Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I present to you a new annual holiday: Saucehose Day. I declare that it shall take place the Thursday before the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. On such a day, we honor the system by which sauce gets on top of the best kind of Jersey Shore pizzas: by a saucehose.
You can see it in the picture above, which was taken at Mack & Mancos. Pizzas are being created and consumed so quickly that the sauce is delivered right on top by that hose. Hence saucehose. It's brilliant. And wonderful. And one of those odd things that make the Jersey Shore so special.
(This kind of pizza is actually called Trenton style pizza if you're looking for a real fact of the day.)
I can't lay claim to the term. That credit goes to @clivedaddy, who first tweeted it. Things came to a head when Mike Meech of the Fightins went on a Phillies-related hunger strike that overlapped with Memorial Day Weekend last year. There was much debate if drinking directly from the sausehose would be considered eating or not. He eventually broke the fast with a slice from Mack and Mancos.
It's been a fun twitter element ever since. Even yesterday, Jason Nark of the Philadelphia Daily News tweeted "I'm near a #saucehose Alien territory for me," referring to being in Ocean City. Mack & Mancos isn't the only sausehose place, though. So in the comments, tell me your favorite saucehose pizza.
Speaking of which - we're trying to get #saucehose to trend today. So if you tweet about this, use that hashtag. And you can follow me on twitter to. I'm @jerseyshorejen.
A few people have accused me lately of excluding Wildwood from my recent shore writings and interviews I've given about the book. The most recent was from a local writer on a story I wrote about Best Beach Bargains.
Normally, I wouldn't comment - especially to a statement that is so false it's laughable.
But this kind of stuff can damage my reputation as a shore expert, and I think explaining how I pick what places go in articles, and how I chose what to talk about, would be interesting to some people.
So let's cue up the Bobby Rydell and look at what I've been saying about the Wildwoods lately.
At my Haddonfield Library talk, I discussed how some shore towns seem to identify with different areas in Philadelphia. That's mentioned in this report about the event. What she didn't mention was the long discussion I had with the audience about the Wildwood boardwalk, where I vehemently defended the safety of the rides at Morey's Piers, and how much the boardwalk has improved since the fatal boardwalk fires of the 1970s (not that I blame the reporter - I talked about a LOT that night)
Speaking of Morey's, I gave perhaps my longest comment about the incident to Jersey Kids. I also recommended the American Inn in Wildwood to anyone who still wanted to book a shore vacation for not a lot of money (they drop the price down the week before Labor Day).
Then there's the items you can't see. The Wildwoods figured prominently in my Jersey Shore trivia round at the Pop Shop on Monday night.
In August, I have not one but two articles in SJ Magazine that feature the Wildwoods heavily. I even emailed with the editor today to get one more Wildwood spot in the Best of the Shore feature because after going there on Saturday, I thought it deserved to be wormed in (she said yes).
And then there's the book, of course. It seems obvious to put that on the list, but one of the commenters, in an exchange on Twitter, admitted that she hadn't read it. I don't see how anyone can say I don't ever write about Wildwood when there's a big chapter dedicated to it in the book. Anyway.
For fun, let's go back to stories I've written about Wildwood in the past. Want another video? OK:
Which leads me to how I pick what I write about and what I talk about. Here are three general factors:
1. What are editors buying? For every story I get into print, at least five ideas are rejected. This year, Wildwood stories just weren't selling. They sure did last year (which is one of the reasons I put up that list of previous stories), but this year? Editors wanted Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Ocean City and Cape May. Those are the story ideas they bought from me, or assigned to me, so that's what I wrote. The other ideas about other towns will go into my pitch file to be brought out again next year. Sometimes they sell. It took me three years to get this one into print. I'm persistent in stories I believe in. Some of those are Wildwood stories. They just didn't get past the editorial hurdle this year.
2. How many spots am I given? One post that received one of the Wildwood comments was this one. Chris asked me to give him five places for the entire Jersey Shore. So that's five places out of the 140+ miles of beach that is known as the Jersey Shore. There are dozens of shore towns. I'm not slighting someone but not putting them on the list. It'd be impossible to include everyone. Even in the long feature I did for Edible Jersey about shore foods, I couldn't include everyone. I tried, but this isn't the All Star game. Not every town gets a representative.
3. What do they want in their round ups? This goes for stories that I write, guest blog posts, and interviews. Before the interview with the Patriot-News, I was told that he wanted what would be considered luxuries. Breakfast in the Sky was one of them. For the interest.com piece where one of the comments lies, my editor said that he wanted a free beach with free, easy parking. That beach is Strathmere, not the beaches of the Wildwoods. They're too crowded in season to be considered beaches with easy parking. Plus, there's meters where Strathmere has none. So Strathmere made the list. Back to that post for Chris, he wanted very VERY specific things to recommend, and not the obvious places, which is why I picked the items I did. I was criticized for not writing about the Wildwood Boardwalk. That's too obvious. So was Lucy the Elephant, who also didn't make the cut. Instead, I chose to write about one special ride on one pier in Ocean City. That's not a slight to Wildwood. That's doing what Chris asked me to do.
I don't keep a tally of what towns get mentioned where. There is no keeping score. I'm not paid by anyone to talk about their town more than another. That'd be against the journalistic ethics I maintain. I'm rarely pitched by PR people on what to write about, and they never pressure me into making sure they get mentioned in every article. While I'm conscious of trying not to repeat the same places over again, I'm going to write about or talk about exactly what I think the audience wants to read or hear about, whether that's an editor assigning me a story, or a blogger asking me to do a guest post. If you ask me to recommend a family friend boardwalk, I'm always going to say Ocean City. And if you ask me the best place to take teenagers for rides and/or water parks? The answer will always be Wildwood. I can't control the kinds of questions that are asked, or who asks them. I just answer them the best that I can.
I know, that's a long response. But this has really bothered me. For these people to dash of something they're assuming by looking at a sliver of my body of work - it's not just unprofessional, it's potentially damaging.
So there. I had my say.
Now, shall we end with a video? Take us out, Floss Stingel:
My editor at interset.com surprised me yesterday when he asked me if I'd write a piece about top Jersey Shore bargains for the website. I was surprised because it's a financial site, and most of my articles are about mortgages, credit cards, and debt.
The Steel Pier, an iconic part of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, is up for sale.
I'm not surprised. Trump said they were going to knock it down a few years ago to build on top of the site, but it survived, as it has been doing since 1898.
It's going to be auctioned, which gives me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's beachfront, and despite bad gambling revenues, everything else in Atlantic City is booming, according to the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority.
I hope it stays. What would AC be like without the Steel Pier?
I was helping someone plan a Jersey Shore wedding, and he and his fiance decided on Fourth of July Weekend for next year. He asked me how to drive the price per person down. I didn't have a lot of options for him - that's a really pricey time of the year for anyone visiting the shore - but I did suggest he get it written into the contract that wedding guests could get around the three night minimum, which is normal for a big holiday weekend like the one we're coming up on here.
Why? Because hotels and motels want guaranteed bookings. I can't really blame them, given the demand for the Fourth of July weekend, because they'll get those three night stays.
Some exceptions I've found: the casinos (though those rooms are pricey and going fast), off-island chain motels outside of Atlantic City, Pier 4 in Somers Point (though at last check, they were almost full), and you can also check with the campgrounds along Route 9 if you're OK with camping. This is not an exhaustive list.
Your best bet? Start dialing because people are going to cancel. I helped a couple find a room at the Pier 4 for Friday, and the hotel put them on a list to book them in a room on Saturday if there were a cancellation, which they say there inevitably will be. Things happen. People get sick, have to visit family, etc. You could squeak into their cancelled room for this upcoming weekend if you can put the time in on the phone. Whether or not they're require a three night minimum for picking up a cancelled room? That's up to them.
On Saturday, the dude and I drove down the shore early to sit on the beach in Strathmere for a few hours before my book signing at the Shamrock in Wildwood.
I was stopped at the bottom of the off ramp from the Garden State Parkway onto the causeway into Sea Isle when BUMP! The driver behind me rear ended my car.
Sigh.
If he hadn't been driving an old Nissan Pathfinder with a sharp grille in the front, I'd probably have been fine, but that was the result - a punctured bumper. I know it doesn't look like much in the picture, but it's not good.
While waiting for the State Trooper to fill out the accident report, the dude and I started chatting with the guy who hit me. End result: the guy bought a book and had me sign it to his son.
Lemonade out of lemons? Maybe I'll tell you how I feel after I go through the process of getting the bumper repaired, and how much it'll end up costing me (getting the accident report starts at $5.75, and while I have insurance, there's that good ol' deductible...) I haven't been in a car accident since I was 17 when I was was hit by a drunk driver, and my mom handled the insurance claims that time.
Anyway.
Fun signing! They even made a special drink for the event, the "Jersey Jen."
A lot of you have been tweeting and emailing me about where you're seeing the book for sale. If you snap a picture and send it to me, I'll run it on the blog!
In the July issue of New Jersey Monthly, I looked at what role if any Miss America still plays in the Atlantic City and Downbeach community (that's the catchall term for the towns of Ventnor, Margate and Longport, which share the island with Atlantic City). What I found surprised me. You can read about that here.
I've pitched this story three times. Maybe four. I forget since every time I get my shore pitches ready for magazines, this one is in it. I'd like to write a longer piece about this someday. I've been toying with pitching a book, but Frank Deford's There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America is so good that I don't know if I could top it. Then again, it was written 40 years ago...hm.
Would you read a serious non-fiction book about Miss America?
Jen A. Miller is a an author and freelance writer. Her memoir, Running a Love Story, was a Philadelphia Inquirer best book of the year. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, SELF, Buzzfeed and the Guardian, among others.
