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Jersey Shore

Coordinates: 40°02′53″N 74°03′07″W / 40.048°N 74.052°W / 40.048; -74.052
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This article is about the region. For the MTV reality show, see Jersey Shore (TV series). For other uses, see Jersey Shore (disambiguation).
Wildwood, New Jersey at night, 2008.

The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. Referred to simply as "The Shore" the New Jersey seaboard has over a hundred miles of nearly continuous beach front which gave rise to summer colonies and resort communities that became increasingly popular at the turn of the century and remain so today.

The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having different character. The other three tourism marketing areas are the Gateway, the Delaware Valley, and the Skylands.[1]

Location and region

Geographically, the term encompasses about 127 miles of the New Jersey coastal area from Sandy Hook in the north to Cape May in the south. The Jersey Shore area includes the easternmost portions of Monmouth, Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties, according to Ocean County tourism director Barbara Steele.

The coast is lined with over 50 communities, including Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Belmar, Spring Lake, Manasquan, Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Heights, Long Beach Island, Brigantine, Atlantic City, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Chadwick Beach Island, Cape May, and Stone Harbor. Long Branch and Cape May both claim to be the country's original seashore resort; Ocean Grove and Cape May are world-renowned for their collections of Victorian residential architecture.

There are also areas that get both New York and Philadelphia tourists. While there is no defined border between North and South, the Manasquan River or Interstate 195 are often mentioned.[2] However, since New York City and Philadelphia are just 90 miles apart, there is a lot of overlap between where each metropolitan area's residents go for beach tourism. Long Beach Island's visitors come from both New York and Philadelphia.

It is a popular vacation spot for Pennsylvanians, so much so that during the 1994 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, the Tom Ridge campaign used aerial advertising along the Jersey Shore.[3]

The Census 2010 showed that year-round populations along the Shore had significantly decreased.[4]

Sound and culture

The Jersey Shore is home to numerous rock and roll clubs, most famously in Asbury Park, where Bruce Springsteen honed his skills at now defunct clubs like The Upstage and the Student Prince. He still makes periodic live appearances at The Stone Pony bar or at Convention Hall as either a solo act, with the E Street Band, or with other artists. Furthermore, Bill Haley and the Comets performed "Rock Around the Clock" for the first time live at the Hoff Brau in Wildwood.

A style of music known as the Jersey Shore sound evolved from this scene. The Springsteen song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" is one of several Springsteen songs that contains references to the Jersey shore scene of the early 1970s.

In The Wildwoods, the state has designated a Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District to help preserve motels built during the Doo-Wop era of the 1950s and 1960s.[5][6]

The Jersey Shore area rose to international fame in 2009 after MTV started airing the reality series Jersey Shore. The popular show, filmed mostly in Seaside Heights, debuted amid large amounts of controversy regarding the use of the words "Guido/Guidette," portrayals of Italian-American stereotypes and scrutiny from locals because the cast members, with the exception of one, are not residents from the area.[7][8][9] MTV also used Seaside Heights as the location of their Summer Beach House in 1998 and again in 2002, and two episodes of True Life took place in Jersey Shore towns.

References

  1. ^ "Visitor Information - Regional Tourism".
  2. ^ Galant, Debra. "JERSEY; South Jersey Is Friendlier? Oh, Shut Up And Drive", The New York Times, April 9, 2000, accessed April 11, 2008. "For the purposes of dividing North Jersey from South Jersey, Gannett drew a line between Monmouth County and Ocean County. I decided that it would be amusing to drive down to this dividing line — which turned out to be the Manasquan River — and test the hypothesis."
  3. ^ "PoliticsPA's Top Summer Vacation Spots". PoliticsPA. Archived from the original on 2003-02-02.
  4. ^ http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/census_results_show_nj_shore_to.html
  5. ^ "The '50s and '60s Thrive In Retro Doo-Wop Motels". Washington Post. 24 June 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-10. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Doo Wop Preservation League Web site
  7. ^ "Shore Residents Express Anger with MTV". PointPleasantChamber.com.
  8. ^ "Shore residents express anger with MTV's Jersey Shore premise". app.com. November 29, 2009.
  9. ^ "MTV's Jersey Shore Garners Critics Over Use of Term 'Guido'". abcnews.com. December 11, 2009.

40°02′53″N 74°03′07″W / 40.048°N 74.052°W / 40.048; -74.052

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