival celebrated its fifth year, taking over Wildwood’s beach last weekend, interrupted once by lightning, packing in tens of thousands of people every night. The culmination was an emotional performance by Jelly Roll. People were not OK!

🌬️ Gov. Murphy tells Wayne Parry of the Press of Atlantic City he’s not giving up on offshore wind.

🏈 Beach taxi service is ready in Beach Haven.

📷 Philly man was charged with placing hidden cameras in Ocean City bathrooms.

🛟 An Asbury Park lifeguard was impaled by a beach umbrella.

👨‍🍳 It’s LaBan week! Inquirer restaurant critic — and all around nice guy — Craig LaBan reveals his Jersey Shore picks. He’s got interesting choices from Polly’s Dock in Beach Haven to Wild Roots Provisions in Cape May, plus a well-deserved shout-out to our friends at Remedee Coffee and some amazing meals at a couple of exciting little spots in Atlantic City, Gouté Creole and Sabor Latino 2. See all 25 of his picks here.

🧘‍♀️ Do beach yoga on the 37th Street beach in Ocean City.

👑 See Killer Queen at the Ocean City Music Pier on Monday, featuring frontman Patrick Myers as Freddie Mercury.

🎺 Ocean City Pops opens its schedule at the Pier on Sunday night.

😎 Beachstock! Margate’s celebration is Saturday, with food, music, and a cornhole championship, culminating in a nighttime performance by NJ British Invasion.

💥 Brigantine’s Firecracker 5K and dog walk is Sunday.

You guys are good with bar questions! Moore’s Inlet, of course, was the dearly departed watering hole in North Wildwood. First to answer was Brian B. of Mayfair.

This week’s question:

This pizza joint in Avalon served late-night revelers on Ocean Drive for 30 years. In 2021, the family moved to the Florida Keys and closed the pizzeria, a blow to old Avalon (see above and here).

What was the name of the pizzeria?

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out, or email us here.

Mary Ann Settembrino of Ocean City writes: Our beach might be the smallest on the island. We owners and regular summerlong tenants are fed up by the increased number of beach hogs. The footprint that the shade contraptions that they set up is massive compared to the usable shade they provide. Isn’t there a legal limit to how many people can safely be on a beach?

Before I weigh in, and I am somewhat of an expert on beach spreading, I turn the question over to Down the Shore readers. What do you think? Are beach tents and general crowding an issue that needs to be regulated? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

David Litt is a former Obama speechwriter, humorist, and joke writer whose latest book is It’s Only Drowning, A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground.

The book is a mismatched Jersey Shore bromance that chronicles the overthinking Litt learning to leave it all behind and surf in Asbury Park and Hawaii while discovering he can be pals with his Joe Rogan-loving brother-in-law.

Litt answered our Shore questions.

Favorite beach: Asbury Park dog beach.

Favorite summer breakfast: Straight up everything bagel, not toasted, cream cheese from Asbury Roastery.

Your idea of a perfect beach day: Long summer day where you get two low tides on the same day, three to four foot waves, two good surf sessions in.

Perfect night? I love when the Stone Pony summer stage has a concert, to walk the boardwalk, and do the loop on Cookman. You’re hearing the echoes of really good live music. That’s a very Asbury Park experience.

Best Shore sandwich: Pumpernickel bagel from Bagel Masters in Shrewsbury with chicken salad and slice of tomato.

Ice cream/water ice order? Cookman Creamery’s lemon cookie: lemon ice cream with vanilla Oreos.

When summer approaches, I feel: Excited.

It wouldn’t be the Jersey Shore without: Springsteen. I feel like there’s an artist who loves a place and tells the story of that place. We have that.

Best thing for kids: Go to the dog beach. It’s like a giant zoo for children.

Surfing or fishing? Surfing. I was trying to get into fishing. Caught the world’s smallest fluke.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I have to get up early for surfing. It’s not fair.

Shore pet peeve? People from out of town take not blocking driveways very creatively.

The Shore could be improved if: The one thing I miss from growing up in New York City is really good regional Chinese food.

From Rich Patrick: Every year when I was a kid in the early 50s we went to Beach Haven for two weeks. Most days we would row our little row boat to an island on the Barnegat Bay. Under the drawbridge and about 20 minutes of rowing. We would travel the little canals thru the island searching for crabs. We used fish heads for bait tied to a string and used a net to scoop them up. We got our fish heads at the fish market at the circle at the end of the road from the bridge to LBI. They were free. The ocean fishing boats would beach themselves next to the market and plenty of fish fell of the boats when they unloaded. We got lots of fish which my mom cooked for dinner with the crabs we caught. All our friends and relatives would come to visit and enjoy the seafood my mom made.

🎣 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.

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