‘Jersey Shore’ Makes Actual Jersey Shore More Popular

I loved the first season of “Jersey Shore,” but I loved it the way I enjoy war movies or going to see monkeys at the zoo: I don’t actually want to be IN that environment. It’s best enjoyed through a television set or, at the very least, a thick plate of glass. And yet Seaside Heights, the scene of last fall’s breakout MTV hit, is preparing for the massive influx of business it’s about to get as the summer season gets underway this coming weekend.

Some quick indications [of the growth of business and tourism]: beach badge sales are up significantly this year. Several new businesses opened on or near the boardwalk in the area of the ‘Jersey Shore’ beach house explicitly to capitalize on the expected crush of show workers and gawkers.

So you wanna live the GTL (gym-tan-laundry) lifestyle yourself, huh? For the true experience (and a lot of dough), you can rent the actual house where the cast members stayed at 1209 Ocean Terrace, near Kearney Avenue. But it has to be during the week; weekends are booked through the end of the summer. It rents for $1,800 to $6,000 a night (duck phone included), depending on the date…

Be prepared to have a bunch of mooks hanging around the garage door at all hours, though. On weekends, as many as 400 people a day have been known to pose for pictures there. [Fancast/AP]

Of course, the cast of “Jersey Shore” has wrapped filming for Season 2 in Miami, and is migrating back north for the summer. (They’re like birds that way: they migrate seasonally, their skin produces oil that repels water, and they’re distracted by shiny things.) That means a greater likelihood for altercations:

Last year, while the show was being shot, the cast members were unknowns who largely stayed under the radar. This year, however, they’re some of the best-known faces in America, and prime targets for anyone hoping to provoke a clash and maybe get him or herself on TV.

Seaside Heights Police Chief Tom Boyd said there will be 20 police officers each weekend on and near the set, with an additional 20 MTV security personnel – a tenfold increase from last year…

No ‘Jersey Shore’ tour is complete without a stop at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill (boardwalk and Dupont Avenue). That’s where Snooki was decked by a sucker-punch from a rowdy bar customer in season one. The scene, which aired in promos but was cut from the actual show, is immortalized inside the bar. It sells T-shirts featuring a chalk outline of a woman sprawled on the ground, surrounded by crime-scene tape and the words “Snooki Was Here!”

Man, that is NOT classy. They should at least commemorate that with a plaque or something. NEVER FORGET.