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Post by fuzzyscorpio on Aug 23, 2006 21:57:11 GMT -5
Well, I have to be honest, Crippled, the answer would be no! The kids today are too spoiled and I'll admit, I am, too. But back then, if you never had it to miss, well, you didn't know what you were missing. : ) Personally, I might do it. I never had the opportunity to stay at one of the rooming houses in town back in the day, because my parents hated Wildwood, but I was always drawn to them, which is why I was so tickled to find out that Al had snagged that Maple Leaf Apartments sign. And I really like the old-school motel rooms. We stayed at the Reges from the '70s on because my parents preferred its more modern and "comfortable" rendition of the oceanfront accommodations we were used to at the Internationale/Atlantis Lodge. From infancy I'd learned to love the sea breeze blowing through the room at the Atlantis Lodge, and at the Reges, in later years, I often had to nag to get those sliding oceanfront doors opened. (It didn't help that the screens for those doors suffered from wear and management eventually just dumped them.) After that tradition broke down and I started visiting the Wildwoods on my own, I had to stay cheaper--and I've enjoyed it. For quite a few years I was a devotee of the "D" rooms at the Madrid, which also cross-ventilated very nicely, until they ruined them by jamming a bed into the living area. Since then I've been moving toward Wildwood in stages, and on this last trip I stayed at the Lu Fran (more about that in the next few days). When I got there, the first thing I did was ask the proprietor to open the kitchen window for me, which was stuck (most guests obviously hadn't been using it). Then I pointed out that one of the louvered panels under the picture window in front, which are needed for cross-ventilation, couldn't be opened with the crank, and he opened it from the outside for me. At the beginning of all this he kind of looked at me funny, but after we chatted and I explained my long history of Wildwood visits, he seemed to appreciate where I was coming from. All weekend I left the windows (there's also one in the bathroom) and louvers open and the A/C on fan-only, and I was quite happy with that. I'm kind of a fresh air nut generally, but especially in Wildwood, I want to bring the outdoors in. It's what I'm there for. Speaking of which, I've been wondering if there are any old-fashioned rooming houses left anywhere on the island that still offer short-term rentals. The original part of the Avalon motel in North Wildwood seems to have some of that character. If anyone has stayed there or at any of the older rooming houses recently I'd love to hear what your experience was like. -Kathi
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Post by nance on Aug 24, 2006 2:48:14 GMT -5
I wish I could have known then what I know now.
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Post by wildwoodjms on Aug 24, 2006 5:57:40 GMT -5
Now that my kids are 14 and 16 (who love wildwood), I would say Hunts Pier for a day so they could understand the magic of Wildwood when I was a kid. I have talked so much about the boardwalk when I was little. Give me those kind of rides any day of the "over the top thrill rides" that all the parks have now.
jackie
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Post by FlyinGN on Aug 24, 2006 6:42:22 GMT -5
amen!! I wish I could have known then what I know now.
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Post by camper68 on Aug 24, 2006 10:47:26 GMT -5
Ah yes the old rooming houses with the batrooms down the hall and the showers were outside in the back yards or on the sides, when you came back from the beach you washed off the sand prior to entering, but you still ended up with sheets full of sand. Ours had clothes lines so you could hang up your towels and stuff to dry. Enjoyed sitting on the second floor porches and enjoying the evening breeze was really easy to fall asleep for a good nap.
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Post by nance on Aug 25, 2006 3:51:54 GMT -5
But nothing ever dried right, remember?
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Post by camper68 on Aug 28, 2006 7:56:50 GMT -5
they usually took two days to dry, but most of the time you had to bring them in before nightfall so they wouldn't get wet with the evening dew.
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Post by nance on Aug 29, 2006 3:47:06 GMT -5
This is a fantastic thread. Everybody keeps mentioning things that bring back so many memories for me. One time we hung our towels and my daughter's bathing suit over the railing on the porch; we had the bottom floor; and the next morning, they were gone. My daughter was only little at the time and she was just crushed because she didn t have her bathing suit, so I said we'd walk up to the boardwalk and look in the shops for another one. On our way to the boardwalk, we passed a trashcan and noticed something familiar sticking out of it. Here some kids must have done that for a prank and threw them in a trash can.
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Post by camper68 on Aug 29, 2006 13:40:51 GMT -5
yes growing up in a rooming house in WW we never knew what we were going to find in the morning either in the trash cans or on the first floor porch, one morning we found a few bikes that someone just left there, we also found several bathing suits and other beach items.
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Post by camper68 on Aug 29, 2006 13:41:14 GMT -5
yes growing up in a rooming house in WW we never knew what we were going to find in the morning either in the trash cans or on the first floor porch, one morning we found a few bikes that someone just left there, we also found several bathing suits and other beach items.
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Post by Captain Phil on Aug 29, 2006 20:33:31 GMT -5
I want Surf ave back!
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Post by Al Alven on Aug 29, 2006 22:24:41 GMT -5
As the song goes (well, kinda)... Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone They paved paradise And put up
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Post by nance on Aug 30, 2006 2:13:09 GMT -5
That was good, Al; but I don't think that's EXACTLY how the song goes. : ) This thread keeps getting longer and longer and longer.........................................................................
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Post by wildwoodjms on Aug 30, 2006 5:39:25 GMT -5
Al,
Boy, I was little then, but I think my mom said that we stayed in the Avalon House a long time ago. It would have to have been our first visit over 40 years ago! I will ask her for details. Seems like she tells the story that the bathroom was so small you had to back into it! LOL!
Jackie
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Post by wildwood4life on Aug 30, 2006 12:47:45 GMT -5
I hear ya Phil....Everytime I walk in the area of 24th and Surf I cringe. Just 2 weeks ago, my sister and I were walking in that general area. She looks at me and said, "isn't weird that last summer you were stopping to take pictures here and we (the family) thought you were nuts. Who would have known that all this would happen in a few months?"
But anymore its so true. We all knew about the T-Bird, but at least for me, the 24th Street Motel, Palm Crest, Bayberry, Flame, Sea N Surf, and Maryann MOtel were all a surprise. Just think. that is all within a 2 block radius.
I want Surf Ave Back
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