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Archive for the ‘Grover Opinions’ Category

Granddaughter reviews the Grove. We prefer Madeleine’s. (Best of: from 2014)

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Grover Opinions, tagged on October 17, 2025| 5 Comments »

Madeleine's letter to Ocean Grove

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor  @ Blogfinger.   Madeleine’s review of OG is above. Reposted from 2014 on BF.

If you recall the movie “Greta,” it begins with Greta  (Hillary Duff ) riding in a bus heading for Ocean Grove to visit grandma.  She says that her grandmother  lives in a very depressing town.  Greta  really doesn’t want to go.

I took exception to Greta’s review, because she was clearly misinformed.  The other problem I had with her narration was that, unlike all the other movies which featured Ocean Grove  (eg Stardust Memories and Boardwalk Empire,)  this was the only film that actually correctly identified the town.  So it wasn’t exactly great publicity.

Which brings me to Madeleine’s review (above.) She is the granddaughter of an eminent OG family–the Aanensens.  Ted sent this to us and said that it was written when Madeleine was seven after she had spent  a summer’s day at the Ocean Grove beach.

I like the part where she tells us how good our town tastes and smells.  She is right about the smells—we have the aroma of the sea and of coconut suntan lotion.  Madeleine doesn’t tell us what she has been tasting in the Grove, but maybe it’s just that Aanensen home cooking.  She also likes the colors here, so she is seeing us in a totally original way, sort of how a certain English rock group described their home as  a colorful place to live.

l1030668

Asbury Park wall art 2015, near the Casino.

Ted says that Madeleine “does a good job of summing up Ocean Grove.”  You know, he’s right.  Madeleine has a mind of her own, and she likes our town, and we like her review.

THE BEATLES

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Seagulls Get Early Bird Beach Badges

Posted in Blogfinger News, Editorial, Grover Opinions, Photographic Gallery: Ocean Grove, tagged , on March 1, 2013| 6 Comments »

By William Heately

Photos by William Heately

TA7

From Bill Heately:

Took these pics of gulls on Ocean Grove beach today.

Camp Meeting sent out  beach badge  renewals last week, and if you act fast, you get an “Early Bird” discount.

Looks like 2  gulls  have already got theirs.

One has both wings  tagged with a red “815” tag and is wearing two ankle bands.

Second   gull has band  that says  TA7.

Third  gull is just an angry bird.

EDITOR’S  NOTE:    Thanks to Bill  for his “information sharing” contribution on Blogfinger.

In Florida, no one pays to get on a beach, but it is not free, because you  pay for parking.   They do not have meters, and the parking lot spaces are not numbered, as in Asbury Park.  Instead you pay $2.00 per hour and stay as long as you like.  You go to a pay station machine and buy a ticket  (cash or credit card) that tells what time you paid and what time your stay is over.  You place the ticket on the dashboard so that the traffic officer can see it.

In Ocean Grove, like the birds in William’s photos, the senior citizens have their own tag. That’s because they get a discounted price.  Their beach badge reveals their “special status”because it looks different from everybody else’s.  Even with senior discounts at the movies, no one has to know that you are old.  If 70 is the new 40, then why force  seniors to wear a label that sets them apart and invades their privacy?  At least we can hide our Medicare cards in our wallets.    I know, it’s because a regular badge, discounted, might then be given to some thirty year old.  Here’s a solution:  Have the senior badges look like everyone else’s  except for a barely noticeable S on the bottom that only a sharp-eyed teenage badge checker  can spot.   And, how about a star to stick on the badge of anyone who helped with the clean up of the beach front or who helped with Sandy related activities.?   —Paul  Goldfinger, editor.

Julius LaRosa is glad he’s not young anymore:

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