It tapped directly into long summer rides to Jones Beach with the dash-mounted eight-track blasting, to boom boxes in the Rockaways and Beach Haven, and turntables in back bedrooms of ethnic neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and the burbs.

FORBES: The Night The Who Saved New York

We thumbed our phones trying to getting a signal, exchanged texts and surfed Twitter for storm updates, both for our location in lower Westchester County in New York, and for the traditional summer stomping grounds of Beach Haven, New Jersey, a spot of barrier island off the pine barrens where my toes have met sand and salt since the 1960s.

FORBES: The Big Lesson of #Sandy: Connectivity Matters in an Emergency

But the same qualities that make it a haven for beach bums and students make it a frustration for anybody trying to do business.

FORBES: Booby Prize

The annual week of vacation at a Midwest beach town, in this case South Haven, Michigan, affords the city dweller that most American of cultural experiences: a trip to Wal-Mart ( WMT).

FORBES: Investors Are Not That Impressed With Wal-Mart

The dunes surrounding Talacre Beach are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest(SSSI) and act as a haven for wildlife including Natterjack toads.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | North East Wales | Beach faces tide and untidyness