local
This Summer
Summer Rites: Philadelphia-area Jews
Are Headed 'Down the Shore'
Atlantic City Boardwalk looking north
I Stephen Silver
f it’s summer, it means that many
Philadelphia-area Jews are headed
“down the shore” at some point and,
as usual, the local calendar is full.

This year, the Jersey Shore’s most
iconic attraction, Lucy the Elephant in
Margate, is celebrating its first summer
since the completion of its 15-month
renovation in 2022. The “new” Lucy
was unveiled in December.

As Rich Helfant of the Save Lucy
Committee told the Exponent last
year, the famed six-story elephant on
Atlantic Avenue received “a whole-
body lift,” which required scaffolding
that covered up Lucy last summer.

Lucy’s 142nd birthday party is set for
July 22, featuring “The Multi-Million
Dollar Makeover.” In addition, “An
Intimate Evening of Art,” featuring work
by Jon Baker, is scheduled for June 17.

32 JUNE 15, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Lucy the Elephant
“Yes, the exterior work is completed,
and Lucy looks amazing,” Helfant said.

The next phase, starting in the fall,
will include replacing Lucy’s gift shop
building. Meantime, for those whose visits to
the shore include time in Atlantic City,
there’s going to be a new hotel there.

Sort of. Nobu Atlantic City is a restau-
rant and “distinct hotel experience”
on the top three floors of the Caesars
Centurion Tower, part of Caesars in
Atlantic City. It’s scheduled to open
sometime this summer.

Also in Atlantic City, the Las Vegas-
based Spiegelworld this June will open
The Hook, a theater-and-restaurant
concept that’s also part of Caesars.

It features a live show — which the
company describes as “Atlantic City’s
first-ever permanent entertainment
residency” — and a restaurant and
bars. The Hook is on the former site of
the 1929-built Warner Theatre and has
recreated part of its famed exterior.

And further up on the Boardwalk,
the Showboat Resort hotel in Atlantic
City will open a new indoor waterpark
called Island Waterpark this summer.

It will feature attractions for both kids
(waterslides, a lazy river) and adults
(multiple swim-up bars, a nightlife
destination at night).

Farther to the north, the husband-
and-wife Broadway star tandem of
Jeremy Jordan and Ashley Spencer
is set for a concert on June 17, at
the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in
Deal, New Jersey. Jordan, Jewish on
his mother’s side, has played numer-
ous prominent Jewish roles on stage
and screen, most recently in the movie
“Spinning Gold.”
The following month, at the Milton
& Betty Katz Jewish Community
Center in Margate, the renowned
Israeli-American chef
Michael Solomonov of Zahav and other restau-
rants will appear for “An Evening
with Michael Solomonov” on July
6. Solomonov will discuss his book
“Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking,”
and raise money for Camp By The Sea.

And on July 20, the Katz JCC will
host an event with Philadelphia’s most
beloved modern-day Jewish sports
figure (at least for the moment): Eagles
General Manager Howie Roseman.

Roseman is the guest of honor at
the Eighth Annual Jackie & Hank
Herskowitz Sports Night, ahead of the
team’s training camp.

On June 29, Chabad in Ventnor will
host a screening of the new film “Myron
Sugerman: The Last Jewish Gangster,”
with Sugerman himself in attendance,
where the one-time associate of Meyer
Lansky will “tell the story of the Jewish
Mob and their contributions to the