Q&A with the Jack from Jack’s Place
Another in an occasional series when we engage newsmakers on the Seven Mile Beach in brief Q&A’s. It’s an opportunity to learn a little more about them and the role that they play or played in the towns of Avalon and/or Stone Harbor.
You may not recognize his face; after all, he moved to Florida more than 30 years ago, but you definitely know his name: Jack Erkert, THE Jack from Jack’s Place. Jack spent 52 years living here on Seven Mile Beach. Along with Stone Harbor’s Arden Hand and Avalon’s Phil and Tony Matalucci, Jack was a key figure in transforming Seven Mile Beach into a nightlife hotspot of Southern New Jersey in the 1970s after New Jersey lowered the legal drinking age to 18.
After serving in the U.S. Navy, Jack returned to Avalon to work in his family’s businesses. He started at Gallagher’s Liquors and then operated Gallagher’s Pub, Avalon’s longest continuously operating bar and restaurant. Eventually, he bought the property, and it became Jack’s Place. At Jack’s Place, Erkert redefined what a sports bar is before the term was widely used. Photos of Philadelphia sports heroes decorated the walls, along with balls, bats, and hockey sticks. The area’s hottest bands played on his stage. Jack promoted his venue with offseason reunions, special events, and nearly everyone in the mid-1970s wore a red Jack’s Place T-shirt during the summer. Jack often said, “When it rains, we pour.” His softball games in town against the Stanley Cup champion Flyers and Eagles players to raise funds for the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children became legendary.
Outside of Jack’s Place, Erkert was a longtime member of Avalon’s Recreation Committee and even served as an Avalon policeman. He moved to Florida in 1994 but still considers Seven Mile Beach his home, so we thought it might be interesting to catch up with one of the true pioneers of the nightlife and tourism industry of Seven Mile Beach.
7MT: In your opinion, what is responsible for the towns of Avalon and Stone Harbor evolving from sleepy seashore communities into some of the top nightlife destinations in all of South Jersey?
JE: It was the right combination at the right time: great beaches, fresh salt air, our ability (at the time) to host group rentals, fair prices, and great entertainment. This was the place to be.
7MT: As a youngster could you ever have imagined the changes that would take place and the key role that you’d play?
JE: NO! My goal was to simply compete with the other great establishments on the island. We tried to make sure that everyone knew who we were (Jack’s Place in Avalon). Our loyal staff were the greatest promoters of Jack’s Place. We tried to create good will with our benefit events, and to get everyone wearing our T-shirts certainly helped.
7MT: The drinking age being lowered to 18 in New Jersey in 1973 obviously helped to launch the nightlife industry. Having raised it back to 21 in 1983, did that have a similar reverse effect?
JE: I can’t honestly say that it affected us one way or another at the time.
7MT: What would you say was the foundation of your particular business model?
JE: We always strived to offer excellent customer service, quality food and drink. We tried to impress on our staff that our customers could get a sandwich or drink from any of our competitors if we didn’t strive to be on our toes with every patron who walked through our door.
7MT: You left the Seven Mile Beach over 30 years ago. What are your thoughts when you come back and see the island today?
JE: Hats off to the mayors, council people, and anyone else responsible for making these towns what they are today. The island is absolutely beautiful. I’m proud to say that I was raised here. That’s still my hometown.
7MT: Are there any special memories, perhaps from the holidays, that you still treasure from growing up on the Seven Mile Beach?
JE: The Borough and the Avalon Fire Company used to sponsor a townwide Christmas party for the holidays. All of the children received gifts and stockings filled with candy and fruit. Trick-and-treating was always fun as well. The Pier on 29th Street was the place for teen dances and Saturday afternoon movie matinees and next to the pier, the Ron Kludzweit family from Court House would bring horses and ponies over and offered horseback riding on the beach. We also had great parties in the dunes with fire pits, where we roasted hot dogs. And when our summer friends arrived, we’d jump off the 21st and 25th Street bridges, depending on the tide, and swim to the 23rd Street Public Dock. All great memories.