The Jersey Shore Uncovered: A Revealing Season on the Beach - Hardcover

Peter Genovese

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813533155 ISBN 13: 9780813533155

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This is not your typical Jersey Shore book.

Yes, you'll find the obvious-beaches and boardwalks, lifeguards and lighthouses, fishing and food. But Peter Genovese will also take you off the beaten track for an insider's look at this famous (and infamous) 127-mile stretch from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

Birders, tiki hut builders, beach cleaners, wheel-of-chance operators, she-crab soup makers-they're all here. You'll check out an Airstream-only trailer park and visit a Point Pleasant Beach house where the music of Frank Sinatra plays nearly 24/7. Genovese will introduce you to the owner of the Stone Pony and to participants at the grueling Atlantic City Around-the-Island Swim as they describe their battles with tides, exhaustion, and face-stinging jellyfish. All of that, plus you'll find out why Ocean Grove residents write their names on their flowerpots.

Beach reading just doesn't get any better than this.

Spend a summer with Peter Genovese as he chronicles a typical wild and wacky, kitschy and classy season along the New Jersey coastline.

Lifeguards, surfers, beachgoers, birders, ice cream vendors, seashell sellers, banner pilots-they're all here. You'll be on the scene when Atlantic City's mayor officially begins summer by "unlocking the ocean," get a whiff of the state barbeque championship, watch the nation's longest-running all-women lifeguard competition, and even spend a weekend, Survivor-style, on a Barnegat Bay island.

The Ocean City Baby Parade, Clownfest, the state's hottest bikini contest, and the World Series of Surf Fishing are all covered. You'll also meet the folks at the Diamondback Terrapin Conservation Project, the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Genovese introduces you to Little Miss Chaos and the King of Corn, the Jersey Shore Hot Dog Queen, and Lucky Leo. You'll go on patrol with the New Jersey State Marine Police, meet the man behind Big Mike's E-Z Bail Bonds, and find salvation at the Boardwalk Chapel.

The Jersey Shore Uncovered flawlessly depicts the timeless allure of New Jersey beach culture. Along with his stories, Genovese brings readers hundreds of color and black-and-white photos that brilliantly capture exactly what makes this 127-mile stretch of shoreline unique. Whether you've never been to a New Jersey beach or you're a Jersey native who spends your summers "down the Shore," you're certain to learn a thing or two from this book. So get settled in your beach chair, put on some suntan lotion, and enjoy.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Genovese is a feature writer for The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger and author of Roadside New Jersey, Jersey Diners, and The Great American Road Trip: US 1, Maine to Florida. In 2003, New Jersey Monthly magazine named him one of "40 New Jerseyans We Love."

Review

Proud New Jerseyan Genovese is no stranger to writing books on his home state, and in building his oeuvre, the Newark Star-Ledger writer turns to summer fun with this follow-up to his previous books, Roadside New Jersey and Jersey Diners. With nearly 330 color and b&w photos of the quirky Jersey shore accompanying his narrative, Genovese highlights the unusual and kitschy. In a state with battling seafood festivals-there's the New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar, and the New Jersey Fresh Seafood Festival in Atlantic City-there's no shortage of culinary entertainment. Wildwood boasts great pizza and barbecue; and Asbury Park, which is engaged in a kind of revival, is still home to Bruce Springsteen's old haunt, the Stone Pony. Genovese's prose is sometimes perfunctory, but he does cover some great coastal events, such as the Around-the-Island Swim, which takes competitors around the jellyfish waters by Absecon Island, and, in Atlantic City, the Miss Deckadance pageant at Trump Marina. (Publishers Weekly)

Regardless of where you're accustomed to spreading out your beach blanket, The Jersey Shore Uncovered provides a blend of the familiar and foreign. (Asbury Park Press)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0813533155
• ISBN 13: 9780813533155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240