Jersey Shore

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Luxury appointments abound in the 7,000-square-foot, 12-year-old Victorian-style mansion overlooking Great Bay, such as a marble fireplace that once graced a Biddle estate mansion, a crystal chandelier that at the touch of a button lowers from the 30-foot foyer ceiling for cleaning, and boat slips big enough to berth a pair of yachts. A "smart house" system controls window treatments, lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and music. Slate-covered turrets, little secret gardens, and gingerbread-laden porches make the exterior look more like Cape May than Ocean City.

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

ATLANTIC CITY — The stabbing deaths of two Canadian tourists outside a casino hotel left tourism officials stunned and dismayed Monday, casting a shadow over the formal opening on Memorial Day weekend of the newest gambling palace and tripping up a $30 million-a-year campaign to rebrand and revive the sagging resort town. The two victims, women ages 80 and 47, were stabbed and killed during a robbery Monday morning outside Bally's Atlantic City casino hotel, just steps from where a police officer was sitting in a patrol car. Police declined to provide the names of the victims, or precisely where they were from, pending notification of family.

Revel, Revel, Revel . . . . That's all the noise one hears these days coming from the Jersey Shore - especially when it concerns new prospects for dining. Granted, the gleaming $2.4 billion tower of Atlantic City's latest casino resort is hard to miss. And with more than a dozen restaurant concepts involving some very big names, its spring debut has no doubt been the biggest food news to hit this casino town since the Borgata began A.C.'s high-end remake. Jose Garces should have Philadelphians' attention right off the bat with three restaurants: an outsize version of Amada with ocean views and flamenco; a jumbo Village Whiskey clone for gourmet burgers and booze; plus Nuevo Mex concept with a Distrito Cantina serving margaritas and a replica Guapo's Taco truck.

And so the great cultural experiment draws to a close. In this week's fourth-season finale, the dim denizens of Jersey Shore ended their long exile in Florence. So what did we, the viewers, learn? (Pauly D and the gang clearly learned nothing.) For one thing, that Italy was an inspired destination. If any world leader can endorse the "gym, tan, laundry" lifestyle, it's Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Although I believe he refers to it as palestra, abbronzatura, lavanderia . I think we can also agree that classy is the same in any language.

If you have the money - and that means cash - you can buy your dream house at the Jersey Shore. If you don't, as a prospective vacation-home owner you're being squeezed even harder by the same financial institutions that tightened credit for purchases of primary residences. The higher the price, "the greater the likelihood the buyer is paying cash for the property," said Paul Leiser of Avalon Realty. "A $7 million sale is far more likely to be a cash deal than a $1 million sale.

10 tonight MTV The guidos and guidettes from this controversial reality series head way south to another shore, Miami Beach. Season two gets off to a raucous start, just as fans anticipate and demand.

The Chester County all-stars advanced to the semifinals of the Carpenter Cup Classic yesterday by beating the Catholic League, 10-5, at Penn's Meiklejohn Stadium. Chester County will face the Jersey Shore all-stars, who advanced by winning yesterday's second game, 6-2, against Suburban One National/Bicentennial. Chester scored five runs in the seventh inning, which was highlighted by a two-run double by Spring-Ford's Rick Gehman. Jersey Shore used sound pitching to win its game.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Luxury appointments abound in the 7,000-square-foot, 12-year-old Victorian-style mansion overlooking Great Bay, such as a marble fireplace that once graced a Biddle estate mansion, a crystal chandelier that at the touch of a button lowers from the 30-foot foyer ceiling for cleaning, and boat slips big enough to berth a pair of yachts. A "smart house" system controls window treatments, lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and music. Slate-covered turrets, little secret gardens, and gingerbread-laden porches make the exterior look more like Cape May than Ocean City.

Revel, Revel, Revel . . . . That's all the noise one hears these days coming from the Jersey Shore - especially when it concerns new prospects for dining. Granted, the gleaming $2.4 billion tower of Atlantic City's latest casino resort is hard to miss. And with more than a dozen restaurant concepts involving some very big names, its spring debut has no doubt been the biggest food news to hit this casino town since the Borgata began A.C.'s high-end remake. Jose Garces should have Philadelphians' attention right off the bat with three restaurants: an outsize version of Amada with ocean views and flamenco; a jumbo Village Whiskey clone for gourmet burgers and booze; plus Nuevo Mex concept with a Distrito Cantina serving margaritas and a replica Guapo's Taco truck.

  BEACH HAVEN, N.J. - Sondra Beninati and her husband, Steve, have spent the six years they have owned the Gables lovingly restoring the 19th-century landmark, decorating it with priceless antiques and designer furnishings. They turned a neglected backyard into a tranquil garden for weddings and installed a professional kitchen with an impressive refrigeration room and multiple top-of-the-line ranges and grills. But Beninati says she always felt that the enduring structure - built as a lifeguard dormitory in the 1880s and evolved into a bed-and-breakfast and Zagat-rated restaurant - belongs to this Long Beach Island town in a way that transcends time and ownership.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Drew Fasy considers himself more practical than pious. But he's worried about the soul of "America's greatest family resort. " If voters pass a ballot proposal allowing patrons to "bring your own bottle" of wine or beer to local restaurants, now "dry" Ocean City could take a hit to its reputation from which it would never recover, said Fasy, 49. The town resident, who owns a real estate agency in nearby Sea Isle City,...

MAYBE IT started on "Jerry Springer" - that is, women cursing, clawing, and punching one another as bemused-looking men try to pull them apart. Snooki and the "Jersey Shore" crew have cemented images of crude behavior by women in the minds of young TV viewers. These televised fisticuffs seem to go unpunished; so many, especially young people, may mistakenly believe there are no consequences and that somehow after the fight is over that they are going to gain respect. A little closer to home it is reported that two women, one the president of the Chester Upland school board, and the other a Chester High School teacher, allegedly were involved in a physical confrontation in plain view of students at the school.

Perennially topless and cuddly Jersey Shore teddy bear Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino has checked into rehab for substance abuse, reports TMZ. Or has he? Sitch's P.R. rep tells Entertainment Weekly the professional partier and sometime clothing-company spokesman is just taking time to rest up. Sitch, the rep says, "has spent the past several weeks at an undisclosed location for much-needed rest and recuperation after his extensive production and appearance schedule.

ATLANTIC CITY - Fishermen and marina owners came out ahead Monday in new beach-access rules published by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. But beach-access advocates say the new rules amount to minor tinkering that still does not do nearly enough to prevent shore towns from having too much say in who can reach the beach and where they can do it. The DEP issued its long-awaited revisions to the beach-access rules, which were the subject of contentious public hearings last year in which critics said the new plans to let local towns write their own beach-access plans would only embolden them to be more exclusionary than before.

ATLANTIC CITY - New Jersey's $38 billion tourism business - the state's third-largest industry - may be back on a roll after posting a 7 percent revenue increase in 2011 over the year before. And the particularly warm winter, which has attracted throngs of out-of-season visitors to the Jersey Shore, may extend the upward trend into the 2012 summer season, officials predict. That dose of optimism, after relatively flat tourism numbers between 2008 and 2010, came in a keynote address by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno at the three-day 2012 New Jersey Tourism Industry Association conference last week at the Golden Nugget.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Kyle Anderson has roots that reach deep into the sandy soil of the Jersey Shore area. His dad played sports at Lower Cape May High School, and his grandfather was a legendary athlete at the old Cape May High. If his family hadn't moved to North Jersey when he was a youngster, Anderson might have played for a Cape-Atlantic League team. On Friday night, Anderson showed the best team in South Jersey what the area lost when he took his game up the Garden State Parkway.