Use caution in Asbury Park at night. While the areas around the bars in Asbury are safe, some of the city's residential neighborhoods are less hospitable for outsiders. Also, the highways are extremely dangerous, due to tourist traffic as well as drunk drivers. Police are known to enforce traffic laws vigorously in some smaller towns. Expect to be hit with a hefty fine if you're caught driving under the influence. Police will also ticket more aggressively than the rest of the state especially in summer for parking infractions and driving above the speed limit.
Although Asbury Park is a major LGBT tourist destination, be aware that the rest of the Jersey Shore is extremely conservative. Intolerance towards homosexuals is rampant and being openly gay or transgender on many boardwalks can invite danger. Local police tend to be very indifferent towards LGBT issues, even though NJ has strong hate crime and anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
Wildwood, while generally safe near the boardwalk, has some neighborhoods that aren't as nice as those in most other shore towns. Serious crime against tourists is rare, but use common sense and try to avoid walking alone late at night, especially in the unlit neighborhoods more than a block or two from the boardwalk.
Atlantic City has some crime problems, but these areas are far away from the Boardwalk. Panhandlers on the Boardwalk may become annoying, since there is so many of them, but if you don't want to give anything, just keep walking. Casinos are safe due to the high number of security personnel and video cameras. Do NOT explore Atlantic City at night. All night life is limited to the casinos.
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English is the predominate language at all of the New Jersey shore destinations. However, Spanish is also used. The New Jersey Shore is most commonly referred to as the "shore" by people who live in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. However, people who live in these beach destinations often think it is tacky to call it the shore, and refer to it as the beach. One way for a local to tell if someone is from out of town, is by what they call the beaches. Locals will often use the terms bennies most often heard in Monmouth and Ocean counties or shoobies most often heard in Atlantic and Cape May counties when refering to summertime tourists.