Blogfinger

OG. August 2026. Blogfinger.net. Paul Goldfinger photo.

OLIVER:

Paul Goldfinger. Ocean Grove….2019. Click once to enlarge.

MARIO LANZA.    From the operetta  The Student Prince.    “Golden Days.”

Paul Goldfinger, Ocean Grove. 2020…

PHIL COLLINS.  “Groovy Kind of Love.”

Bradley Beach. Aug. 2026. Paul Goldfinger Click once to read.

Norah Jones:   “Come Away With Me.”

Bakers and owners Erin and James Kilker of Ocean Grove  behind the curtain where the magic is accomplished  at  “Hey Peach” in Bradley Beach.   But it’s not a scene from the” Wizards of Oz.”  It’s  more like “Alice in Wonderland.”  The oven has a history–ask James about it.    Paul Goldfinger photos. Blogfinger.net.  2/21/25.

Erin and mom Mel,  a master carpenter who built the unit behind them.

By Paul Goldfinger, MD at  the new “Hey Peach” bakery and café.  129 Main Street  in Bradley Beach.  Across from Country Farm.  Evergreen Ave.

I went in today to sample the baked  goods.  Stephen gave me a list for us to try.  “Hey Peach” is on Main Street in BB, opposite Country Farm and one block north of Vic’s Italian.

It was 9:30 am, and a line had formed to the door. Everyone in there, except James working at the oven in the back,  was female.  I kidded Erin that I was the only customer who was not a woman.  I’m thinking they need a sign that says, “We serve all genders.”

The ladies who lunch were enthused and happy—after all it’s a new and exciting culinary adventure at “Hey Peach,”  and Erin and James have come up with an impressive and  efficient business  model to keep things moving.  One person takes your order. You pay while someone else puts your package together.

I took home an amazing  baguette, a remarkable  sourdough* bread, a gorgeous large cream puff , a huge pretzel, and if you come from New York, you are familiar with those hot pretzels sold by street vendors , a brownie and several croissants.   Regarding the latter, the bakers here work hard to match what you get in Paris, and  Erin and James’ are as good if not better.

Our first purchases from Hey Peach. Eileen’s OG Kitchen.  2/21/25 Paul Goldfinger photo.

James is a bit reluctant to be photographed because he says, “Erin is the thing.”

But  “No”  I said, “You are the  thing also–a member of the  magical team  behind the  curtains.”

There is a barista set-up in front, and we saw an artistic cappuccino go by. Many customers grab a cup of high class “Joe” on the way out.

For the warmer weather, there are a couple of tables and chairs outside.    Or do takeout and head north a few blocks  to Riley Park.

Above  is what our order looked like when I unpacked in Eileen’s kitchen.  You will notice that I tore off the end of the baguette as soon as I put it down, swiftly buttered it , and voila–all gone!

Note that they have hearty sourdough baguettes with remarkable crustiness and heavy seeds.

*James is an expert in making sourdough breads.  He has his own “starter” and a special oven.  Sourdough is said to have some health benefits in terms of nutrients, calming effects,  improved digestion, and weight loss effects.  Ask James about it.

JUDY GARLAND from the Wizard of Oz original soundtrack.   (In this case we have two wizards behind the curtain.)

Eileen.  Pre-Sandy.  Paul Goldfinger portrait. Ocean Grove, NJ.

Wardrobe by the Emporium. Main Avenue. OG

MAROON 5:

Paul Goldfinger still photographs from the 2020 movie “Curtiz.” It depicts the set at the Warner Brothers  lot in Burbank, California during filming of Casablanca (1942)    Click below to play it again, Sam.

Paul Goldfinger still image from the movie: Casablanca . It’s Ingrid Bergman

Paul Goldfinger still image from Casablanca.   Humphrey Bogart.

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor, Blogfinger.net

The 2020 Hungarian film Curtiz was about the making of Casablanca in 1942 starring  Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  The director was Michael Curtiz, an immigrant film director from Hungary.    Michael Curtiz was a prolific director who made 180 films in his career.

The black and white film Curtiz, about him, is  fascinating.

The movie Casablanca had 11 Oscar nominations and won 3  Academy Awards  including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

“As Time Goes By” is performed by Dooley Wilson who played Sam in the movie.  Sam is seated at the piano, and Ingrid Bergman says, “Play it Sam.”  (Not “Play it Again Sam”)

Portrait of Adrien Brody. Still movie image by Paul Goldfinger.  Click once to enlarge.  I believe this is from his wonderful movie about an immigrant experience—The Brutalist.

Soundtrack from Brody’s amazing movie The Pianist:  Nocturne in C  Sharp Minor

Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC.

I may be behind the medical times in some ways, but I know what  quality medical practice is:

Were you ever admitted to a hospital  “emergency room”  where you found a chaotic setting and no hospital beds.  Perhaps you found yourself stuck on a gurney and pressed against a wall, uncomfortable, uninformed  and without personal attention for many hours? . Did they try to make you comfortable and knowledgeable?

Did any MD’s come to assess your medical situation?  Or were “residents”  of dubious quality showing up without  proper identification and without insight into your medical situation?   Did you have any say in who would be your attending physician ?  Who on the staff understood  the complexities of your case?

Did you feel confident in your care?  Was the ER physician staff attentive, or did they run around understaffed in some sort of Brownian motion?

How about the nurses: Dut did they offer any  personal attention; or only walk  around wheeling a robotic  computer while they clicked off boxes on their check lists?   Did they offer you any personal attention?

Were you left in a corridor or other congested stifling area ?  Did they leave you in an area with bright lights and noise?  Could you sleep?

Did anyone explain your diagnosis and plan of diagnosis and treatment?  Did anyone review imaging and other test results?

How about explain blood pressure and cardiac monitoring goals?

Did anyone explain medications to the patient?  Does the staff really know your  history,  including precise drug doses. Are they capable of thinking for themselves while you beg for pain relief, thirst or some food?    Is there a chair for whoever who is with you? 

If you have a specific  medical issue which might need a specialized consultant, how long did it take for that specialist to show up?    Did it take hours or even days?   Did you receive a choice regarding which consulting doctors would see you?

If you needed  a procedure was it done in a sterile, private,  and well equipped setting?

Did the staff make an effort to have a health advocate readily available to you?

Did it occur to you that you might have received better care at home? 

Consider this: Medicare is developing “Hospital at Home Care”  where patients can go home and receive” hospital level care in patients’ homes as a substitute for care traditionally provided in brick -and-mortatr hospitals.”

AI tells us:

Hospital care at home (or “Hospital from Home”) allows eligible patients requiring acute, inpatient-level care—such as treatments for infections, heart failure, or COPD—to receive professional medical treatment, daily nursing visits, and 24/7 remote monitoring safely inside their own residence instead of a traditional hospital room—if one was even available?

HaH  care was first developed at the time of Covid. “HaH is associated with lower rates of hospital associated complications, better patient care experience, lower postacute health service utilization, and lower costs.”

“HaH care was associated with excellent patient outcomes and high program integrity trained”

“For such programs  trained doctors and personnel  for  in home-based acute care is required.”

This review  is from the Journal of the American Medical Association 5/26/26 and is entitled “Hospital at Home and Transforming US Health Care Delivery.”

In a CMS report to Congress, “HaH care was associated with excellent patient outcomes and high program integrity.”

“Special training and equipment is required for this at all levels of performance such as nursing, hospitalists, pharmacies, para medics, technology, regulations, financing, etc.    

The authors of the paper, mostly from Johns Hopkins say, “HaH–along with societal shifts, in consumer attitudes and use of online retouches, telemedicine, and consumer oriented wearable medical devices–presents an opportunity to reimagine care delivery in a distributed, highly coordinated, truly patient centered care ecosystem in patients homes.

“Frail older adults, especially those who are homebound and who experience preventable hospitalization, are an appropriate initial target population for this ecosystem .  Wow! “Ecosystem”

“While brick and mortar hospitals remain necessary, what we treat in those facilities has evolved over time. The hospital of the future will comprise emergency departments, operating rooms, intensive care, and other highly specialized units. Much else can and should move to the home. HaH can lead us toward this future.”

When it comes to being discharged, did they shuttle you off to some crummy inpatient rehab facility or did they give you an option, such as rehab at home?   There’s lots of money in such services!  Medicare must wake up!!

Editor’s note:  I am a double board certified physician, now retired, who became an expert in acute medical care in hospital ER’s and med-surgeries floors.   These days when I interact with the acute care system locally on the patient side, I consistently find faults which can endanger a patient’s life.  This JAMA article shines an exciting and new light on such care—HaH is growing, and hopefully we will see it implemented where we live.

And don’t get me going regarding the outrageous increase in the use of physician  assistants.  The AMA is waging war on this.

HaH is a thrilling and sensible concept, and I expect to learn more as time goes by.

PAUL ROBESON.    “Shenandoah”

It gives you goosebumps–does it not?

As a doctor I react like this when a medical advance appears. I remember when I was walking on Madison Avenue one morning near Mt. Sinai.  I saw a headline proclaim the first heart transplant . Given the potential impact of HaH, I feel the same way.

PG

Ocean Grove beach on a Sunday morning this past summer 2023. This photo was published with a biased report by an American reporter for Haaretz, a liberal newspaper  in Israel on Sept 24, 2023.  Is someone trying to stir up  international interest and condemnation for the Grove?*

Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Editor Blogfinger.net.   Ocean Grove, NJ, USA.   Summer 2023.

The  group in the photo  tries for irony as they call themselves  “Sunday Morning Swim Club.”  But we know that these geniuses  forced their way onto the OG beach each Sunday morning, disrespecting the rules of the Camp Meeting Association.

They seem proud of themselves, but if you could give their group a name, what would you call them?

*Haaretz published a story about our situation in the Grove with this subtitle:  “Christian ‘radicalization’ sparks Jewish backlash.”    

When did our local  story become a story of  “Jewish backlash?”  And who sent this distortion to Haaretz? .

This is what Haaretz  said in their English edition:   “In Ocean Grove – the self-proclaimed ‘God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore’ – Jewish and LGBTQ residents are fighting against the ‘traditional’ closure of a local beach on Sunday mornings, which they say is part of the ‘radical agenda’ of the church organization that owns the neighborhood.”  

Are the happy campers shown above responsible for this international propaganda?  Or did Haaretz happen to turn on their TV in Tel Aviv and come up with the OG story?  Where did they get  the idea that LGBTQ and Jewish Grovers are “fighting the CMA?”  And who told them that the CMA has a “radical agenda?”  Finally  how did the Haaretz reporter learn that “the church organization owns the neighborhood.?”

Blogfinger has already waved a warning flag to keep an eye on media distortions by ignorant “journalists” who are too lazy or too biased to get the facts right.   It is the same issue as when the local and national press showed up over the 2007 gay brouhaha.

Thanks to Grover Tom Pritchard who has alerted us to the Haaretz story.

Note:  DEP rules that OG beaches must be open Sunday mornings.    Ruling December 2025

Related link:     Sunday ruling

HMS PINAFORE:      Gilbert and Sullivan.  Dedicated to Michael Badger

4/13/19.   “White Whale” on fire. #4   Boardwalk. Ocean Grove , NJ, North End. Burned to the ground. Rear view from the beach.  NJ.com  photo just before roof collapsed.  Firemen escaped from the roof just before the it  caved in.

4/22/19. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net. Fire rubble piles.  North End Redevelopment site is to the left.   Asbury Casino is straight ahead. “Dunes” wreckage is on the beach

Blogfinger   4/9/26:    We have learned that a NJ developer “TFE Properties”  bought  #4 Boardwalk  last month (March 2026)  at the north end of the OG boardwalk on the beach, with plans to build a “pavilion” at the location which is currently empty and has housed foxes in the last few years.

This comes as a surprise because that location is on the beach and is not on an official street.   Have these people obtained proper approvals for their plans such as from CAFRA DEP  (Coastal Zone,) Neptune Township, and  the  Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association  which claims to own the beach here ?

This is from thei TFE web site:    “TFE Properties planned 40,000-square-foot pavilion aims to reestablish the property as a vibrant destination for residents and visitors, while honoring the site’s historic role within the community.”  They also are bragging about their proximity to Asbury Park.  

It seems that everyone who wants to buy in OG these days wants to claim proximity to A. Park.  But what about their interest   in the historic town of Ocean Grove?  TFE’s claim of wanting to “honor the site’s historic role within the community” is suspect.

And do these people  care about other issues including the large North End Redevelopment proposed across the boards,  the views at our residential north end, “Breezeway” access, boardwalk access, and sea breezes?   Don’t expect the Neptuners to care; they brought us the North End Plan.

That  North End Plan due to begin construction soon also contains commercial, hotel, garage, beach access,  and residential concerns  for those who live in that neighborhood?  Will the proposed two projects create mayhem where we used to find outdoor pleasures for all?

And what about environmental concerns: Ocean and Wesley  lake pollution, ground water management , flooding, parking,  fire truck access to and from, and tourist crowding.

And how about the crew formerly known as the OGHOA?  Will they have concerns?  They represent many Grovers.

If you have any information please share with Blogfinger via email.     Blogfinger@verizon.net.       Requests  for anonymity will be honored.   So talk to me.

Paul Goldfinger,MD  Editor Blogfinger.net, Ocean Grove, NJ USA.

MICKEY GILLEY