Living in Margate: A Neighborhood Guide
This may well be the Goldilocks of southern Jersey Shore communities.
Lucy the Elephant in Margate / Photograph by Danita Delimont/Alamy Stock Photo
Lucy the Elephant put Margate on the map, but there are many more reasons to come here. Just ask resident Vincent Novelli, co-principal of the Novelli Team at Compass Real Estate. “Margate is a pretty awesome place because it offers what I call a ‘small-town environment that moves a bit faster,’” he says.
“What I mean is, you can come down here and relax, go fish, take it easy, and decompress, like most people like to do in a beach community. And we also have access to the nightlife in Atlantic City. So depending on your speed, Margate has what you want.”
Margate is indeed ideally situated. It’s close enough to AC that you can cut loose there, yet far enough away to offer tranquility. And it’s as classy but not as pricey as its neighbor to the south, Longport: While the typical Margate house sells for just over $1 million, you can also find condos priced for less than half that, and you’ll pay one-third more on average in Longport.
Margate also has a great dining scene. One of Novelli’s favorites is Tomatoe’s, a bayside restaurant with an eclectic global menu. A few blocks farther down, the beloved Steve & Cookie’s serves equally eclectic New American fare. If you’d rather dine on the ocean, try Ventura’s Greenhouse.
Sushi at Tomatoe’s / Photograph courtesy of Tomatoe’s
As for shopping, Margate has plenty of locally run establishments offering goods and services. You can find upscale womenswear at Knit Wit and Shop Sixty Five, beachy stuff at Jamaican Me Crazy, surfing gear at Heritage Surf and Sport, kid stuff at Kidrageous, and art for your walls at Avra Art Gallery.
And it’s home to the only space on the Monopoly game board not located in AC: Marven Gardens (misspelled in the game as Marvin Gardens), which gets its name because the development sits next to the Margate–Ventnor border. It’s also less than two blocks from Margate’s calm, boardwalk-free beach.
The Margate shoreline / Photograph by Jon Bilous/Alamy Stock Photo
And finally, there’s Lucy. This National Historic Landmark dates to 1881 and is dubbed “the only elephant you can walk through and come out alive.” Tours run at 45-minute intervals when she’s open.
Published as “Living in Margate” in the July 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
