Chiropractor in Sea Girt, NJ

What’s the most romantic place in America? It might just be a New Jersey beachside restaurant and bar.

Take a stroll down Beacon Avenue in Sea Girt and you’ll come across a Victorian-style beach house that's always bustling, complete with a long line of eager visitors. Ask anyone in town about The Parker House, and they’ll stop you in your tracks, likely calling it legendary. This restaurant by day, bar by night, has been serving up great food and music since 1878 — and sparking hundreds of love stories along the way, like that of Larry and Valerie Doyle.

In the summer of 1985, Larry and Valerie exchanged glances across The Parker House bar, but then Larry worked up the courage to walk over and strike up a conversation. However, it didn’t take long for the sea of people at the bar to separate the pair, almost ending their story right then and there.

“That was that, possibly never to be seen again,” Valerie, 62, tells PEOPLE about the abrupt ending to their initial interaction.

Both spent the following days wondering what could have been. “I was thinking about her a lot, like, ‘How could I have not gotten her last name and phone number?,’ ” Larry, 64, remembers. Valerie adds, “I went on a date with a lifeguard and remember wishing it was Larry.”

Then, as fate — or perhaps The Parker House — would have it, two weeks later, the pair locked eyes across the bar once again. This time, neither was willing to let the opportunity slip away.

“I made a beeline and said, ‘We’re going out,’ ” Larry recalls.

Forty years of marriage, four kids and one grandchild — with another on the way — later, the pair has never questioned falling in love at The Parker House, and even celebrated Valerie’s 60th birthday there in 2022. “We’re soulmates,” Larry says. “I knew right then and there she was the one for me.”

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While countless love stories have unfolded within the walls of the New Jersey hotspot, its magic doesn't just work on the inside. One summer afternoon in 2021, Kurt and Ashley Naslonski both found themselves standing in the hour-long line to enter the bar.

“I saw an old friend in line, and he introduced me to [his friends], including Kurt,” Ashley, 29, recalls. After passing each other “at least 10 times” in the snaking line, the pair grabbed a drink inside, spending the rest of the night dancing together to the Jersey Shore-famous Pat Roddy Band, which went on to perform at their wedding welcome party at The Parker House in October.

“We’ve had so many good memories there,” Kurt, 31, tells PEOPLE, as Ashley adds, “We just love doing life together.”

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Of course, some Parker House love stories are still being written.

On her 21st birthday in 2018, Carley Gatta stepped into the bar's basement looking to celebrate. What she found instead was Matthew Golden, a fellow gluten-free bargoer with drink recommendations, like the bar’s quintessential drink, the “Spring Laker.”

“We hit it off right away,” Matthew, 28, says.

Six years later, to the day, the pair got engaged, and are looking forward to their July wedding as well as the “whole next chapter of life.”

“There’s so much history,” Gatta, 27, says about The Parker House, where they also took their engagement photos. “It just attracts so many people.”

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When it comes to the bar's influence, well, let's just say it doesn't stop at just bringing couples together.

Pamela and Matt Cleaves grew up as friends and slowly fell in love, spending much of their time together biking to The Parker House for lunch and participating in the establishment’s annual “fun runs.”

After getting married there in 2019 — “It was something special,” Matt, 39, tells PEOPLE about what the venue means to them — they had a son in 2021, and it is no surprise what they named him. “When we found out it was a boy, we were like, ‘Yeah, he’ll be named Parker,’” Pamela, 36, says.

Matt adds, “He’ll have the best opening line for whoever he wants to talk to.”

If their kids — the couple had a daughter earlier this year — went on to fall in love at The Parker House, Pamela says they’d be “so happy.”

She adds, "I’d make them have their wedding there, too."

In the first serious fallout from President Donald Trump’s early actions against offshore wind power, oil and gas giant Shell is walking away from a major project off the coast of New Jersey.

Shell told The Associated Press it is writing off the project, citing increased competition, delays and a changing market.

“Naturally we also take regulatory context into consideration,” spokesperson Natalie Gunnell said in an email.

Shell co-owns the large Atlantic Shores project, which has most of its permits and would generate enough power for 1 million homes if both of two phases were completed. That’s enough for one-third of New Jersey households.

It’s unclear whether Shell’s decision kills the project — partner EDF-RE Offshore Development says it remains committed to Atlantic Shores.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order singling out offshore wind for contempt with a temporary halt on all lease sales in federal waters and a pause on approvals, permits and loans. Perhaps most of interest to Shell, the order directs administration officials to review existing offshore wind energy leases and identify any legal reasons to terminate them.

Large offshore wind farms have been making electricity for three decades in Europe, and more recently in Asia. They are considered by experts to be an essential part of addressing climate change because they can take the place of fossil fuel plants, if paired with battery storage. New Jersey has set a goal of generating 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2035.

The Biden administration approved plans to build the Atlantic Shores project in two phases in October, but construction has not begun. Oliver Metcalfe, head of wind research at BloombergNEF, said the partners are facing significant uncertainty about their lease, and other developers are watching what happens with Atlantic Shores closely. “We’re in uncertain territory here,” he added.

Offshore wind foes, who are particularly vocal and well-organized in New Jersey, celebrated Shell’s withdrawal. Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, of New Jersey, helped the Trump team draft the executive order. He said Shell’s decision is a “big win” for New Jersey’s coastline and economy but “this fight is not over.”

Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast NJ, said that without Shell’s financial backing, it appears the project is “dead in the water.”

Shell is writing off a nearly $1 billion investment. It announced its decision on Thursday, as it reported a 16% decline in full-year earnings of $23.7 billion from $28.3 billion. Most of its business is oil and gas.

Danish wind developer Orsted was close to beginning work on two offshore wind farms in New Jersey but scrapped the project in Oct. 2023 after deciding it would not be economical.

A lot of clean energy is cheap now, but offshore wind is still among the most expensive. That can make these projects less attractive to investors, absent strong policy support, said Coco Zhang, vice president for environmental, social and governance research at ING.

“The potential uncertainty that the executive order has brought to the market, it cannot be ignored,” she said.

The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind as a climate change solution, setting national goals to deploy offshore wind energy, holding lease sales and approving nearly a dozen commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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More warm air temps are in the forecast this week to compliment what has been some of the best fishing of the fall to date for striped bass, giant tuna and sea bass.

Last week, the tuna hunters came back to the dock with several giant tuna wrapped in cold ice blankets from inshore fishing grounds. Capt. John Decker, of Kraken Sportfishing, which docks behind Spike's Fish Market in Point Pleasant Beach, came in with another giant, this one topping 775 pounds.

Decker said they had observed the tuna breaking just a few miles east of the Sea Girt Reef. They followed the fish out there, and just after daybreak set up a couple of Penn International reels on 130-class rods with Joe Shutes Ballyhoo Skirt spreaders. He didn't have to troll when they had a taker at about 7:30 a.m.

More:Giant bluefin tuna return, fishermen land 722-pound fish off Sandy Hook

Crew members Ed Markiewicz and Mike Murray took turns cranking the reel and they had the fish boatside within an hour where Decker harpooned it. They finished landing it with a couple of gaffs and ropes.

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The Queen Mary party fishing boat was already reporting a good striped bite by mid-morning Monday. The boat was in the neighborhood of Asbury Park. The day before the fishing was explosive in the same general area. Capt. Alan Shinn said both the Miss Belmar and Miss Belmar Princess were in on the stripers on Sunday. He said they did land a lot of big stripers that had to be released but there were also smaller, keeper size fish running with them which they caught and could keep.

The bass continue hitting the beaches but there hasn't been many bluefish to speak of in the surf lately. Quite a few of the bass caught within the last couple of days were taken on artificials, such as paddle tails, Mag Darters and AVA lures. Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park reported a striped bass early Monday morning on an AVA jig. There were no stripers entered into the Long Beach Island Fall Surf Fishing Classic, so George Konowal Jr still leads the contest with an 11.66-pound bass.

More:What's biting: get the latest fishing reports here

The yields from the bottom fishing boats remains a good value. Capt. William Egerter on the Dauntless party boat said his high hooks are catching about 40 fish of a mix variety. On any given day he's observing catches of porgies, sea bas, blackfish and winter flounder.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.