⛄ Winter (almost) dispatch from the beach | Down the Shore

Taylor Swift gets it. “Snow on the beach,” she wrote in her latest album, Midnights, is “weird but f—ing beautiful.”

Swift, who spent many a summer in Stone Harbor, singing karaoke at Henny’s, playing acoustic guitar in the Coffee Talk cafe, running around in Sea Isle sweatshirts, remembers her time at the Shore as “magical.” And not just in summer, apparently.

Winter can indeed be a super cool time down the Shore, even before a blanket of snow turns the sand white, freezes the frothy surf, and transforms the entire beach-scape into a surreal palette of grays and whites.

I wrote my own little verses about the beach in winter recently, venturing that It might even be a lovelier time than summer, ”especially if you’re into dogs and not that many people,” a line which made me laugh when I read that after publication. Sounds a bit antisocial, more than I meant it, though, perhaps not.

The real surprise was that people seemed to agree! Oh, those sunsets, when the declination of the sun, and the not quite parallel-ness of barrier islands, result in a beach walk at dusk looking straight into a setting sun. Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, sort of. Weird, but beautiful. Not to mention, Santa’s always showing up in a lifeguard boat, giant menorahs are casting long shadows a block from the ocean, and people are sticking Christmas trees into the sand. And seats are miraculously waiting for you, usually, at your favorite places. Local pickle ball players emerge from hiding to regain control over the courts.

I was reminded after the story published that fishing is next-level once the air cools. Striper season is its own kind of manic joy, with surf fishermen chasing them down the beach. (”It’s not hard to catch them from the beach,” one experienced angler told me. “It’s much easier at night though. Just requires enough beer.”) Out in the ocean, boaters are catching stripers, sea bass, and tog. And it’s the time of year when people can drive their trucks on the beach, and not just in Brigantine.

And when it snows, and last year, it really dumped the stuff on the Shore, it is all truly just so … magical. It reminds me a bit of those years I spent working on Christmas, finding little vignettes, when everything is a story because … it’s Christmas. Two people walking down the street talking to each other … on Christmas! A kid playing alone on his porch … on Christmas! Church services … on Christmas! Anything sad … on Christmas. Sigh.

Here it’s the Boardwalk … with snow! Seagulls … and snow! A summer motel … in the snow! Lucy the Elephant … covered in snow!

But listen, as any local knows, winter’s also a good time to get up from sea level, and lots of us head for the mountains, or, as I did recently, to a place like the Lodge at Woodloch, the spa in Hawley, Pa., where New Yorkers and others do things like Barry White yoga, and where I sat first in a hot room filled with Himalayan salt, and next in a cold room filled with artificial snow. And then I pulled a rope and got doused from a Tyrolean bucket shower. And that too was weird but … beautiful.

📮 Do you have any winter memories of the Shore? Or is summer still where the magic happens? Let me know what you think for our next pop-up newsletter by replying to this email.

❄️ Nor’easter Nick Pittman thinks there won’t be as much snow down the Shore this year.

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

🍷 Ocean City Winery update. The controversial Ocean City Winery, located not in the dry Shore town but in nearby Upper Township, has dropped plans for a on-site tasting room.

🧊 Stanley Holmes Village residents are fighting for basic services, like heat and hot water. The historic but aging public housing in Atlantic City is slated for a rebuild, and city and federal officials are trying to help, but in the meantime, others have been collecting and donating electric heaters.

🛒 Missing supermarket Atlantic City Councilperson Kaleem Shabbazz held a vigil on the site of the promised new ShopRite in Atlantic City, which “broke ground” a year ago but, Bill Barlow reports, has gone dormant.

🍕 An ex-owner of Tony’s Baltimore Grill was sentenced to 37 months for his role in a scheme to defraud the state health benefits plan by recruiting teachers, firefighters, police officers, and a pizzeria owner.

🍿 Movies are returning to Ocean City as the group that revived the Ventnor, Stone Harbor, Rio Grande, and Tilton Square theaters has purchased the Moorlyn Theatre.

🐘 Lucy the Elephant was checked for leaks and has emerged from her scaffolding. A formal unveiling will be Dec. 28.

🏨 Upscale hotels are planned for Ocean City and Wildwood.

⏳ North Wildwood continues its battles with the state over eroding beaches. Now the state is suing the town for shoring up its dunes. Frank Kummer explains.

🏳️‍🌈 Shore Congressman Rep. Jeff Van Drew voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, but the A.C. Press reports that other local politicians, including Assemblyman Don Guardian, who married his husband, Louis Fatato, in 2014, support the law protecting same-sex marriages.

🎣 Fish for tog. The “Osprey” sportfishing boat will take you out fishing from Kammerman’s Marina in Atlantic City pretty much daily through Jan. 17 and again throughout most of April. More info here at Osprey Fishing.

🥊 Boxx for Tots Margate’s Jon Simon holds his annual toy drive/boxing class blockbuster, with three special classes (and after-parties). Bring a new, unwrapped toy, more info is here.

🐻‍❄️ Polar bear plunge OK, so I rarely do these myself, but they are awesome to watch, most on New Year’s Day, Sea Isle’s over Presidents’ Day Weekend. As I wrote here, “The trucks come out on the beach, the bathrobes and Ugg crowd fortifies itself, and the gang is all there, like it’s the middle of July. Only better.”

🎄Christmas in Atlantic City? Travel and Leisure just named everybody’s fave seaside resort one of the 25 best Christmas towns in the USA. Hmm, well, OK then! Certainly the casinos never shut down. Check out some brand new restaurants in Atlantic City, including Hell’s Kitchen and Nobu at Caesars.

🦪 Oyster pie from Sweet Amalia’s. Is this celebrated Route 40 roadside farm stand that Esquire named one of country’s best new restaurants and Craig Laban put in his top 10 really down the Shore, or even on the way? Debatable. But if you want to try the oyster pie or order some of the famous oysters, here’s the place to preorder.

Another Philly-area songwriter wrote about the Jersey Shore not too long ago: “I was on the beach but I was thinking about the bay/Got to the bay but by then I was far away/I was on the ground but looking straight into the sun/But the sun went down and I couldn’t find another one/For awhile.”

Is that singer:

A. Bruce Springsteen

B. Adam Weiner

C. Al Alberts

D. Kurt Vile

If you think you know the answer, click to hear the song.

Is it still OK to visit our friends or family with Shore houses in the offseason? Related, is it too soon to ask about next summer?

This can be a lovely time to visit. Less pressure to spend the day at the beach, more parking, brisk walks, seats open at the bar at the Knife & Fork. But maybe ask if the heat actually reaches where your room/bed will be (for us, that’s kind of a not really).

As for part 2, too soon for friends/family. Definitely not too soon for booking your own rentals.

Unsure about what’s good behavior down the Shore? Ask us your questions by replying to this email.

Taylor Swift shared her Shore memories in this 2009 Inquirer interview with Robert Strauss. Doesn’t sound like she went to the beach that much!

Here’s an excerpt:

It was really cool living on the bay, and we have so many stories about it. We used to all gather together on the dock when the boat parades would go by on July 4 and we’d shoot water balloons at them.

I made a clubhouse in the room above my garage and made a filing system of members of the club. Everyone had a profile that I would write on tiles I found. I painted the whole room different colors and used to spend all day in there just doing nothing but sitting in my little club. Because it was mine.

We lived across from the bird sanctuary and I had a pair of binoculars, and some days I’d just stare at the window, looking for birds. Or the boy who lived next door to me, whom I swore I would marry someday. One summer when I was 11, I wrote a novel. I was allowed to be kind of weird and quirky and imaginative as a kid, and that was my favorite part of living at the Shore.

Like I said, she really gets it. 📮 Send your Shore memory here.

Stay in touch! I miss all the emails from the summer!