God Bless Dino's and A Last Look at Longport before (Sandy)
Dino's in Margate stays open, in a sad remembrance of the late owner Leo Heintzelman, who vowed never to close, ever, and who died just a month after Irene. And a steady stream of cars go to the tip of Longport for what hopefully is not a last look. Atlantic City evacuates. Downbeach hunkers down. Gov. Christie calls people who stay on barrier islands "stupid."
God Bless Dino's and A Last Look at Longport before (Sandy)
God Bless Dino's. Just like before Hurricane Irene, they were manning the Formica rolls and churning out subs pre-Sandy and vowing to stay open. It was kind of sad, and the talk was a lot about the late owner Leo Heintzelman, who vowed never to close, ever, and joyfully made subs during Irene, but who died just a month later.
Meanwhile, a lot of people were clearing out. Casinos were emptying. Gov. Christie was calling people who were hunkering down on the islands "stupid" and advising we all go watch football for a couple hours. I have to say, I know a lot of people around Ventnor and Margate who are planning to stay, on the theory that they can ride it out. Well, as they say, time will tell. A stream of cars headed out of town, but also into town for one last look before Sandy at that most vulnerable piece of Jersey Shore real estate: the tip of Longport, the one that stops at 11th Street because sometime a long time ago the waves swallowed up blocks one through ten. LONG LIVE 11th Street. Videos below. Please follow on twiiter @amysrosenberg.
This is piece is nicely written and I appreciate the sentiment. I have great memories as well of the boardwalk in Sea Isle City. Especially the bumper cars, the merry-go-round, the old fishing pier and those wonderful old summer mansions by the sea frequented by women religious. WAIT, there is no boardwalk in Sea Isle City, you say? Yeah, the boardwalk was a block and a half further east than what is there now. It all disappeared IN ONE NIGHT in the early 60s. It was a Nor'easter that no one was expecting. My aged grandparents lived there at that time and they took they out in a boat. The little settlement called Strathmere disappeared entirely. That fellow with the video camera and anybody else around there who believes they can "ride it out" should talk to people from Galvaston or New Orleans. New Jersey's barrier islands are nothing but large sandbars deposited there by the ocean. And what the ocean gives, the ocean can easily take away. The next few days are not going to be pretty on the barrier islands. It's no place for man nor beast.— Padraig
Inquirer Staff Writer Jacqueline L. Urgo has spent every summer of her life at the Jersey Shore, and has lived there year-round for nearly 30 years, even fulfilling one of her bucket list dreams by once living in a house by the sea.
Since 1990, she has covered the waterfront for The Inquirer — from the Atlantic to the Delaware Bay shore — and some of the mainland in between. Along the way, she amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of this tear-it-down-and-build-it-back-up region, delving into the history and the hype of a place with a lot of unexpected stories to tell. Email her here: jurgo@phillynews.com.
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