More on Miss America

I have a weird fascination with Miss America. When I was writing the book, they were in limbo between Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and before their headquarters moved out of the Sheraton Atlantic City, I got the chance to tour their offices which - surprise surprise - were very girly.

That why I'm making a post about this piece in the Press of Atlantic City rather than just putting it in a news round up.

WHY DO I CARE?! WHY DOES ANYONE CARE?!

If you have any insights - or feel the same way - hit up the comments.

Speaking of dressing up, I'm going to the Meridian Gala at Ocean Place in Long Branch on Saturday. No, I will not be wearing a tiara.

Writing for AOL Travel

I picked up a new gig that's just shown its face on the mighty mighty interwebs: I'm now a contributing writer for AOL Travel.

My first piece, which is about using debit vs. credit cards while traveling, went online yesterday.

My next piece is about a topic that I've wanted to write about for a while - and no, it's NOT about the Jersey Shore. I love it, of course, but I've written travel about other areas since I started freelancing. My first piece was about a tea shop in Oxford. That was probably back when I still had an AOL email address. Full circle...

Boardwalk Empire in the New Yorker

Ben McGrath has an interesting short piece in the New Yorker about fact checking the HBO show Boardwalk Empire.

Can I fact check this? First, Revel is not an unfinished high rise. It's an unfinished mega-casino. Second, Phish at the "old convention hall"? I don't think that's the best way to describe Boardwalk Hall, which is an amazing - and recently renovated - building of its own right.

I quibble, yes. But hey. It's my territory.

UPDATE: I went and wrote a letter to the editor. I doubt it'll run, but at least I had my say.

Winter Wonderlands

Calling all shore folks: I'm going to be writing a post for the week before Thanksgiving of what holiday things are going on in my favorite place in the world. So if you know of something (yes, all two of you PR people who read this site), let me know what's cooking!

Side note: I've been planning two trips for December: one for Washington, DC, and one for Cape May. I've been reaching out for advice on DC. But Cape May? I think I've got that covered :-)

Vintage Shore Tees

If you've read this site long enough, you KNOW I love vintage shore stuff. So you can imagine how I feel about these t-shirts being offered by retrophilly.com.

I'm PARALYZED by the options. Do I get the jitney tshirt? Mr. Peanut? Or honor the Anchorage, which is still one of my favorite shore bars? Or SKEEBALL?

Way too many decisions to make at once. At least I have some time before Christmas.

Hat tip to Enrico for the link.

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Cape May knitters: click here.

Well, this is good news - spending on things OTHER than gambling has gone up in Atlantic City.

Though this news about the city's credit rating isn't great.

I saw a version of this in London. Hysterical - and in Cape May!

I usually lament "small town politics" when linking to stories about Cape May, but this week, Sea Isle gets in on the action.

So this has nothing to do with Stone Harbor, NJ (it mentions a Stone Harbor Resort) but I had to link anyway because the guy's name IS JACK MONEYPENNY. Awesome.

Resorts gets a revamp

And boy do they need it.

Resorts, which was Atlantic City's original casino, a mismash of the old Haddon-Chalfonte Hotel and gaming, is going retro. They're being re-themed to harken back to the 1920s. Good time to play up on the Boardwalk Empire trend that's going around.

It could be fun, and Resorts could use something new. I've only really gone for the Boogie Nights club nights - which is STAYING, thank God. Maybe this will bring back new life to the original AC casino.

Sorry again for the relative blog silence. I've been adjusting to life as a full time employee, and probably went on shore overload while finishing the book. I'll be back. Promise :-)