Quintupling the drive? I guess "short" means a hour, for you. That is, a slightly longer than normal
commute, for my co-workers. Are there beach houses even within an hour of most east coast cities at all? Atlanta is a major east coast city, and is over three hours from the coast. I live near DC, and I'm not sure I could even get to a beach in an hour or less. I expect the same goes for Philly, and having lived on the beach and worked in Orlando, I can assure you my commute was longer than an hour for that major east coast city, too. :)
I guess what you really meant was that your mythical working class man could afford a condo in a skyscraper on the beach, since that's what would be within an hour.