Nothing reflects the change in Avalon - to a quintessential family-oriented town - more than the renovation last winter of the Princeton Inn, the New York Times reports. Since 1971, when the Princeton Hotel added a vast barroom, “the P” had been the quintessential shot-and-beer shore bar. When the Princeton reopened in the spring, however, it had marble bar tops, served mussels and dainty salads. The transition was lamented by few.
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So where can you see fireworks on the Fourth of July at the shore? Philly.com has compiled a list for you:

Atlantic City: Fireworks after the Atlantic City Surf baseball game, which begins at 7:05.

Cape May: Fireworks shot off on a barge on the ocean, visible from the beach, no charge. For tickets to an All-American picnic to be held on the lawn of historic Congress Hall, held before the show, contact Congress Hall at 888-944-1816. Tickets $20.

Lower Township: Fireworks at the Cape May Ferry Terminal Grounds, 9:30 p.m., with live music, and food available for purchase beginning at 7:30.

Ocean City: Fireworks after a kite-flying contest and other entertainment, beginning at 9 p.m., at Carey Stadium, 6th Street off the Boardwalk.

Sea Isle City: Fireworks at 9 p.m., JFK Boulevard and the beach.

Stone Harbor: Fireworks and band concert at the 80th Street Fields, 9 p.m.

Wildwood: Fireworks at 10 p.m., Boardwalk at Pine Avenue.

Ventnor: Fireworks at 9 p.m., raindate Saturday July 7.

For a list of fireworks displays scheduled throughout the region, see our Fourth of July guide.

Today was a perfect beach day. A worthy beach day for the beginning of the Summer of 2007:

I spent the day on a trolley, on a boat, on the beach, eating ice cream, and chatting with the mayor and council president of Stone Harbor. Pretty tough, huh? Anyway, the headline from my day is this: contrary to rumors that fly around the island every year, Oprah Winfrey does NOT own a house in Stone Harbor. Her significant other (are they still engaged?), Stedman Graham - no relation - went to high school nearby, and returns every year for a reunion of the basketball team of which he was a star. So there are occasionally Oprah sightings. But she is not a property owner. Glad we got that straightened up.

In other news: have you been to The Point? (No, not the nightclub!) It's a portion of the beach cordoned off to serve as a habitat for wildlife, especially some endangered birds that need protection. It's less than one square mile in size, and you can frequently spot piping plovers, terns, and red knots. (Wish I had a photo of a bird to show you, but no dice. Here was a funny turtle I spotted, though!)

This is what $12 million can buy you. It's the house that's the talk of the town. View from the boat, out on the bay:

This house is merely $9,900 per week during the peak summer season. It's got six bedrooms, and some of the best deck views I've ever seen. It's a beach block house, of course, and from the top deck, you can look one way and see the ocean and the other way and see the bay. It would cost about $4 million, says real estate agent Patty DeMarco of Diller and Fisher. Here's one corner of the spacious living room. I love the murals painted everywhere:

It's going to be a great summer.

I was dodging fat raindrops and walking up to Borough Hall just as my phone rang - weather's too iffy. Media event cancelled.

The good news is tomorrow - the longest day of the year - is supposed to be beautiful, and everything that was supposed to happen today is now scheduled to happen tomorrow. The bad news is I drove 90 minutes to get that news in person. Ouch.

Anyway, it's clearing up now, but here's proof that it started out as a bad beach day: this is the view of 96th Street from out my car window.

Admit it: you still make jokes about how gross New Jersey beaches are, right? Obviously you've never been to Stone Harbor. The beaches there were recently awarded with a Blue Wave Beach certification. The honor is given out by the Clean Beaches Council, a nonprofit that promotes beach sustainability, and Stone Harbor received the only Blue Wave in New Jersey.

Stone Harbor met or exceeded 33 criteria for clean, healthy water to score the designation. Blue Wave beach towns promise to be vigilant about water quality, beach and intertidal conditions, hazards, services, habitat conservation, public information and education and erosion management.

The Clean Beaches Council recommends these steps to keep beaches in great shape:

1. Leave no trace (if you carry it in, carry it out)
2. Use public restrooms (help keep beach water clean)
3. Don’t tread the dunes (prevent beach erosion/use walkovers)
4. Know your limits (swim, surf and boat safely)
5. Respect native habitats (wildlife and plants)
6. Mind your pet (help keep beaches sanitary)
7. Get involved!

More from Stone Harbor tomorrow. I'm headed to Media Day in town. I swear I am not just going because of the promise of Springer's Ice Cream. But that doesn't hurt, not one bit.

In the 10 years since gentrification and a surge in real estate values created a whale of a breach between modest longtime residents and new big-time spenders in Avalon, bait shop owners David and Tammie Carbohn are able to relate to everyone quite nicely, the Inquirer's Melissa Dribben writes, because they deal in a sport that gives no great advantage to the lavishly equipped.
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From Belmar to Cape May, shore towns and organizations will honor the memory of those Americans who have died in military service to our country. A list of services scheduled for Saturday and Monday follows.

Jersey Shore communities have a whole bunch of crazy rules about what you can and can't do on the beach, the Associated Press reports. Did you know you can't draw dirty pictures in the sands of Belmar, or ride a camel on the beach in Wildwood? And keep your ruler ready if your kids are digging in the sand on Long Beach Island.
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