🌞2024 Shore predictions! | Down the Shore

So, it’s back? Summer? Not that anyone around here has been feeling it. I spent some time away from the Shore during the offseason, helping to welcome a little guy to the fam. When I returned to Jersey, all anyone could talk about was the string of lousy weekends, at least weather-wise. And skies have seemed a little … grey. Until maybe this week! The weather this summer will be … fine. Unless, and the memory of last summer’s suboptimal weekend weather still stings, it’s not.

Welcome to the third season of our Down the Shore newsletter.

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

Did anything happen during the offseason, you ask? So much, yet nothing. I got the usual warning about dogs on the beach from a bicycle officer (who also confided they don’t patrol before 8 a.m., so unofficial morning dog hours shall commence).

The mayor of Atlantic City was charged in the alleged abuse of his daughter, as was his wife, the first lady of Atlantic City, who also happens to be superintendent of schools.

The first lady of New Jersey, who wanted to also be a U.S. senator, dropped out of the race, leaving U.S. Rep. Andy Kim clear sailing in the June 4 Democratic primary.

On the Republican side, Cape May hotelier Curtis Bashaw is the favorite to get the Republican nomination.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump came to Wildwood to speak to a gathering that was either in the thousands or more than 100,000 depending on who was counting (realistically in the low- to mid-five figures). On-brand city officials made sure to turn on seasonal parking meters.

But politics aside! Look, everyone is now wearing red Phillies hats, a trend that I predict will usher in a kinder, gentler Shore season. Keep those Phillies flags flying.

» READ MORE: An “Appeal to Heaven” flag was spotted at Justice Samuel Alito’s Long Beach Island home in July and September last year, according to the New York Times.

Read my other predictions for summer of 2024, including the continuing erosion of the old Jersey Shore vibe, a slowing but decent summer economy, the Kelces’ total domination of Sea Isle, and a long tail to summer that will include October beach days (and Phillies baseball).

📮 Question: Should people stick to the Phillies and not fly political flags on the beach? Let me know what you think and I’ll get the conversation going by replying to this email.

🌡️ Looks like a nice (late spring) weekend, what the Press of Atlantic City is calling “pretty typical,” for Memorial Day weekend.

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here. Keep scrolling for news, tips, memories from Danny DeVito, our new Shore slam book feature, hosted by Ocean City’s game-changing new pizza maker.

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

🐦‍ Causeway birds: My colleagues Tony Wood and Liz Robertson documented the nesting going on under Ocean City’s Route 52 Causeway Bridge near the visitor’s center. Check out these amazing photos of the egrets and white ibis.

🎸 Cape May goes Newport: The city of Cape May was meticulously transformed into Newport, R.I., as filming for a Bob Dylan movie took over the town earlier this month. A Complete Unknown, a biopic about Dylan starring Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning, focuses on the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan shocked the masses by going electric.

😎 Margate gets a legend: Shirley McLaine was seen hobnobbing around Margate.

🌿 ‘Weedtrepreneurs’ are cultivating a beachfront cannabis culture.

🍽️ Guess who was in Wildwood riffing about Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer who eats his victims, and calling Chris Christie a “fat pig.” But why Wildwood? Check out Inquirer journalist Jenna Miller’s video for some answers from the streets.

⚖️ This former Wildwood mayor, meanwhile, was hit with new charges.

⏰ Teen mayhem? North Wildwood cracks down on teens, and potentially their parents. Here’s my colleague Henry Savage’s guide to all curfew laws.

⛱️ Beach unspreading? North Wildwood, which is getting an infusion of emergency sand, is also banning tents and cabanas.

❓ Where did the term “beach spreading” come from, you ask? Read all about it.

🎤 Relive the Memories! The late Jerry Blavat won’t be there, but his vibe will be at his revived Memories in Margate, now under new owners. Michael Klein takes you inside the hallowed club.

📲 Book a short-term rental?

🏨 Treat yourself at one of these Shore hotels which, my colleague Elizabeth Wellington writes, have everything.

🏰 But no wine. Check out this newly renovated French luxury hotel located in dry Ocean City.

🎶 Go hear live music, though not on the Atlantic City beaches this year. Dan DeLuca has the Jersey Shore music preview.

🥙 Eat a sandwich from these 12 spots recommended by Mike Klein. To which I would add Ventnor’s new Two Sisters Vietnamese Eatery, where I got a lovely lemongrass tofu banh mi.

🚐 Stop on your way down the Shore at these spots recommended by The Inquirer’s Craig LaBan.

⛺ You can’t camp on the beach, but Jason Nark says you can get pretty close.

Which Cape May County town is the only Shore town south of Atlantic City to allow the sale of marijuana?

A. Strathmere

B. West Cape May

C. Cape May

D. Longport

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out. Or take a guess and email us with the answer.

Mike Fitzick is a pizza savant who ran the artisanal Bakeria 1010 in Linwood, then tried to make it work up and down the A.C. Expressway with Bar 1010 in Philly, and now is back at the Shore with the return of Bakeria 1010 at 955 Asbury Ave. in Ocean City, diving into the deep end of the town’s legendary pizza patriarchy.

Look for our feature this weekend on Fitzick’s return to Ocean City (where he got his start at the sauce hose at Mack & Manco’s) on Inquirer.com. Here, Fitzick agrees to answer a few rapid-fire questions, slam book style.

Favorite beach: The gardens beaches, by the Longport bridge.

Favorite breakfast: I had the spiciest big breast of chicken curry, and I wrapped it up and cracked anegg inside. The heat from the chicken cooks the egg. But mostly, I’m cold brews until lunch.

Perfect beach day: Get out of the shop at 2, then you’re at the beach until it’s dark. You put in your morning shift; it’s so much more satisfactory.

Perfect night: Home with the family. I’m 40 years old with two baby girls, 2 and 6.

Best sandwich: Oh dude. it’s gone. Voltaco’s Italian with everything on it.

When MDW approaches, I feel: Nervous.

Best thing for kids: Jilly’s arcade. The new arcade games know if there’s a toddler or kid playing and it just adjusts.

Surfing or fishing? Surfing. I hate fishing.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise.

Shore pet peeves? Oh my God. The people walking in the crosswalk when it’s a red light.

Any local knowledge? We get all our stuff in [during] April and May and September, before the crowds. The rest is kind of up in the air.

The Shore could be improved if: We all just … got along. There’s a stigma between locals and Shoobies.

We’ll let Danny DeVito take the wheel for this one. My colleague Rosa Cartagena interviewed DeVito about growing up in Asbury Park in this wonderful feature.

Here’s an excerpt:

My first job was on the boardwalk, it was great. I was 14 and basically ran the kiddie rides, you know, a fire engine or a car. You put the toddlers in and you tell them to ring the bell and turn the wheel. They go around in circles on this little wooden platform.

It was a beautiful place to grow up. I lived 13 blocks from the beach. I’d ride my bike down there every day and wait for the old security guard to look the other way and jump over the rail. I’d stay down at the beach all day and I’d look like a coffee bean.

I’d go off the jetties to fish out there. You could catch flounder, fluke, and kingfish. My father was always going down to the end of the jetty with a pail, a pack of cigarettes, and a stool.

📮 Send us your Shore memory or describe your quintessential Shore experience. 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.

See you on the flip side!

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