Wildwood Doo Wop.com

From The Press of Atlantic City:

MARCIANO, LOUISE J. 70 – of Wildwood Crest, passed away on October 21, 2009 at her home. Born in Philadelphia to Enrico and Ida Gervasi, she moved to the area in 1976. She worked at the Rusty Rudder for 20 years and also at her parent’s restaurant, Enrico’s. She owned the Beachcomber Restaurant from 1980-86. She was very skilled in needlepoint, cooking, and baking which included cookies and wedding cakes. She was a former member of Sons of Italy. She will be sadly missed by her family and many friends and neighbors. She was predeceased by her husband Ciro in 1983. Louise is survived by her daughters, Regina “The Candy Lady” (Jeff) Boehm of Wildwood Crest and Nicole Pepe-Dorn (Chris) of Sarasota, FL; her sister, Evelyn (Robert) DeFazio of Wildwood Crest; grandchildren, Ally (seven) and Nicholas (five); her ex-husband, Nicholas Pepe of Philadelphia; and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Funeral Services will be Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 11:00am at the Church of the Assumption, 7110 Seaview Avenue, Wildwood Crest, NJ 08260. Viewing will begin at 9:30am. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Wildwood Crest Volunteer Ambulance Corp., 9300 Pacific Ave., Wildwood Crest, NJ 08260 and to Holy Redeemer Hospice, 12265 Townsend Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19154. Condolences at www.radzieta.com

Looking for a job this summer?

There is a job posting on craigslist to “serve and offer gourmet ice cream and cafe products and interact with customers, sharing the history of Doo Wop and overseeing interactive displays at the Doo Wop Experience.”

Get the details at: http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/fbh/1255836331.html

The Travel Channel will be filming a Doo Wop Episode of Samantha Brown’s Great Vacation Show on June 29th @ 9am at Cool Scoops.
Mr. Chubby Checker will be there to help teach Ms. Brown how to Twist.
Show up us in your 50’s attire to dance with Chubby!
This will be a great event for the Wildwoods.

Tonight we made the move to eliminate the Building Descriptor from all spots. No longer will you need to include a spot name and descriptor when contributing, simply type the entire name and descriptor of any spot in the name field when editing. The Building Descriptor was implemented as a work-around to manage our photo archive. We recently changed how photos are archived and managed on the server and the Building Descriptor was no longer necessary. This also cleans up our URLs. For example, the 24th Street Motel’s URL was http://wildwooddoowop.com/24th+Street/Motel/ (note the back-slash before “Motel”), but with the change the URL now appears as http://wildwooddoowop.com/24th+Street+Motel/. We did make provisions in the code to allow the old URLs to continue working, since there are so many links to our spots and photos on the web.

CAM Web Design (a web design company run by Corey and Troy) just purchased a web server, and Wildowoodoowop.com was moved to the new server. This means the site should load faster and run smoother than it had the last few months. Wildowoodoowop.com was on shared hosting previously and suffered the effects that come with that type of hosting. Page load errors, fussy URLs, database errors and slow loads to name a few of the recent headaches. We think most if not all the bugs have been worked out of the site’s move to the new host , except for a few missing gallery photos that still need to be replaced (all photos have been restored). If you do notice anything that is broken, or doesn’t work right please let us know, using the form at the bottom of the help page.

The “How to Doo Wop Handbook” produced by Wildwood’s Doo Wop Preservation League won an Honor Award from the Pennsylvania AIA (American Institute of Architects) for Architectural Excellence at the Annual Awards ceremony in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on November 18. This is the second award the Handbook has received. The Handbook won a Philadelphia AIA award in 2007.

According to guest juror Greg Papay of Lake / Flato Architects in San Antonio, Texas, “The jury was taken with the depth and rigor by which the guidelines were applied to this fanciful style called Doo Wop. The Guidelines themselves take on the character of the architecture. There was a conveyance of what the architecture should be even through the typography and the illustrations. We commend this project for its timeliness. We are at risk of losing things from the 1950’s and 1960’s and the guidelines bring great legitimacy to the period.”

The book was co-authored by DWPL board members; Anthony Bracali, AIA, Michael Lorin Hirsch, and Richard Stokes, AIA. The book was edited and designed by Jack Wright of Exit Zero Publishing in Cape May. Mr. Bracali is a principal at Friday Architects / Planners Inc. in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Hirsch is a design architect/urban planner at Arquitectonica International Corp. in New York City. Richard Stokes, AIA is principal of Stokes Architecture in Philadelphia, PA.

The Handbook is used by developers to produce projects that compliment the traditions of Doo Wop architecture from the 1950’s and 1960’s in Wildwood. The Doo Be Do influence can be seen in our futuristic Acme market, the retro cool Marvis Diner, and the playful beach balls at Rio Grande Avenue. The book was partially funded with a grant from The Byrne Fund for the Wildwoods, Inc.. The Handbook can be purchased on the Doo Wop Preservation League’s website; www.doowopusa.org/shop/ in the Online Store.

According to a Press of AC article, the Oceanview Beachfront Motel is to be demolished in the future in preference to something “completely new”.

Why fix something like that when you can redo it and make it nicer? Oceanview owner Wally Lerro said, according to the article.

I’ll leave the answering of that question to our readerhip…and to the Doo Wop Preservation League FAQs (see: Why is it important to preserve this style?).

Kamila Harris Photography is conducting a photo shoot in the Wildwoods on Monday, October 13th (Columbus Day) called the Starlet Sessions. The photos will be used to promote the Doo Wop Preservation League and help in the preservation of 50’s architecture and culture in the Wildwoods.

From their site:

We love everything vintage – classic cars, old Hollywood noir portraiture, cheeky pinups and fun, colorful 50’s style backdrops, and we have found the perfect location to offer these fantasy photo shoots where you can become a Hollywood Starlet for a day!

So if you are interested in becoming a Hollywood starlet for a day (or know someone who does), head over to Kamila Harris Photography.

This isn’t the first photographer to highlight Wildwood. Richie Fahey has some fantastic starlet photos taken at classic Wildwood motels:

Great news for the Doo Wop movement!

PUBLIC NOTICE
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE:

THAT THE UNDERSIGNED HAS APPEALED TO Zoning Board OF THE CITY OF NORTH WILDWOOD FOR A VARIANCE FROM THE TERMS OF ARTICLES AND SECTIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE SO AS TO PERMIT:

DESCRIPTION OF VIOLATION: Undersigned seeks approval to expand its building and requires variances from parking, front yard setback, side yard setback, rear setback, lot coverage and density requirements
VIOLATION OF CHAPTER NUMBER: 276-25(D) and 276-25(F) ON THE PREMISES AT: 911 Surf Avenue, Wildwood, NJ BLOCK: 304 LOT: 1

WHICH IS WITHIN 200 FEET OF PROPERTY OWNED BY YOU. A PUBLIC HEARING HAS BEEN ORDERED FOR April 14, 2008, AT 6:30 P.M., IN COUNSEL CHAMBER OF CITY HALL, 901 ATLANTIC AVENUE, AT WHICH TIME YOU MAY APPEAR EITHER IN PERSON OR BY AGENT OR ATTORNEY AND PRESENT ANY OBJECTION WHICH YOU MAY HAVE TO THE GRANTING OF THIS APPEAL. MAPS AND DOCUMENTS, IF ANY, RELATING TO THIS APPLICATION, WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION AT LEAST TEN (10) DAYS PRIOR TO THE HEARING IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE BOARD 901 ATLANTIC AVENUE, DURING REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS.

THIS NOTICE IS SENT TO YOU BY THE APPELLANT BY ORDER OF: Zoning Board

IN COMPLIANCE WITH N.J.S.A. 40: 55D-11, ET SEQ AND 40:55D-12, ET SEQ.

RESPECTFULLY,
Jeffrey Breen
for Chateau Bleu Holdings, LLC

As published in the Cape May County Herald Times

Our eternal friends to the north, the Quebecois, are jazzed about doo wop. And now they are trying to save their own kitsch in the city of Montreal, according to this Spacing Montreal article.
What’s even more notable is the positive things they have to say about the Wildwoods’ preservation efforts:

But there (are) good models of kitsch preservation, like Wildwood, New Jersey a beach town that has was a favourite vacation spot for Quebeckers in the 1960s. Blessed with a large collection of motels (including the Quebec Motel and the Montreal Inn) designed in a style known in the United States as “doo wop architecture,” preservation activists in Wildwood have taken to saving old signs, furniture, even toilets. New Jersey has given heritage designation to a number of motels, which has opened up federal preservation dollars. Wildwood business owners have even discovered that kitsch is good for business, as tourists return to Wildwood not only for the beach, but for its retro atmosphere.

It is encouraging to see a positive impression of the preservation effort.