We Sure
Have Lots of
Shore Memories
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE MANAGING EDITOR
S ummer
Early Beach Days Marred by Misfortune
Andy Gotlieb, managing editor
THE YEAR WAS 1970; the place was Atlantic City.

A year earlier, man walked on the moon, Charles Manson’s
crew committed horrific murders. Sen. Ted Kennedy was
involved in Chappaquiddick and Woodstock happened. Atlantic
City was rocking, too, with the Atlantic City Pop Festival, which
featured a who’s who of musical acts.

By comparison, the summer of 1970 was a bit calmer, and my
soon-to-be-4-year-old-self was blissfully unaware — and bliss-
fully unaware that he was believed lost on the beach.

7.5x4.75 FINAL.indd
14 Exponent
JUNE ad 7, 2018 2018
2 MAXPIZEL
at the Jersey Shore is as much a part of Philadelphia’s
fabric as colonial history, the Eagles and hoagies.

Almost everyone has memories of time spent in Atlantic
City, Margate, Ocean City, Cape May, Wildwood and
the other shore towns, so we asked staffers to provide some of
their more memorable moments. Here’s what we got. (Staffers
who didn’t grow up in the area provided their own summer
beach memories.)
I was collecting shells and building sand castles with my
friend Sheryl Haber when I apparently wandered off to find more
shells or fill a bucket with water.

“Mrs. Gotlieb, Andy went to get more shells and has been
gone for a long time,” Sheryl informed my mother.

That set off the Aquarius Age version of an Amber Alert, as
everyone on the beach began searching for me. Things were com-
pounded by the police chasing someone down the boardwalk (it
had nothing to do with me, but set off fears that perhaps I was
abducted). Thing is, I wasn’t lost and wandered back to our spot on the
beach on my own.

THIS SUMMER
5/18/18 1:44 PM
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



Family Togetherness Down the Shore
Marissa Stern, staff writer
MY THOUGHTS OF summers down the shore are less of
embarrassing stories and more of family memories.

When I think of the beach, I think of my grandparents’
Ventnor shore house the whole family used to go to during the
summers. I think of my uncle’s particular affi nity for White
House sandwiches and I think of the bowls of juicy watermelon
awaiting me and my cousins upon our sweaty returns from aft er-
noons on the beach.

It was a time for togetherness and bonding — normally.

If you consider being chased around with buckets of — thank-
fully — dead jellyfi sh (though my cousin was less fortunate once
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM WIKIMEDIA
A year later, this time in Wildwood, I was encouraged to go
down the slide at our motel’s pool. I did so and, even though I
could swim, I immediately began to fl ail when I hit the water.

Th at prompted my pregnant mother to dive in and save me.

My seaside woes continued in following years.

Once aft er a long day on the beach, we had dinner at Abe’s
Oyster House. My parents said they never saw me eat so much
“little pirate’s fi sh fry.”
But as we got up to leave, the little pirate decided to walk the
plank. Right when I got to the front of the restaurant (where a
long line of people waited for seating) I threw up.

A year later, we returned to Abe’s and I had some more little
pirate’s fi sh fry. Th is time, I managed to make it to the Steel Pier
before vomiting.

Looking back, maybe this is why I’m not much of a shore
person these days.

and found one quite alive in the ocean) by your younger sister,
then yeah, I had a whole lot of bonding. Sometimes she skipped
the bucket and had them in her bare hands like a monster.

“Hahahaha yes, I did that a lot. Th at was fun,” my sister con-
fi rmed in a rude text message. Shouldn’t the older sister be the
one doing the tormenting?
Anyway. We also used to sit where the sand met the waves
and pick up the wet sand and drizzle it into some kind of castle,
adding layers and seeing how high up we could make it before
the waves came and washed it away. Or we would turn handfuls
of wet sand into “meatballs.” Maybe we were just getting hungry?
THIS SUMMER
SEE MEMORIES | Page 16
JUNE 7, 2018
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