At Moondoggie’s Digs—a house named after the wizened beach bum in the ’50s classic Gidget—Hawaiiana and surf music rule. The Gillespie family’s vacation home serves as a kitschy respite from reality. “Relaxing here in the evening, you forget you’re in South Jersey,” says Sally Gillespie. “It feels like a tropical paradise.”
Tonight this clan shares its passion for all things Polynesian by hosting a backyard luau. Beneath palm trees, totems with grinning faces welcome guests. Coconuts painted vivid colors spell out the word “aloha.” Umbrellas top every drink, and leis adorn every animal, plant, and person that stands still for more than a second. “I never tire of tiki,” Sally says.
Though she’s summered all her life along the East Coast, Sally’s long been captivated by warmer waters. Fifteen years ago, she and husband Drew stumbled across a vintage Hawaiian shirt in a thrift store. “Now we must have more than 100 of them,” says their son Dylan. They’ve also found hula girl lamps and ukuleles at garage sales, in surf shops, and on eBay. The mementos scatter through tiki huts at their primary residence in Philadelphia and here in Villas, a small town near Cape May, New Jersey. “If you have the winter blues, or are going through a hard time,” Sally says, “you want to feel like you’re in the islands.”
It’s hard not to smile when you’re around Sally. She’s the kind of person who’s instantly friends with everyone. This gathering includes a raucous mix of vacationers and locals. The Gillespies have spent only two years in this particular spot, but they’ve already bonded with its tight-knit community.
Guests slowly begin arriving as the sun sets. “We call it Cape May time,” says Sally. “Maybe they get here, maybe they don’t.” Before long, the revelry is in full swing. The Gillespies feel about visitors the same as they feel about tiki: the more, the merrier.
“Our parties range from little kids to 80-year-olds,” Sally says. “And it’s always the older ones you have to kick off the dance floor.” Some members of the group recline around a fire pit, telling stories and laughing. People take turns walking across “hot coals”—actually sea glass lit from beneath. Then the crowd rallies for a little limbo on the sand. The celebration continues back at the house with an elaborate buffet of skewered beef, boiled shrimp, and roast pig.
“I live my life like a pupu platter,” says Sally. “I want a taste of everything.”
