Shore Was Quiet

Summer at the Jersey shore has always been a time bursting with unbridled energy, with shore towns like Atlantic City becoming the very definition of a hopping, hustling and bustling destination. From the drive down to your arrival at your beach house to the city streets, restaurants, casinos and the boardwalk, it was non-stop activity. And even if storm clouds dared to darken your day, there were always plenty of boardwalk diversions to pass the time, always something else to do. When the sun went down the party kept on rolling–Atlantic City with its restaurants, nightclubs and casinos has always known how to bring the fun and entertainment at night.

So when our photographic journalist, Jamie Dunek, decided to check out what kind of effect the pandemic shutdown hasd had on Atlantic City, the results were breathtaking and jarring. Her hauntingly serene images captured the eerie, uncomfortable quietness of a city in waiting. Through Jamie’s lens, she documented firsthand the deserted, almost post-apocalyptical moments of the shutdown of once thriving now nearly empty spaces, while its residents, business owners and employees waited drearily behind closed doors, not knowing when or even if they could once again put out the welcome mat. After more than a hundred years of being the popular Jersey shore destination city, the desolate scenes are gut wrenching. The shore was quiet. And the silence was deafening.