If you’ve never been to New Jersey there’s a solid chance you’ve never so much as heard of pork roll. But spend just one day in a beach town like Point Pleasant and you’ll quickly realize the entire Garden State seems to be infatuated with the encased rolls of meat in their breakfast sandwiches. It’s a Jersey thing, for sure. As filmmakers Corey Frank and Sal Librizzi put it, it’s “the almighty breakfast meat that fuels the shore.”
Of course, using a breakfast meat to pay homage to the culture of a local surf community might not make sense at first, but Librizzi and Frank knew what they were doing when they put the pork roll centerstage in their film HOMETOWN HYPE: North Jersey. They were simply highlighting a unique thing you can’t find anywhere else to drive in the point home that North Jersey’s surf scene — from the local watering holes, breakfast spots, the local surfers’ dawn patrol routines, and the area’s tendency to turn on and off at a moment’s notice — really is as special as they come.
“New Jersey is a really unique surf scene because it either has the worst waves you’ll ever see or some of the best waves you’ll ever see,” says local shaper Charles Mencel.
Coincidentally, last winter offered up some of those days with the best waves you’ll ever see. The timing for Librizzi and Frank’s film couldn’t have been better. They highlighted a couple of those memorable sessions, and of course everybody sat down and shared memories over some good old fashioned pork roll.
“Every individual beach town around here has its own flavor but all come together for the perfect cocktail that is the Jersey Shore. The only constant is change, but given the impact that surfing in this area has made on so many people, it’s a world of its own that we all love dearly,” the directors told us before the world premiere.
It was definitely a great time had by all.
