Sunday, August 26, 2007

Ocean Beach NJ

Some people scoffed at the miles of cheap little boxes that sprung up on the sand north of Seaside Heights in the 50s & 60s, as if the sweltering masses were not entitled to their personal plot of sand. But look more closely at those folks relaxing on their postage stamp patio. You might find them there on a sunny weekend in October. These prefabs - many of them double units - have long since sprouted decks, air-conditioning, satellite dishes, & even patches of lawn. Retirees have converted them into year-round homes. I used to be with a young woman whose family owned 1/2 of one in Lavallette, beach block, a short stroll from the boardwalk. I loved it. They rented it out through an agency most of July & August & enjoyed it the rest of the year. The baseboard electric made it expensive & slow to heat, so it didn't get used much over the winter, but the place was never shuttered off-season. We spent a New Year's Eve down there on a whim, too windy cold & desolate that year. A huge, deliberate loophole in Jersey's environmental zoning laws permitted a beachfront condo development at the end of the street that literally blocked the sea breeze. You can purchase a 50 X 30 foot piece of paradise for under $400,000.

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Comments:
Bob, Ocean Beach is the place to be. In 1996, I competed in a 1 mile ocean swim there and got to spend some time in one of the cottages. While they may be cramped, they are a welcome, unpretentious alternative to the giant megamansions rising higher and higher along the shore (although Ocean County has been spared many of the monstrosities down in Avalon and Stone Harbor). You may be interested in the official OB site, which contains a collection of old postcards.
 
I've always considered Ocean Beach to be a monstrosity in its own collective way. Though not as bad as the huge bay developments. I don't know how Ocean Beach is zoned & governed, but it doesn't seem to invite the kind of redevelopment occurring elsewhere. A Cat 3 & 20 foot storm surge might change the situation some. I knew about Ocean Beach years before I saw it, from the lucky local kids who disappeared every summer because their autoworker dads had stretched the budget & bought in down there.
 
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