When the music stopped at Somers Point’s nightclubs, the night continued at The Dunes.
Bay Shores and Tony Mart’s helped make Somers Point’s Bay Avenue a destination for live music. But the entertainment had a deadline: Music ended at 2 a.m., and patrons had to leave by 3 a.m. Across the bridge in Egg Harbor Township, The Dunes offered somewhere to keep dancing until morning.
Bay Shores owners John McCann Sr. and Dick McLain built the Longport Boulevard nightclub, which was operating by summer 1960. Bands finishing at Bay Shores sometimes headed to The Dunes to continue playing or join late-night jam sessions. Its early-morning hours earned it the nickname “Dunes Till Dawn.”
According to local historian William Kelly, Egg Harbor Township once permitted round-the-clock bar operation. A state Alcoholic Beverage Control record published in 1981 documents testimony that township bars generally closed around 5:30 or 6 a.m.
After periods of closure and reopening, George Sutor and his family redeveloped the property as Sutor’s Sports Club, operating by summer 1989. Kelly reports that the property later came under the control of the New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife. The building no longer stands.
