News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Don't try it with the fake IDs, kids.

Sea Isle's got a farmer's market on Tuesdays.

Bless Jack Wright of Exit Zero for sticking with the convention hall issue in Cape May. I'd have bored me to tears. In fact, it already has - and I'm just reading about it.

Putt putt! Side note: my dad and younger brother (who is out the hospital, thank God) nicknamed my high school boyfriend "Putt Putt" because he played golf - all state, if I remember right. But he was never very good a mini golf. Go figure.

The New York Post offers up their Atlantic City recommendations.

Nature Center of Cape May has a new exhibit.

Sure you want to put bars on the boardwalk and extend bar hours, Wildwood?

I want to go to there. I do. I really do.

Be Nice to NJ Week

July 4-10 has been declared "Be Nice to New Jersey Week" by Affinia Manhattan Hotel. For the entire month of July, they'll be offering New Jersey residents 13% off rates, Jersey themed menus and complimentary cocktails named after Joseph P. Rose, a Newark restauranteur from the 1920s.

You can check out the details here.

Of course, every week is Be Nice to New Jersey Week around here, but we'll take all the help we can get.

First Draft

Tada! There it is - the first draft of what I'm calling "V2." It's far from finished - I still need to rework the events sections, do on-the-ground research in three towns and write up the new "48 hours" section of each chapter where I'll recommend itineraries if you're spending the weekend in one particular shore town. I'm waiting until I have a roughly finished list of places I'm including to create those. Then there's adding in sidebars gleaned from research done on shore articles for the last three years and new photo lists.

In short: there's still a lot to do. But I feel better about my progress now that I have a structure in place, and I can start expanding from there. I'm light years away from what I call a "hard edit" where I go over every single word and period and line break while reading the chapters out loud. Yes, I said out loud. I catch a lot of errors that way.

I promised myself that I wouldn't work during vacation, but I might just have to. Oh, well. At least I won't have to drive far this time.

Unfortunately, I had to miss Steve's wedding in Atlantic City this weekend. The good news is that my brother could be discharged from the hospital today. What a scary ride. Thanks to everyone who emailed me privately to wish him well.

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Big bus crash on the Atlantic City Expressway. These busses scare the crud out of me - be careful if you see one.

New show coming to Cape May Stage.

Birders will be happy about this osprey project.

Out of typical blog coverage range but I'll share it anyway: I wrote a short piece about a house up for auction in Monmouth Beach on Sunday. Got about $3 million in cash to spend? Might be for you.

Sounds like an obvious thing to say: DON'T CAR SURF.

MARBLES!

WINE!

Film series coming to Atlantic City.

Interesting bit here - the headline is "3 portfolio managers drop anchor at Stone Harbor." The Stone Harbor referenced is Stone Harbor Investment Properties, based in Manhattan. Methinks the headline writer is a Jersey Shore fan!

I could make a joke about this, but I'm tired - write your own.

Tired because my brother has been in the hospital since Sunday - he had his appendix removed and is having complications. Any good thoughts/karma/juju you could send his way would be much appreciated.

More to Jersey

Blog friend and good friend Steve Chernoski set out with his camera on Saturday to show more of NJ than what New York lazy media producing reality TV would like you to see.

Speaking of which - Steve's getting hitched on Saturday! I'll be at the wedding in Atlantic City. Expect a full report...

Frugal Finds?

I'm almost ALMOST done the first draft of the book. Whipee! The process has been to take the manuscript from the first edition, tear it apart, put it back together again, then hit the ground for research to make sure the book is as up to date as possible.

This research has lead me to think of adding a "Frugal Finds" section. In each shore town, there's a few out of the way outlet shops that might not look like much from the outside but can be bargain centers on the inside. Some are obvious, like the Walk Outlets in Atlantic City, but some are a little bit tucked away, like the Cape May Linen Outlet in Cape May, and the Attic in Stone Harbor.

Would you find this kind of information, in its own separate part of each chapter of the book, helpful?

News from around the South Jersey Shore

Beer pong! (and not just the outside your Avalon shore house kind)

A group called the Happy Seniors had a great time in Cape May. I saw a lot of seniors down there yesterday, and a group of I think Amish folk.

Speaking of Cape May: this again.

CUTE!!!!

Bye, bye Busch's.

Two snow leopards were born at the Cape May County Zoo.

One day sale

The Chelsea in Atlantic City is offering a big sale if you book your room today. The prices range from $49 for room mid-week in June to $179 for a Friday in July or August (no word on prices for Saturday, so I'm guessing those don't change since they're so in demand).

Even that $179 on the high range of this deal is a fantastic deal for a nice spot to stay in July or August. So if you looking to do a shore night soon, jump on this.

Summer Solstice in Atlantic City

On June 26, Atlantic City will host its first Summer Solstice parade at 1pm on the Boardwalk. It celebrates the longest day of the year. It'll start at the Showboat and feature a bunch of floats. I'm tempted to go just to see the Miss'd American entry into the parade.

I'll actually be in Atlantic City that day for a wedding - the wedding of this guy to be exact. The parade starts at the site of their reception. Coincidence? I think not.

News from around the South Jersey Shore

Newsweek published a big piece about why gambling's taken a hit in NJ.

I don't get why this is a secret beach. Strathmere or Higbee beach, maybe...

Careful out there.

Peter Max is back.

Wildwood, you are going in the WRONG DIRECTION. What are you thinking?!

Blurb Me

I filled out a bunch of forms this morning that my publisher will use in marketing the second edition of the book. This got me thinking - I should probably put some nice blurbs on there.

The first time around, I didn't have any, but the book earned so much great press that for the new version, we'll print some of those nice words on the cover.

I'd like to get some names to drop good praise on the book, though. This is usually where some recognized authority of the area will say a nice thing about me or the book that I can use to say "hey, please buy this!"

I'm stumped. Suggestions?

Gem of Jersey!

Big thanks to AOL Travel, who named me a "Gem of New Jersey" in a piece that went live on their site this week.

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do as a gem. As I type this, I'm wearing a circa 1990 MGM Studios Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular t-shirt and sweatpants with "University of Tampa" logo on the leg. I don't think gold eye shadow would quite match.

(And I know that's a picture of Jem with a J - but close enough)

Boardwalk Empire at BEA

That's me with Nelson Johnson, author Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City at Book Expo America (if I look shiney, I apologize - it was about 9,000 degrees in New York that day).

I interviewed Johnson for a story that, unfortunately, will not be published in its original form. It was written for a magazine of an airline that flew to Atlantic City at the time, but doesn't now. A version of it will appear in the second version of the book, which will come out next year, and I'm probably going to run it on this blog when HBO's version of the book in the form of a TV series debuts in September.

Not sure related, but thiswas the best book I saw at the expo. It's, uh, not for kids.

Ocean City's Hobo

No, it's not what you think. Hobo was a dog - and he had a great story as part of Ocean City's history. Check it out here.

I came across Hobo's story while working on the Ocean City chapter of the book. Nice to see that a lot of places have added or upgraded their website. It makes the first draft much easier (after this is done, I'll head down and double check everything, look for what's new, what should be cut, etc...)

Jersey Doesn't Stink

I think I'm in love. Please look at this site. DO IT NOW.

I found it on a lark. I'm tracking down who's running this and seeing if this blog, small as it is, can be a sponsor.

Spread the word, people. Someone with some sort of funding and creativity (because we all know how NJ Tourism is on THAT front) is finally stepping to the plate for the Garden State.

News from around the South Jersey Shore

Somers Point is getting new swanky digs.

Watch out for the casino falcon.

This again?! Jebus, Cape May. I hope that I don't see any more stories about parking meters and/or the Convention Center this week...

Review of Conan O'Brien's Borgata show.

Good good good.

Bad bad bad.

TERRIBLE: Three people set fire to an Ocean City lifeguard boat. Way to go shoobies.

Welcome, Ms. Hathaway

Anne Hathaway has been known to hang around Cape May. Now, mom Kate Hathaway has a role in I Hate Hamlet, an upcoming show at Cape May Stage that runs June 16 to July 17.

We we be seeing the younger Hathaway this time around? Maybe...

Shore Tunes

Writing of The Jersey Shore: Atlantic City to Cape May, Edition 2 is in full swing. I'm pulling apart the first edition of the book and shuffling the order of things, rewriting entries, cutting out places that have closed or I don't think are worth mentioning anymore, updating and revising the history portions and marking where I'll need to take photos.

Even though it's technically a revision, this is a lot of work, and I usually can't do this kind of work without some kind of musical background. In the last month of writing the first edition, I listened to Guster On Ice - Live From Portland, Maine 25 times. Yes, 25. In fact, I'm listening to it right now, and turned it on as soon as I set in on revising Atlantic City History, which was my project for the morning.

What tunes do you use to get you through the day? I've used Pandora a few times for a mix, but I'm more of an album person. matt pond PA and Pete Yorn also work for me. What suggestions do you have?

P.S. to Guster. Could you rush that new album along so I can have it by my writing side this summer? K, thanks.

How Was Your Memorial Day Weekend?

That's me taking a break in Clayton Park, NJ, where I went mountain biking yesterday. It's only my second time out. I did not break myself. I consider this a success.

If I wasn't worried about getting caught in shore traffic, I'd have tried to zip over to Asbury Park after the bike ride. Seemed like a nice beach day.

So how did you guys spend your weekend? I ended up working quite a bit, napping, and reading an excellent book that, unfortunately, has some inaccuracies in the chapter where the family goes to Atlantic City.

P.S. To check out pics from the bike ride, check out Garrick Goh's excellent Flickr account.