Shop Guide

DOWNTOWN Shop Ocean City! OC’s Downtown is ready for you! Shop. Dine. Relax. 6th14th streets on Asbury Avenue.

APPAREL l SHOES Alyse’s Shoes 951 Asbury, 391-8859. B&B 827 Asbury, 391-0046. Bohemian Mama 741 Asbury, 938- 6466. Bowfish Kids 956 Asbury, 938-1901. Flying Carp Clothing Gallery 745 Asbury, 391-1546. Could Be Yours 716 Asbury, 703- 4457. Colette 900 Asbury, 525-0911. Donna Gay Dillon 725 Asbury, 399- 0082. Hearth & Sole 636 Asbury & 918 Asbury, 545-8562. Pappagallo 744 Asbury, 398-4009. Sunseekers 751 Asbury, 399-1640. Ta Dah Nine and Ten block of Asbury, 398-6771. 7th Street Surf Shop Clothing, sunglasses, surfboards. 720 Asbury, 398-7070. Sea Oats710 Asbury, 398-8399. Seagrass Boutique 752 Asbury, 938- 2398 Stainton’s A gallery of shops featuring gifts, clothes, jewelry and more. 810 Asbury, 545-8681.

ART GALLERIES Fine Arts League Local art available for purchase. 711 Asbury, 814-0308.

BEAUTY Lindsy James Salon945 Asbury, 525- 9900. Artisan Body Products 920 Asbury, 398-5661.

BOOKS l CDS l OFFICE

Sun Rose Words & Music Books

756 Asbury, 399-9190.

FLORIST Spinning Wheel 858 Asbury, 398- 1157.

HOME GOODS l JEWELRY August Heart 715 Asbury, 399-1565. Blind Express 916 Asbury, 399-9940. Butterfly Boutique 1125 Asbury, 391- 0812. Cricket Box 810 Asbury, 391-0055. Glazed Over 704 Asbury, 398-8880. P. Francis846 Asbury, 399-5570. Spotted Whale 943 Asbury, 840-6667.

PET SHOP Animal House Everything for your pet including Made-in-the-USA products. 705 Asbury, 398-3771.

SPORTS l ATHLETIC WEAR Harbor Outfitters625 Asbury, 938- 0175. Sneaker Shop Janet and Maureen know their stuff. Sneakers and apparel. 704 Asbury, 391-5223.

SWEETS/GOURMET FOODS Rauhauser’s 721 Asbury, 399-1465. The Beachin' Bakery1046 Asbury.

VARIETY l BEACH ITEMS Hoy’s 5 & 10 7th & Asbury, 398- Hoys. Island Beach Gear Stop by on your way to the beach! 9th & Bay, 788- 3836. BOARDWALK APPAREL Jilly’s T-Shirt Factory Get your Phillies at Jilly’s and lots more. 762, 936 and 1048 Boardwalk, 385-1234.

BEAUTY LEH SoapHandmade soaps and body products. 1312 Boardwalk. 937 Asbury, open year round.

HOME GOODS l JEWELRY Henry’sOCs Landmark Jeweler OC hook bracelet, Alex & Ani, more. 1236 Boardwalk, 800-214-4435.

SWEETS AND TREATS Fudge Kitchen Candy that melts in your mouth. 800 Boardwalk, 398-7457. Jilly's Candy Factory 1040 Boardwalk, 385-1234. Mallon'sSticky buns, donuts, and more! 1340 Bay, 399-5531. Shriver’s Salt Water TaffyTaffy, fudge, candy. 9th and Boardwalk, 399-0100. Shriver’s Gelato Only gelato on Boards. 9th and Boardwalk, 399-0100.

VARIETY/BEACH ITEMS Jilly’s $1 Store One dollar! 1044 Boardwalk, 399-1234. BAY/WEST AVENUE & SIDE STREETS

RENTALS Relax Concierge Rent linens, and more online and at 232 West, 601- 5077.

HOME GOODS l JEWELRY Flying Carp Gift Gallery 813 Asbury.

ON THE WAY TO OC SPORTS TackleDirectThe finest in fishing tackle and value. 6825 Tilton, EHT, 788-3819. APPAREL Yes She Can Bras, swimsuits, workout clothing. Bra fittings too. 30 Tuckahoe Road, 478-3266.

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SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE. Python jerky, beef, camel, kangaroo, shark and even some vegan options await at House of Jerky, located at 1358 Boardwalk.

HOUSE OF JERKY Multiple varieties, from the familiar to the exotic at the House of Jerky TRENDS

THOSE who say Boardwalk snacks are all the same have obviously not stopped in the House of Jerky at 1358 Boardwalk, where Tim and Angela Wharton offer an astonishing variety of options, from familiar fare like beef, venison and turkey to more exotic sources including kangaroo, camel or python.

They even offer dried scorpion and cheddar-flavored crickets.

This will be the second summer for the store in Ocean City. The couple got their start in the business with a Cape May location and they also have stores in Smithville and in Beach Haven on Long Beach Island.

So far, the Boardwalk has been a great location, Tim said in a recent interview at the store. (Ed. Note: This article was assigned and written prior to stay-at-home orders.) The ability to offer samples has made a big difference, he said, drawing many passers-by in from the Boardwalk as one of the kids just has to try alligator jerky or a parent is drawn to a nibble of whiskey rabbit, one of the most popular options.

“The samples really do help us, because once people taste this product, they buy it,” Tim said. The store stocks a number of game meats, like elk, buffalo and duck, and several sorts of fish, including salmon in teriyaki and peppered varieties, swordfish and trout.

There’s also a wide range of spice levels, from the accessible chipotle bourbon beef or Cajun spices to the punishing varieties with either ghost peppers or the Carolina Reaper beef jerky. That’s the hottest option they sell, Tim said, recommending preparing to try it with plenty of water ready.

“A lot of people buy that,” he said. “It’s amazing. Even some little kids want it. I tell their parents, that’s going to be pretty hot. They get it anyway.”

As any hunter can tell you, the elk and venison are very lean, Tim said. He said he finds the elk a little sweeter than beef. Kangaroo and alligator are good sellers for the exotic meats, he said, but the top seller in that category is the whiskey rabbit.

“The rabbit starts out sweet. It’s a little softer. Then it finishes with a little spice at the end,” Tim said. “I think because it seems a little safer of an exotic, people are more apt to try it. But you still get people who want to try python.”

“And the Mako shark is super popular during Discovery’s Channel’s Shark Week,” added Angela. “We have to order more. We go through a ton of it.”

She said she loves seeing people’s faces when they see the packages of camel or kangaroo jerky.

With so many exotic options, there is one that routinely

draws shock from customers, although it is misplaced. They sell beef and turkey jerky for dogs, but some folks see the image of a happy looking dog on the package and don’t stop to read the ingredients.

“They freak,” said Angela. It usually does not take too long to reassure the customers that the image is of the intended market, not the source of the meat.

Tim and Angela are both from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and now live in Germansville in the Lehigh Valley. They own a restaurant, the Bagel Bunch, in the mountain town of Jim Thorpe, Pa. They opened the restaurant while Tim still worked for Verizon. He left that company two years ago after working there 30 years.

“This is kind of our retirement plan,” Angela said.

That retirement entails extensive driving, especially in the summer when traffic is at its toughest and the beach town stores are at their busiest. They said they have a good crew at the restaurant and they rent a second home on Asbury Avenue, so they have a base of operations at the beach.

“We’ve always wanted to have any business on the Boardwalk. We’ve been coming here for years for family vacations,” Tim said. “We always thought, man, wouldn’t it be so cool to have a spot up on the Boardwalk.”

A friend of theirs owns the House of Jerky in Jim Thorpe. He introduced them to the business, which only sells meat from the House of Jerky company in Evansville, Ind. Tim said the company is great to work with, and described the business as a lot of fun. Angela said the businesses are not franchises. They own the business and buy from House of Jerky, which provides a business plan and other support.

According to Tim, the owners are very hands-on, visiting the New Jersey stores even while the organization grew to have jerky in brickand-mortar stores around the country. He said the stores are much easier than running a restaurant. They have a great team at the bagel place, he said, but the stores only need one employee on site and the product lasts through the summer.

That longevity was why meats were first dried, as a way to preserve food long before the invention of refrigerators. Many boaters like the product, Angela said, which lets them keep a few bags on board for easy snacking, while Tim praised the design of the resealable bags.

The various protein-intensive diets that have grown in popularity have drawn new customers to jerky, and some are interested in an option with few ingredients. Long-distance cyclists like the portable protein boost, Angela said. The House of Jerky has varieties without added sugar and with low salt. The meat is not processed or mixed, Tim said, and there are no artificial preservatives.

So far, we haven’t mentioned the pigs. They also stock bacon and pork jerky.

Tim and Angela offer some non-jerky items, including local products like the beloved Hank Sauces and other local favorites. They offer local honey and have jars of pickles and jellies as well as trail mixes.

Then there are the insects.

Angela pulled out a container of white cheddar roasted crickets meant for snacking. At the bagel place, Tim said, a cricket protein powder to add to smoothies has become a popular option. They’ll have a large display at the store come summer. So, have they tried a taste?

“She has. I’m chicken,” Tim said. Angela likes the scorpions. “They’re very nutty tasting,” she said. “In Smithville, we sold out of

the cotton candy crickets, believe it or not.”

She said a farm in Pennsylvania now just grows crickets for human consumption, rather than as food for pet snakes or lizards. Eating insects may seem extreme, but some cultures have savored insect recipes for millennia and they are a growing part of the Western diet, offering environmentally sustainable protein.

For the vegetarians and vegans, in the off chance any have read this far, don’t despair. Tim and Angela stock mushroom jerky and a jerky made from dried pineapple, and they have plans to bring in a vegan jerky that more closely mimics the meat style from Louisville Vegan Jerky.

“I’m going to put a sign right here, and say ‘hey, vegans, we’ve got you covered. We have something in here for you,’” Tim said, pointing to the front of the store. Visit House of Jerky online at www.capemayshouseofjerky.com. - Bill Barlow

Visit Berger Realty office, located at 3160 Asbury Ave.

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BERGER REALTY shop talk

CELEBRATING A CENTURY, BERGER STILL LOOKS FORWARD

LEON Grisbaum seems perfectly at ease as he strolls into the Berger Realty office at 3160 Asbury. on an early spring morning.

He’s checking the market on his smart phone before joking with an agent who could be his grandson. This year, Berger Realty celebrates a century in operation, and amazingly enough, Leon has been a central part of it for most of those years.

Edgar and Estelle Berger founded the firm in 1920.

“Mr. Grisbaum worked for them, and after Mr. Berger passed away, he worked for Mrs. Berger,” said Frank Shoemaker, the broker of record for the firm and the general manager. “He comes in daily. He is still very engaged in the business. There is not a decision that is made without him being a part of it.”

When Leon started with the business, few houses had yet been built in the south end of the island.

“Everybody used to rent for the season. It was a big deal when they rented for a half season. Right now, they’re pretty much weekly,” Frank said.

The interview starts in an upstairs conference room at the office. On the wall above a long conference table hangs three color photos, one of the Bergers in front of the building, another of Leon and his wife, and a third of the late Chip Collins, a well-known figure in Ocean City real estate and Berger’s general manager before his death in 2011.

Things shift gears when Leon arrives. “Let’s try to catch him,” said Frank. After an introduction, the interview continues in Leon’s office, where his desk is piled with reports and paperwork and the walls and shelves decorated with family photos, historic photos of Ocean City and multiple images of planes, including a painting of Leon’s beloved twin-engine Beechcraft Barron.

Flying has long been a passion for Leon, who said he would often fly his family to Florida for a weekend or surprise clients by delivering a sales contract to New York or Pennsylvania within hours of reaching an agreement by phone.

One of his staff members is working on getting his pilot’s license now, but things are far different than when Leon started. It’s a longer and more expensive process now. He enjoyed the freedom of flying in the days before pilots were obliged to file flight plans and stick to prescribed routes.

“When I started, you could fly anywhere you wanted. Just fly,” he said.

Leon seemed happy to talk about the old days, how he got started in Ocean City real estate and the history of a centuryold company. But he also keeps looking forward, leading a company that once ran on carbon paper and filing cabinets into the digital age. Berger has a full-time IT manager, he said, who also helps Leon keep up to date, including on his smart phone.

“I was better five years ago than I believe I am now. They keep on changing things,” he said.

“He’s better than most of us, to be honest with you,” Frank added.

Leon grew up in Upper Darby. He was still in his teens

when his father moved the family to Ocean City.

“My father was a dentist and in 1949, that was after the Second World War, he decided he didn’t want to be a dentist anymore,” he said. “He had the foresight to think that real estate was the thing to be in.”

When his father moved him to the sleepy seaside community, Leon was not immediately sold on a town that all but shut down after Labor Day each year.

“I hated it. Hated it,” he said. “I was a teenager. There wasn’t anybody here. I was used to cars and whistles and bells, fire engines and people.”

But his father was right. Real estate started booming in Ocean City in the post-war years. Leon was drafted into the army during the Korean war, doing his service in Florida and the Bahamas. When he came back, he started going to college in Philadelphia and helping Edgar Berger out on weekends.

“I was going to Temple,” Leon said. “Mr. Berger wasn’t feeling well. He wanted somebody to come in and help his wife. So I started working weekends. But I was selling so many houses I couldn’t afford to go to Temple.”

That wasn’t because he wasn’t making enough money, but rather because he was making too much money to take the time off to go to classes. That was the start of a long, long climb in property values through the island.

In the late 1950s, he could sell a new house on a 40-foot lot for $5,000. Many of those places are now worth $500,000 to $700,000. Real estate values far outstripped the rate of inflation.

At that time, he said, he bought a brand-new Ford for $1,000. A shore house could be had for a year’s salary for many.

“If you made $5,000 a year, that wasn’t a bad pay. If you made $10,000 a year, that’s $200 a week, you were doing pretty damned good,” he said.

Values continued to climb and the business continued to grow.

“After they put gambling in (Atlantic City), the whole thing changed. Then it was wonderful,” he said. The new industry meant a jump in property values and development in the region.

Leon sees values continuing to climb at the shore, but does not expect the soaring increases of years past. Instead, he expects the future values to keep up with future inflation.

Much of Berger’s business continues to be summer rentals. Leon took the unusual step of buying property near the main office to use as parking. He showed photos of a summer weekend with long lines and Realtors checking in renters on the sidewalk outside to move the crowds quickly.

Berger Realty has four locations – at 1670 Boardwalk, 109 55th Street and 1330 Bay Ave. in addition to the original office on Asbury – and about 130 employees. Leon said he knows most by name. He touted the longevity of his crew, saying it is not unusual for staff to stay on for decades. Working there for 25 or 40 years is no big deal, he said.

“We’re more like a big family,” Leon said.

After a few photos in his office, it’s time for the next appointment, breakfast at Ready’s Coffee Shop downtown, where Leon eats about five times a week. But he’s still chatting as he heads out the door, into the parking lot and gets into his car. - Text and photos by Bill Barlow

At Reich Asset Management, we are committed to serving the families of Cape May and Atlantic counties by educating and empowering them to reach their financial and life goals.

For many families, two of life’s financial hurdles center around college planning and planning for retirement. We often hear, “Can I afford to send my children to college?” or “When can I retire and live the life I want to live?” Reich Asset Management can help you answer these questions and assist you in reaching an Enjoyable Retirement.

With the flexibility and independence to choose the best investments for each family, we are passionate about finding the unique solution for each of our clients.

Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. Reich Asset Management, LLC is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. 110 Roosevelt Blvd, Ste 2W • Marmora, NJ 08223 • 609-486-5073 www.ReichAssetManagement.com

M Y B E A C H SISTER.

by Christine Gillies

IN THE EARLY SUMMER OF 1976, so many exciting things were happening in my world.

The city of Philadelphia was getting ready for its bicentennial birthday bash. We were learning a lot about that in school and Elton John’s blockbuster song “Philadelphia Freedom” was all over the radio air ways. The Flyers hockey team had recently won the Stanley Cup for a second time, and in my own little world, I had turned 10 that past April and was finally permitted to have my ears pierced and had two tiny gold posts in my earlobes to show for it.

But the best news by far that year, was learning that my cousins owned a rental house in Ocean City, NJ and that my parents rented one of the third-floor apartments for an entire month.

My Dad would be driving us down, staying the weekend to help get us set up and then returning home, to work during the week. He would be joining us only on the weekends, which suited him just fine since he was not a fan of the beach.

We left at 10pm on a Friday night, the weekend after school let out for the summer. We left that late in order to avoid the shore traffic.

Getting into the car and driving down the freeway into the night, at a time when we were normally going to bed was very exciting. The drive was a little over two hours and we didn’t stop once. My dad's elevator music played on the radio. My little brother and I had our pillows and blankets in the back seat so we could sleep on the way down, but there would be no sleeping at a time like this for me.

The first leg of the journey was just an ordinary ride, but once we reached the Atlantic City expressway, I noticed other cars jammed packed with luggage, beach paraphernalia, half asleep kids and bikes tied the backs of the cars, wheels spinning in the wind. Other travelers of the shore point midnight express!

There is nothing more exciting than when you begin to see signs for shore points and each time we stopped at a toll booth, that familiar ocean scent would become stronger. When I saw the sign for the Great Egg Harbor, I knew we were almost there. Harbors are where boats are docked, so it just made sense.

Finally, a little after midnight, we crossed a large bridge over the bay and entered Ocean City, it was all lit up. We drove a few blocks and pulled into the sandy lot of our home for the next 30 days. 3113 Central Avenue was a pale yellow, three story, six-unit rental building. It was just one street away from the beach, and although we couldn’t see the beach right then, we could

hear the waves in the dark.

Each of us grabbed our bags out of the trunk and began walking up three flights of sandy steps. The stairs were steep with one small landing at the second-floor level and the railings were covered in ocean mist and were slippery.

Dad unlocked the screen door and we entered a small living room with a scratchy, rust-colored sofa, a chair, coffee and end tables and an old Formica kitchen table set. A small kitchen was off to the right.

As you left the kitchen area, there was a long narrow hallway which led to the bathroom, a bedroom with two twin beds, which my brother and I shared and another bedroom with a full bed which my parents took. It was late, so after a quick look around, we got into our pajamas and hit the sack.

In the morning, the first thing we did, as strange as it was to do so, was unpack our clothes and put them into the chest of drawers in the room. I brought my diary, a tennis racket, a new tube of Spalding tennis balls and my cute stationery, so that I could write to my friends while I was gone and tell them the news of my 10-year-old life at the beach.

My brother and I then went out onto the deck and saw the view of the ocean. We were amazed at how close we were to the beach. Many times, during our stay, my parents just sat on the deck and we played on the beach, waving up at them occasionally.

We went back inside to have breakfast, which for us was a bowl of cereal since we needed to food shop and stock the kitchen for our stay.

I asked why there were mismatched glasses and dishes in this kitchen, and old aluminum pots and pans. My mom explained that people sometimes take things from rental properties, so many owners didn’t usually invest too much as far as dishes went. Most people went out for meals on vacation and using mismatched bowls for simple things like cereal didn’t make much of a difference. The décor was more rustic seashore and not at all like most of the fancy updated rentals you might see these days.

The grocery store was located downtown, and that was one of the first things we needed to do before beach time. As we pulled into the Acme parking lot, it just amazed my 10-year-old brain that things really were the same everywhere. All the things we had at home could be found here too… which was a good thing, because I had forgotten to pack my sneakers and now, we had to go to the department store and get a new pair. I chose a pair of girl’s white canvas KEDS. There was no way I could have gone a month wearing only the flip flops I wore down in the car.

After shopping and carrying the groceries up to the third floor, we did a little exploring on foot and we found the local drug store on 34th Street. Two pay phone booths were located just outside. All calls home would be made from one of these booths for the next month. Most rental properties didn’t have phones back then. This was where I learned to reverse the charges or make a collect call. I can still remember hearing my dad saying hello and then the operator’s voice, explaining who was calling him and asking would he accept the charges before we could finally speak.

Across the street from the drug store was the 34th Street playground and next to that, tennis courts and various restaurants.

On Monday morning, Ocean City had a summer recreation program for kids. It was under the pavilion at the park on 34th Street and my brother and I walked down. For a couple of dollars, we would make a craft. Two very tan teenagers stood at the head of the large wooden picnic tables and showed about 15 vacationing kids how to make the bean bag animals with, two layers of thin felt like material cut into the shape of sea creatures, some sand, a little white glue. I made a purple turtle and my brother made a blue fish. So far, this vacation was awesome.

Later that morning, I rode my bike back to the tennis courts alone to practice my swing, thinking how cool it was that I was able to ride here on my own, in a new town. I parked my bike, found the practice wall and began hitting balls against it. I noticed a blonde girl about my height nearby doing the same and she kept moving closer to me. Soon we were next to each other. A woman walking by asked, “Are you girls twins?”

We looked at her and then each other and giggled. “No, “we both said in unison, and then giggled again. She was right, we did look alike. The lady laughed and was surprised that we weren’t sisters either, because we sure looked like we were.

It wasn’t long before this little girl and I were talking as we hit our tennis balls against the wall and eventually, we both stopped and just talked. Her name was Katie and she lived here all summer in a house nearby with her mother and older sister. Her Dad also only came down on weekends.

It was time for us both to check in at home, so we walked my bike back to my house first and along the way, I learned that she lived in the town next to mine back home, even in the same school district! She was in the grade above mine. She was almost 11.

After she met my family, we walked a couple blocks over to her house, where I met her mom. Katie's mom was equally excited about us living so close, here at the shore and at home in PA.

The houses on Katie’s street looked like a normal neighborhood at home and not like the multilevel rentals where I was staying.

All these things were new ideas for me. It never occurred to me that families could transplant themselves at the beach for a few months. I wished my family could do this now that I was aware of it.

Katie showed me her bedroom. It was decorated so cool, everything coordinating, with American flag curtains and bedspreads. She shared the room with her older sister. Her sister worked as a waitress on the boardwalk during the summer.

From then on, from morning till night when at all possible, Katie and I were together exploring Ocean City. She knew the city better than I and introduced me the delicatessen near her house where we could buy the kid necessities. Candy, chips and ice cream cones, Mad The sounds of the ocean and seagulls became a constant in the background and there were days when I was alone on the beach and I would get lost in myself, even forgetting that I was a separate entity from it all.

magazine, Archie comic books, and postcards depicting Ocean City. She also showed us Seaport, an arcade decorated like a submarine, where we played air hockey and skee ball with my little brother until we ran out of quarters.

Katie loved to dance and sing like me, so we spent a lot of time working on a little dance routine to the Aviance® perfume commercial jingle. The routine included leaps, struts and poses, and our costumes consisted of our bathing suits and damp beach towels either wrapped around our waists sarong style or wrapped on top of our heads. (You’d be surprised what you can do with a beach towel). There was a very large building right off the beach, a rest home for retired clergy called The Ocean Rest, at 31st Street and Central. It had a long, wrap around cement sitting area for the residents. We never saw anyone on this porch so went there often to practice our routine because it was like a stage.

The weeks flew by, and during that time we hid in the sand dunes people watching, despite the signs that read, “Keep of the Dunes.” We dug for sand crabs by the ocean's edge, built sandcastles and dug small pools in the sand, which the ocean filled with water when the tide came in. We fed the seagulls left over bread. We perfected our handstands, round-offs and cartwheels, in our almost matching flowered bikini bathing suits. We swam, chased and jumped the waves and rode our rafts in the surf back to shore. We laid out on our warm towels in the sun to dry off, always trying to find a spot near someone with a radio so we could listen to, “The Sounds of the Shore,” on the local radio station. Frankie Valli’s hit “Swearin' to God,” Michael Murphy’s “Wildfire” and Starbuck’s “Moonlight Feels Right” I recall hearing multiple times a day.

Katie and I discussed Henry Gross’s song “Shannon,” a song about the dog drifting out to sea, never to be seen again. We preferred to think that the dog found that island with its shady trees like the one in the singer’s back yard.

When the beach emptied and the sun began to set in the evening, we often returned to the beach and climbed up into the lifeguard chairs and sat staring out at the sea. I shared with her the story my cousin told me about a local Ocean City realtor, who almost drowned when his boat capsized during a fishing trip. He was rescued after six hours of treading water out in the ocean. It was quite a story, and it was true I told her. Well… I thought it was.

We wondered what it was like to be one of the cute lifeguards that we chatted with during the day as they sat up there in these chairs and if they could see a person that far out treading water.

One sunny morning, we rode our bikes ten blocks further down than usual and discovered the beginning of the boardwalk. We rode up the ramp with all the other morning bikers and biked all the way to the other end where the boards became just a small path, eventually ending in a dead end with blinking lights. Then we turned around and rode back again. It was just so cool going wherever we wanted.

We loved to alter our route back home to pass by the Campbell's Seafood Kitchen where the smell of seafood wafting out from the screen door was heavenly and sometimes we would stop and hover outside the door inhaling the cooking seafood.

I bought postcards at the drug store and sent them to my friends and family back home and finally having a reason to correspond by mail, I wrote a few letters too. It was fun writing letters like we had learned in school, making sure to include the return address, indenting where I should, dating it at the top and finally taking them to the post office to buy stamps to mail them. It was even better receiving letters back!

While we were away, we had to do our laundry. We did not have a washing machine or dryer on the premises and had to use the laundromat. The laundromat was a novelty for me, having never been to one before this trip and when Katie couldn’t play one day, I asked if I could take the laundry to the laundromat with my little brother. We loaded up the washing machines, bought detergent and fabric softener in tiny bottles from dispensers on the wall and did three loads at one time! You couldn’t do that back home with only one machine. We brought our comic books with us to pass the time and tried to spot things we recognized spinning in the dryer through the glass.

We called home once a week to talk to my dad but towards the end of our time in Ocean City, while watching the Philadelphia news at 11pm, we saw that our town was on the news and that there was a riot going on revolving around a local gas station! We couldn’t believe what we were seeing and hearing! We walked down to the phone booth in our PJs to call home and find out firsthand what was going on. Luckily it was all over by the time we got home and didn’t affect our neighborhood at all.

As the weeks past, my hair became lighter, my skin more tan and my nose more freckled from the daily exposure to the sun and surf, and I began to feel more and more like a local rather than a visitor. The sounds of the ocean and seagulls became a constant in the background and there were days when I was alone on the beach and I would get lost in myself, even forgetting that I was a separate entity from it all.

I fell in love with the beach at Ocean City that summer. I seemed to mesh with it as soon as I laid eyes on it. I loved everything about it. and I’ve been to other shore towns, but nothing compares to it.

That month has stayed with me all these years and I have relived memories from it often. The music of that time was perfect, meeting my beach twin and all the new things I did and learned while there, was a wonderful experience. To be a child and yet still be able to roam freely through a small city was so liberating. I wish every kid could have a vacation experience like this just once.

Christine Gillies is a 1986 graduate of Hussian College of Art in Philadelphia, where she focused on illustration. A member of the Lehigh Valley Writers’ group in Easton, Pennsylvania, she is currently working on a memoir, along with many other short stories. She resides in Bucks County with her husband of 32 years.

OCNJ CARE

OCEAN CITY is truly “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” and it’s ever-apparent during these trying times. Residents, businesses, and organizations are coming together offering care and compassion each and every day. OCNJ CARE is one group at the forefront of the effort.

The non-profit organization was formed following the devastating Superstorm Sandy in 2012 to assist families who were displaced and in need of nutritious meals. With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the mandatory restrictions are creating similar difficulties, and the local community is banding together to help people in need.

“We are Ocean City, and we’re always looking to set the example to come up with innovative ways we can impact our community,” says Jennifer Bowan, co-chair of OCNJ CARE. “We received a lot of emails on our site for people seeking help, and we are matching their needs.”

With the help of the VFW, OCNJ CARE is cooking up hot meals for families, which are delivered by Ocean City City Council members and a host of generous volunteers. “The food piece is in place, but during these times, the bigger issue is more about the mental impact and social isolation,” said Jennifer.

She’s leading the charge in bringing smiles and joy to residents celebrating special milestones.

“We’re orchestrating drive-by parades, decorating cars, and wishing our friends happy birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions. Our goal is to deliver happiness,” she said.

What better way to say “Happy Birthday” than with a lawn decorated as a birthday cake!

“I have a ton of pool noodles which I made into birthday candles, so early in the morning we set them up on people’s lawns, surprising them with a special birthday greeting,” she explained. “It’s the most exciting thing we’re doing during this time in a safe manner, and delighting kids in the area. It means the world to them.”

Next up, OCNJ CARE will have special surprises for the students graduating from Ocean City High School and the kids moving up from 8th grade.

“We’re a creative town. We care about them so much, and they need to know it,” she said.

- by Lauren Avellino Turton