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A four-hour wait and a pricey fast-pass lane aren’t just for Magic Kingdom anymore — it’s the new Saturday night at the Jersey Shore.
Divey but beloved beach town bars such as The Parker House, Osprey, Jenks and D’Jais, once flooded by locals wanting to slug back a beer while listening to a cover band’s rendition of “Livin’ on a Prayer,” have been transformed into a hotspot feeding ground for young partiers.
Thanks to viral videos of influencer Alix Earle and model Livvy Dunne partying at Jenks Club in Point Pleasant and pop-star Tate McRae canoodling with NJ Devils star Jack Hughes at Sea Girt’s The Parker House, Gen Zers are trekking from all over to endure insanely long wait times and pay upwards of $300 for VIP status to get in on the shore action.
The hysteria (and money spent) is a sharp contrast to how Middletown, New Jersey resident Carol An Mireider recalls her partying nights down the shore.
“We didn’t pay much; it wasn’t so commercialized. You could go to D’Jais’ [in Belmar] happy hour and get five beers for a dollar,” she told The Post.
The Gen Xer, who met her ex-husband at the Belmar hotspot, explained these bars always attracted crowds and “VIP” status was a concept back in the ‘80s. But back then, it was more of a locals scene, and these cards were given out for free to regular bar-goers.
“The community down the shore was real. The bouncers and bar owners knew who had shore houses and got to know you,” Mireider recalled. “They would let you cut the line, and look out for you.”
The NJ local pointed out that she and her friends would only ever pay to get into one of these bars if a band was playing, including legends like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.
“These stars were normal and in the mix, and everyone said ‘hello,’” Mireider reminisced, noting they used to party with The Boss until sunrise, yet none of it was documented for virality, the way it is today.
“I guess now they [the bars] are monetizing with Gen Z wanting everything instantaneously and they’ll pay for it,” she pointed out.
She’s not wrong.
Today’s young partiers are willing to do whatever it takes to party down the shore alongside influencers, including paying $75 to cut the line, or, for those more dedicated, paying $200 to $300 to secure the coveted “VIP” card that allows them to skip cover fees, go to the front of the line and bring a plus one.
This elite status is difficult to secure — something Sea Girt resident Abigail Pagano, 25, knows firsthand.
“There’s not really a specific process to get a VIP Pass and I think that’s the beauty behind the exclusivity of it all,” Pagano, who got her The Parker House VIP Card in 2023 and renews it annually, told The Post.
She explained that as a shore resident, once you “know the right person,” it’s “easy” to get your hands on a coveted card. For the Gen Zer, that right person was an employee at the Sea Girt bar she met while walking her dog.
The 25-year-old doesn’t bat an eyelash at paying the $300 fee — a price she said increases annually and thinks is well worth it.
Unfortunately, scavenging out-of-towners aren’t as lucky, having to join multi-year waitlists for the card, with some bars having over 1,000 people on them.
And the only way to move up the lengthy list is if a previous cardholder doesn’t renew theirs by the annual May 1 deadline.
Those who have no choice but to line up like cattle to experience the magic of the shore are turning to locals like Anthony DeCandia, who is creatively using social media to provide real-time line updates.
“You want to be hanging out with your friends, not waiting in line and losing your buzz,” the Manasquan, NJ resident who is the mastermind behind the @manasquangossip Instagram page told The Post.
He created the account in 2019 to post memes about his home state. But these days, his 30,000 following quickly turned into a community of locals wanting to know how gruesome the bar lines were — and he became the go-to guy to help them.
DeCandia admitted to The Post that despite his helpful crowd reporting, lines have gotten so out of hand at these bars that he doesn’t blame people for doing, or paying, whatever they can to get in.
“It’s almost like a theme park where there’s a fast pass lane and a regular lane,” DeCandia described. But regardless, “The lines will always be worth it.”
Bar Anticipation (famously known as “Bar A”) in Lake Como has offered VIP Cards for the last 30 years, but with today’s high demand comes a high price.
For $200, eager guests can skip the bar’s infamously long line that often wraps around residential blocks and score free entry.
While owners like Bar A’s Thomas Jannarone are appreciative of the card sales, eager crowds and hungry demand, he admitted to The Post that it could be a double-edged sword.
“I think for every person who may go to an establishment after seeing a line to get in, there are others who won’t go because of the line,” Jannarone told The Post. “There are some amazing pictures and videos of over a thousand people in line to get into Bar A, but I don’t use them as promo pieces for that very reason.”
In addition to these concerns from bar owners, there have been ongoing complaints from locals living next door to these buzzy watering holes.
As a local herself, Mireider pointed out that weekend partiers lack care for the neighborhood and “have ruined it for the rest.”
“There should be an etiquette for those just entering for the weekend, but people think because they are paying, that they can act however they want,” she complained to The Post.
Others are annoyed that they can’t enjoy these shore bars the way they used to.
Sea Girt local Emily Sarre, 26, captured this frustration in late June, posting a video saying, “how it feels going to The Parker House as a local nowadays,” with a broken heart emoji.
Commenters were quick to agree that the “TikTokification” of these Jersey gems has “ruined it.”
“What do you mean the place I grew up going to after the beach has a mob like that now?’ griped one commenter.
“One of these days I hope people will realize that making things overly popular on social media ruins whatever it is 100% of the time,” added another.
Despite all this grumpiness, locals walk a fine line because they don’t necessarily want to turn away weekend warriors, since they help bring business to these otherwise sleepy shore towns that bank on making money during the high season.
Which has always been the case, even in Mireider’s day, as she remembers when “people would come from all over to the Stone Pony [in Asbury Park] when Springsteen got his start.”
“If people want to put more money up to experience it, why not? They will never have the true experience, but they will get a moment of it,” said Mireider.
While the nightlife scene at the Jersey Shore has evolved from $1 happy hour beers to $300 VIP renewals, the pull of the coast remains.
“New Jersey brings a different energy and the Jersey Shore is one of the greatest places in the entire world,” DeCandia concurred. “The celebrities are obviously aware, and I would want to experience it too if I were them.”
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