The Real Jersey Shore

NEW YORK, NY, September 23, 2010 (Press-News.org) It had been a location of yearly vacations for my brothers and I when we were young.

Like many other children, we would ride in the back seat of a car heading to Long Beach Island for a week in July or August and hope that the weather and waves would be kind and good.

So many memories of the drive from Brooklyn through New Jersey led me and my brothers to venture down to Seaside Heights, the town of Sun & Fun, during the Clown Festival which has occurred in September of every year for nearly three decades, and which our father was, oddly enough, very fond of.

Perhaps it was the surreal aspect of finding a random clown walking around amongst us normal (or non-clownish) folks, or maybe it was the fact that there would be marching bands, because he always did love the sound of a full brass section. Whatever the case, our father would bring us down to the shore for the weekend of the clown festival.

Less than a year after his passing, we decided to attend again.

It was strange to be back there after so many years, and stranger still to notice the effect a currently popular show on MTV had on the culture of the town.

Never expecting that the area would have remained unchanged over the last seventeen years (although each of us secretly hoped so) we strolled along the boardwalk and became flush with recollections triggered by familiar sights and sounds and aromas similar to those which filled our fleeting childhood summer days.

Yet there was something amiss, and it wasn't until I began asking the locals about how the summer season was for them, that I began to get an understanding for the reluctant gratitude the vendors held for the notoriety afforded to the area by the popular program.

I could surmise the slight upswing in the amount of people was a mixed blessing because of the adverse effect on the image of the area.

What is commonly referred to these days as "guidofication" (a term truly originated decades ago) is, itself, only one component of the Jersey shore.

Yes, there is a fabulous club scene, but that is only, at best, half of the magic that is present; the drunken revelry lends a subtle energy to the air (along with eye-candy galore for both men and women) yet the partying occurs only during the night. That is, if you count the sunrise as part of the the night before.

In the daytime, in the evening and early night hours, there are the vibrant colors of the game booths, the exciting sounds from the arcades, and the wafting scent of fried anything (except the clams which are freshly prepared on the half shell from specific vendors) and, most importantly, the families who move along the boardwalk and piers.

The beach is another topic altogether (the surfing is some of the most prime that can be found on the East Coast) but the culture of the boardwalk needs to be glimpsed.

As a kid, that boardwalk was a social testing ground for me. The clubs were not on the boardwalk, but the arcades and games were, and youngsters would walk around in safety while networking in a real time, non-virtual, environment.

The social networking websites have nothing on the kind of personality development that the forum of the boardwalk goads in a developing mind.

This interactive practice, when carried over into adulthood, translates into the club scene so noted in the media; persons going to places where there is a common environment in which to test the waters with other persons in hopes of making a connection.

In the clubs, the shared environment amounts to music, dance and alcohol.

On the boardwalk though, for the kids, it is the games, the food, the arcades and the prospect of overcoming one's nervousness to speak with another kid and maybe share the experience of one of the rides on the piers with their peers.

Hope remains that the adult factor does not infringe upon and trample the 'testing grounds' for the kids.

For as far back as I could recall, there was always one all ages club that could allow the transition of late teens from the social grounds of the boardwalk to the club experience. There also was an ever changing set of waterslides for all the age groups to enjoy. Only the long time attendees of that town however, can recall the wax museum that extended across Ocean Terrace.

The changing form of the shoreline as the waves toss the sands is a natural metaphor of how the waves of public interest shape the commerce of the town. The prizes may change, as does the popular style of music, but you can be certain that every summer there will be games and bands.

As entrancing and sensational as the Jersey Shore is, the soul of the region, the beauty of it, is how it means something different to each person who experiences it.

In short, if you must believe the hype, please keep in mind: what is hyped about the Jersey Shore is only a small fraction of its lively splendor, and the key to understanding it is to experience it for yourself.

Joseph is a writer who experiences the world and then writes about it.