Doo-Wop

Things looking up for doo-wop devotees in the Wildwoods
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Saturday, January 20, 2007
Press of Atlantic City

WILDWOOD — The year is off to a strong start for doo-wop enthusiasts.
This week, Doo Wop Preservation League board member Mary Fox said the league's doo-wop trolley tours will continue in 2007, thanks to $5,000 in funding from the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority.

The tours, which last year took doo-wop fans past 1950s and 1960s motels primarily in Wildwood Crest and Wildwood, drew about 200 people in the summer of 2006 with an additional 200 taking the tour during the annual Fabulous 50s Weekend.

Fox said the tour program got off to a late start in 2006, with tours starting in mid-summer, but this year they are scheduled to run every Tuesday and Thursday from June 19 to Aug. 30.

With the money in place, Fox said organizers can also devote time to other aspects of the tour program.

“We have time now to improve the whole look and feel of the tour,” Fox said, noting that doo-wop design with its plastic palm trees, neon signs and kidney-shaped pools remains popular with visitors around the globe.
“There is a lot of interest in doo wop,” she said.

While many doo-wop era motels have been lost to new development, the recent slow down in real estate sales has also slowed demolitions, Fox said.

“It's giving everybody time to catch their breath,” Fox said. “Even those who want to develop maybe think demolition isn't the way to go. They are asking what can we do instead.”

Visitors will also get to the experience the tour during the island's salute to the '60s Weekend at the end of April when the city unveils its new doo-wop museum, another doo-wop highlight.

The museum, across from the Wildwoods Convention Center on Ocean Avenue, will likely become the first stop on the trolley tour.

Built using the steel superstructure of the former Surfside Restaurant, the museum will house all manner of 1950s artifacts from the Wildwoods and elsewhere.

Preservation league President Dan MacElrevey said Friday the league is even looking on eBay to locate small items, such as period dinnerware, it doesn't already have.

The museum, which will be known formally as the Doo Wop Experience, is nearly complete and is expected to be open to the public the last weekend in April. A neon sign garden will follow.

The league has enlisted museum exhibit designer Frank Nave to help create interesting displays, what MacElrevey called first-class exhibits.

“It's a whole new focal point for Wildwood. It opens up a whole new entertainment center for the city,” MacElrevey said, noting the connecting band shell to the museum.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com

Wildwoods Improvement Plans

Wildwoods improvement districts make budgets, plans
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Friday, January 12, 2007
Press of Atlantic City


WILDWOOD — The Boardwalk Special Improvement District is looking to add to its lineup of family entertainment and enhance its sponsorship efforts in time for the 2007 tourist season.

The district, made up of Boardwalk property owners in Wildwood and North Wildwood, has presented its annual budget to fund those efforts to City Commission and will do the same next week for North Wildwood City Council.

Managing Director Patrick Rosenello said the district already supplies free entertainment on the boards most nights of the week except Tuesday.

The plan is to add child-friendly entertainment such as strolling childrens' characters. Also topping the group's agenda are ways to enhance an existing sponsorship agreement with Coca-Cola, possibly with a Coca-Cola sponsored event.

The largest chunk of the district's $1.24 million budget comes from its operation of the Boardwalk tram cars, but sponsorships and other revenue sources, such as funding from the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority add about $250,000 to district's spending plan.

Assessments on the Boardwalk property owners account for $115,000, just 9 percent of the budget, and tram revenue adds $873,000, Rosenello said.
The district took over the tram operation in the spring of 2004, something Rosenello said was a positive move for the district.

He pointed to the trams recent appearance in Philadelphia's annual Mummer's parade and Coca-Cola's tram sponsorship.

"After three years, I'm pretty happy with it," Rosenello said. "We've greatly enhanced the value of the trams to the Boardwalk."

Rosenello, who also serves as managing director for the Downtown Business Improvement District, said that group is also pushing ahead with its 2007 budget and its priorities for the year.

The business district has proposed a $315,000 budget for the year, which requires Wildwood City Commission's approval.

"The focus is on capital projects, bricks and mortar operations," Rosenello said.

The business district is busy redoing sections of Pacific Avenue in the hope that improving the appearance of the downtown will draw new businesses and new customers.

Burk to Spicer avenues are expected to be done by Memorial Day, he said. The outlying blocks not complete by that time will follow.

Grants, obtained with the city, have supported those projects which include new sidewalks and decorative features such as trash cans and street lights.

A design study, supported by the district, is also under way to help business owners win the grants they need to improve the look of their storefronts.

City Commission is expected to hold public hearings and final votes on both the Boardwalk and downtown district budgets on Feb. 14.

North Wildwood City Council will introduce the Boardwalk budget at its Jan. 16 regular meeting.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com