Think about it and you'll start to realize how important the Jersey shore is to American culture. Sure there's the television show Jersey Shore, but there are more enduring signs. Consider the board game Monopoly; properties are named after Atlantic City locations. And during a television fundraiser for Superstorm Sandy victims in November, comedian Jimmy Fallon talked specifically about the Jersey Shore.
"As all you know, New Jersey was hit really hard. Some beaches were destroyed. Boardwalks were torn apart. But they will be rebuilt. It will come back," Fallon said as he and other musicians launched into the song "Under the Boardwalk."
The Jersey shore accounts for most of the estimated $39 billion tourists spent in the state in 2011. The shore is a part of the region's culture that inspires nostalgia. But there are questions about how to rebuild the places that are special to many and who should pay for it.
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