Down The Shore

Down The Shore was Originally Posted on December 4, 2009 by lavarock

So I’m flipping channels and happen upon MTV and think I have latched on to another Real World episode. The scene shifts and I say “Hey, that looks like New Jersey”. Turns out it is, Seaside Heights NJ. Well, the MTV blurb for “Jersey Shore” calls it Seaside Heights, yet the guys are hanging over the boardwalk, which makes it Seaside Park, not the Heigths (at least as I remember it).

Although I have not spent summers there (like I did further up the shore), I still know people who live in Seaside and used to visit often enough. I used to live a few minutes south of Seaside; south of Tom’s River and Bayville. To coin a phrase, that was long ago and far away.

Most of my summer beach time was spent in Point Pleasant (before the TV show of the same name). My Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle and cousins all lived there, and I would stay part of the summer upstairs at my Grandmothers place. Often she would rent out upstairs, but once or twice I remember she would move from downstairs and stay up, while a large family stayed in her home.

Many of these houses had outside beach showers. These were small shower stalls where you could wash off sand before entering the house. I often think I should build one here to keep farm dirt outside. We don’t have the freezing issues here in Hawaii that they do in Jersey. Having been born in New Jersey allows me legally to use expressions such as “Jersey” and “Down the Shore”.

The worst sunburn I ever got was in Point Pleasant. I fell asleep face down and ended up sitting up all night with cans of spray Solorcaine. I tried the lotion but the pain for touch to put it on was more than I could stand. There also are images from places on the beach and the boardwalk that are etched in my mind.

My Grandmother gave me a daily allowance of a couple dollars and I would go up on the boardwalk to spend it. I would pay a small fee to get in those cages that swing back and forth and to completely around like a Ferris Wheel. I soon learned that if I went and counted each time I went completely around, that I would soon attract a crowd. Those people would then get in an adjoining cage. I also realized that I was bringing in business for the operator and he appeared to let me swing for a long time as long as I was counting and attracting attention. It worked for both of us!

Then I would go to the big wheel where they would spin it and if you “bet” correctly, you won candy. I often won big boxes of candy and gum, My Grandmother and Great Grandmother loved root beer candy, so I would often bring that back to them.

Back to Seaside. My friend Don’s father had a bar on the boardwalk. The bar would feature music and one there I met the Driftwers (“Under the Boardwalk”, “On Broadway”, etc). They were singing “Don’t Go” when we were there. Years later in Atlanta I go into a new pizza parlor. There are two guys in black shirts and white ties, and I heard them mention the “Shore” to the owner. When they left I asked him, “Which shore” and he said “New Jersey”. I told him I figured that, but where in “Jersey” to which he said Seaside and I asked the Heights or the Park? When I mentioned the bar there, he know exactly which one because he said he used to own the pizza place almost next door. He knew Don’s father too. A small world.

Later they would open casinos in Atlantic City and although I moved away, I still went back often. I knew many of the casinos inside and out. resorts was the first one; owned by Merv Griffin. It attracted an “older” crowd as other casinos opened. It was not unusual to see people come into town to the casinos, who really couldn’t afford to be there. You would see people wheeling tanks of oxygen and sporting tubes so they could breathe. Casinos allowed smoking but I never heard anyone complain back then. It is amazing that the casinos never came up with the idea of puting am oxygen tube at each slot machine (with a corresponding coin slot for another 10 minutes of fresh O2)!

When I would be waiting for friends to arrive in town and meet me, I would have to find a convenient place to find them. The glass walkway betwee nthe parking deck and the TropWorld casino was the easiest place to gather as there was very little chance people would miss you there. many of my friends had ham radio walkie-talkies and they made it easy to find people once they were in town. We just could not take them into the casinos.

Those beaches along the Jersey Shore bring back great memories of summer, but let me tell you, during the winter you really want to stay off the boardwalk!

I have many other tories, but that is all for tonight!

Wait! This just in! I just saw the promo for the next Real World, held in DC. Now you DO KNOW that I used to live all around the outskirts of D.C. don’t you? More stories on their way