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"Doo
Wop Experience" Finally Opens Its Doors After years of planning, months of anticipation, and a "soft opening"... |
Message
from the President 1997-2007... Ten Years Later... Here We Are, But Where Are We? by Dan MacElrevey |
National
Trust for Historic Preservation Adds Doo Wop Motels to 2006 "Most Endangered"
List I became a member of Preservation New Jersey several years ago... by Michael Hirsch |
Not
Gone... Not Forgotten... "Doo Wop Back to the '50s Tour" Doo Wop Back to the Fifties Tour returns for 2007. The re-vamped tour will debut April 28, 2007... by Mary Fox |
Educational
Opportunities at the “Doo-Wop Experience” Museum The Doo Wop Preservation League is planning an educational program for students in grades K-12... by Joan Husband |
Lights,
Camera, Action, Doo Wop! Doo-Wop themed Ice Cream Parlor in North Wildwood featured on cable TV's "Trading Spaces"... by Paul Russo |
Owning
a Landmark An account of owning and renovating the newly restored Doo Wop landmark Caribbean Motel... by Carolyn Emigh |
Neo-Doo
Wop How to make Wildwood more Wildwoodian... |
They
Are Everywhere! Some are big, some are small, some are new and some are... blue? |
2007
Edition |
National Trust for Historic Preservation Adds Doo Wop Motels to 2006 "Most Endangered" List I became a member of Preservation New Jersey (PNJ) serveral years ago. PNJ is a statewide preservation organization whose mission is to sustain and enhance the vitality of New Jersey’s communities by promoting and preserving their diverse historic resources. I attended several programs in 2003 that were developed by PNJ: one was CAMP (Commission Assistance & Mentoring Program) in Newark, and the other was a Downtown Revitalization Institute seminar sponsored by Mainstreet New Jersey in Trenton. In Trenton, I met Adrian Scott Fine, who is the Director, Northeast Field Office, National Trust for Historic Preservation. He spoke about the teardown trend in New Jersey’s communities. Over the years I kept an e-mail contact with Adrian and Ron Emrich, who is the Executive Director of PNJ. In 2005, I initiated The Doo Wop Motels of The Wildwoods to PNJ’s 10 most endangered nomination. Adrian Scott Fine and Ron Emrich met me at The Starlux hotel, where I led them on a walking tour of some of the classic motels: the Pink Champagne, Eden Roc, Seagull, Caribbean, and Ocean View. They were impressed with what they saw. The PNJ recommendation was: “The district remains an active and viable seashore resort that provides vacation lodgings to several hundred thousand visitors every summer. But already almost100 of these irreplaceable cubic zirconiums of popular culture have been lost, as development pressure intensifies along the coast.”In 2006, Preservation New Jersey initiated the nomination for America’s 11 most endangered listing, which it gained in May. This listing has garnered stories in newspapers across the country. In September, NBC channel four broadcast a documentary called “Doo Wop Motels of the Wildwoods” and also “NJ monthly” magazine published an article called, “Back to the Future”, which recommended the Fabulous Fifties weekend (October 20-22) the third annual celebration of which DWPL is a co-sponsor.. On October 21, 2006 a tour group sponsored by PNJ and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia visited The Wildwoods for a tour of The Shalimar Resort and the Caribean Motel. Andrea Tingey, a recognized expert on Doo Wop architecture gave a short presentation. Andrea is a principal historic preservation specialist with the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office. She also introduced a course to the Drew University Continuing Education program in Fall 2005 called, “Preserving the Recent Past: The Wildwoods”. Preserving the recent past has become a hot button topic. In November 2006, “Planning”, which is the magazine of the American Planning Association, contains an article, “Pushing the Age Limit on Historic Preservation”. In the past buildings and districts had to be 50 years old in order to be considered for historic listing. The National Park service intended the cutoff as a guide, “…not a hard-and-fast rule.” The article points out the Doo Wop motels as an example; which were built in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Because of the exceptional importance to American history, the Doo Wop motels made the cut. No one is prouder than we are.Michael Hirsch, M.C.R.P. is a design architect and urban planner at Arquitectonica International in New York City, and a DWPL advisory board member. |