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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 |
Neo-Doo
Wop: It began with fast food chains like Subway and McDonalds adding retro neon signs to their Wildwood locations. It spread to supermarkets, gas stations and banks like Acme , Wawa and Commerce Bank with made-for-Wildwood building and signage designs that appear straight out of the Jetsons. Now, it’s aiming even higher... much higher... potentially 25 stories higher (if the city of Wildwood has its way) - it’s what we call “Neo Doo Wop” and its the wave of the future in a town whose architectural past always had an eye on tomorrow. Space-age motels like the Satellite and Fantasy - both, sadly, no longer with us - predicted what the future of buildings might look like. Now, that future - or an even wilder and wackier version of it - is starting to take shape, and the spirit of Doo Wop appears destined to live on. You may have heard about Wildwood’s plans to build high-rise hotels in the heart of town. What you haven’t heard is just how cool these buildings are planned to be - with the help of the Doo Wop Preservation League, of course. With a design review process that encourages developers and architects to incorporate the thrusting angles, wild colors, unusual shapes and blazing neon that defined the Wildwoods’ motel districts in the 1950s, these high-rises are envisioned to add a glittering new skyline to the island that will pay tribute to the Wildwood that was - while (we hope) standing toe-to-toe with the classic Doo Wop motels that define the Wildwood that still is.Picture this: A district of immortalized mid-century motels where the greatest concentrations still stand today - namely, in Wildwood Crest - standing adjacent to a modern, 21st-century Wildwood that celebrates its heritage and culture of fun with a skyline of whimsical high-rise architecture not found anywhere else in the country! It’s about taking Wildwood to the next level.. making Wildwood, well, more Wildwoodian - while preserving the best of the past that inspired the future. According to New Jersey-based architecture firm LWDMR & Associates, who are currently working on three large projects in Wildwood, these buildings will “help fortify the Doo Wop scene with a modern twist.” Doo
Wop is Wildwood’s identity. Exactly how it chooses to express that identity
is something that will change and evolve over time. |