September 5, 2020 --

On August 26, LPR took a New Jersey Transit train to Long Branch to see what the beach at this seaside community was like.  There is a direct train from Penn Station to Long Branch. The trip takes about 85 minutes.  The beach is about a mile from the station. It cost LPR $5 for a cab to the beach.  LPR, on return, walked the distance.  PLR definitely recommends the $5 cab ride.

The waves seemed higher than those at Rockaway and Robert Moses State Park.  At first they seemed manageable, but entering the water, LPR sensed that they came ashore more quickly than at the other beaches, and the best way to enter the water was to dive through these waves. Alas, LPR did not feel expert enough to swing through the waves, although he did go into the water twice, while being thrashed soundly by the surf, knocked down, prompting several beach goers to help him up, both times.   Only once did LPR withstand wave-power and survive without getting knocked down.

The Long Branch beach was filled with people,and umbrellas, and chairs and beach towels.  The beach is perhaps slightly narrower that the Rockaway beach, and the sand finer than the Rockaway sand, but a bit coarser than that Robert Moses sand. LPR has an idea that fewer people went into the water at Long Branch, perhaps because of the challenging nature of the surf.  There were plenty of people taking in the sun, on the beach, however.  On the day of LPR's visit, that sun was particularly warm.

In at least one aspect, for LPR, the Long Branch beach is incomparable: its vista of the Atlantic Ocean.  At Long Branch, for LPR, the view of the Atlantic seemed rather more majestic than the view at the other beaches LPR visited. Indeed, the Atlantic, from this point, appeared to be truly immense.  (And hard to believe it could be affected to any degree by manmade climate warming.) 

Right at the beach, a residential and commercial development  is nearing completion: its first stage may already have been completed, as customers visited the shops and restaurants on the ground floor of these four storey, gabled structures.  The residential floors provide condo living, with apartments going from the mid-500,000's to low millions.   The developer is the Kushner Corporation, the same family that is related   to President Trump, through the marriage of his daughter Ivanka to Jared Kushner (who worked on the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE).

On leaving for the return to New York City, LPR planned to stop at an ice cream waffle shop. There was a long line on the sidewalk, apparently entry was one personn at a time.  LPR decided to just head out for the long walk to the train, when he spotted, on the way, another shop that sold ice cream, ices and candy, a shop that had a few people inside.  LPR walked in and decided on cherry ices, instead of ice cream.  (One flavor was creamsicle ice cream.)  The cherry ices were delicious and, biting down, LPR found pieces of cherry in the ices.   This was the first time in 80 years that LPR had cherry ices with real cherries embedded in the ices. Before leaving, LPR purchased a box of salt water taffy, and the multi-flavored pieces of taff were delicious.

The name of the candy shop is "Sugar Pop" and it is located in the Pier Village development, where Chelsea Avenue meets the beach at Centennial Drive.  And for information on Pier Village, google "Pier Village in Long Branch."  (No one, and certainly no member of the Kushner family, knows about this plug.)