Blogfinger

Milton Edelman, Jersey Shore photographer in 1960 Ocean Grove.  Note the North End setting.

Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Editor Blogfinger.net

There are a few female Grovers who have been outspoken and don’t like our “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” series in the Grove, especially at the beachfront.

We took the idea from Bruce Springsteen who wrote a song with that name.  He won a Grammy for it in 2007.

But for those of you who grew up in the ’50’s and ’60’s, you may recall the  Police Gazette (at the barber shop) and other magazines that showed “bathing beauties.”  That was long before Playboy.

It was OK back then and it was OK  when premier Jersey Shore photographer Milt Edelman was photographing in Long Branch, Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.  The photograph above was loaned to us by a Grover whose family goes way back in town.  He came to our curbside sale and brought me this image and others which we will share.

In August 2025  the Asbury Park Press posted 50 photographs taken on the OG beach, and there were no holds barred in featuring young women in marvelous bikinis.

And then there’s the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition each year.

Some of today’s critics seem to be worried about photographing tiny women’s bathing suits at the beach, but that’s the style now, so what’s the problem?   Even our female lifeguards wear bikinis in the Grove., and their dress code is controlled why the Camp Meeting Association.

And a hundred years from today, some artists will be photographing beautiful women on the OG beach.

SARAH VAUGHAN: