The Jersey Shore Uncovered: A Revealing Season on the Beach

Category: Armchair Roadtrips

Published Date

Written by Michelle Wescott

By Peter Genovese

Rutgers University Press, Rutgers, 2003
$14.95, 225 pages, hardcover

Genovese does it again. By combining his true reporter nature with a vast knowledge of New Jersey culture, he takes us on a delightful summer-long journey down the 127-mile stretch of the New Jersey Shore. From Sandy Hook to Cape May, he showcases the shore’s premium sun-worshiping events as well as its most remarkable inhabitants.

The Jersey Shore Uncovered has a wide range of appeal. While vacationers can enjoy the discovery of the shore’s “mustn’t miss” events, locals can read up on the author’s take on their lifestyle. But don’t be quick to judge, because this book also covers uncharted territory, things that even the most informed locals have yet to discover.

Genovese gives his readers the fascinating inside scoop on topics like Big Mike’s E-Z Bail Bonds, the history behind the Kohr’s custard stand, and the Little Miss Chaos competition. Big Mike turns out to be 47-year-old former Navy Seal/stuntman/bounty hunter/bodyguard, retired from his “backbreaking/door-kicking days” in order to conquer the business of bail bonds in Atlantic City. The Kohr’s story begins when Elton D. Kohr and his five brothers opened their first ice cream stand on Coney Island in 1919. They “sold 18,460 cones at a nickel apiece” during their opening weekend…and the rest was history. As for Little Miss Chaos, let’s just say there’s cowbell throwing involved.

Along with such quirky topics, Genovese fills this book with charming images that show how everyday life down at the shore is like no other place. He covers the scene with pictures and stories about clowns, babes in bikinis, and little girls in hula skirts. He also reveals the “best-of-the-best” in boardwalk food, miniature golf, giant elephants, salt-water taffy, the shore’s greatest competitions, boardwalk rides, and much, much more.

Divided into sections, beginning with the official “Unlocking the Ocean” ceremony, this book proceeds by covering, at random, all other noteworthy topics dealing with Jersey Shore ideology. Genovese ties up his funky topics with a list of acknowledgments: “To all those who opened their doors or made room on the sand for me during the summer of 2002”—for, without them, this book wouldn’t have been possible.

So, at Genovese’s request, “get settled in your beach chair, put on some suntan lotion and enjoy.”

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