May 2022 Ocean City Magazine

Ocean City is a porch town. A quick bike ride through the island streets and it’s hard to deny. There are porches and people enjoying said porches everywhere. In early April, I popped into Scarborough Inn to take a tour of their newly-renovated rooms (which are fab, btw) with innkeeper Sne Avichal. With a small mason jar of Vietnamese iced coffee in hand, freshly made by Sne, we made our way around the Victorian-style inn, ending at the beginning… on the large, and seriously enticing, wrap around porch.
“This is why people come here,” said Sne, a big grin on his face and pride in his voice. The porch at the Inn, much like the porches all over the island, is a spot for connecting and conversing with friends and family. Read all about the Scarborough Inn renovations along with other revamped island hotels on page 50.
On my own porch, conversations flow from music to movies to current events. Like how it’s practically impossible not to dance to Dynamite by BTS, or how difficult it is to say the word, “lil,” or how many artists have “Lil” in their name. There are six according to my son Finn: Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, Lil TJay, Lil Baby, and Lil Durk. Lively debates inevitably pop up – like who the best live performer is and so on and so on.
As porch conversations flow with ease, so does time, especially in summer. Early afternoon becomes twilight, and twilight fades into midnight in what sometimes seems like the blink of an eye.
But in pre-summer… time seems to slow to a near stop, leaving beach days feeling eons away. I’m not alone in this… it’s a common plea around town. This year, I’ve heard everything from “I’m just so desperate for summer” to “Can’t it just be summer already? This is taking too long.”
Well, the time has come friends. Beach days are here and so is the May issue of Ocean City Magazine. Inside, check out the newest Downtown boutique Primitive Beach, get the scoop on perennial favorite Hula Restaurant, learn about Upper Township’s history with local Bob Holden, and get informed about the New Jersey plastic bag ban and its impacts. As always there are fun and games inside, lovely pics, good inspo, and so much more. See you on the beach (or the porch)!

Stef Godfrey, editor