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Post by skuakid on Mar 16, 2006 14:02:25 GMT -5
Who remembers Walt's Market on NJ Ave in WC?
That was the best place when I was a kid. They used to have penny candy like Swedish Fish, Bazooka gum, candy cigarettes, (both the gum and the chalky white sticks with the red tipped end to simulate burning) tattoos, Charlie's Angels and Star Wars cards WITH A STICK OF GUM.
If that statement didn't date me, this one will:
My cousins and I would get send to Walt's to get smokes for our parents. Cigarettes were something like 75 cents a pack, and they would let us use the change to get candy. This was back in the late 70's. I was probably around 7 or 8.
There was a big pickle barrel next to the deli counter. He also had a big, glass jar of locatelli cheese that was freshly grated. I would get send down there Sunday morning to get cheese and Italian bread for dinner.
Wawa opened at Rosemary and NJ, and that was the end of Walt's. Wawa bought Walt's and the old Big Top and built a new store on there. Now, they moved to the huge store on Rio Grande, and more townhouses are going up where Walt's was. Very sad.
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Post by Al Alven on Mar 16, 2006 14:56:24 GMT -5
It is sad that so many unique places like this have since faded uncerimoniously into Wildwood history, but it's great that you have such a vivid memory of it. I was born in '78, but when I was a kid, Swedish Fish, Bazooka gum, candy cigarettes and movie/tv cards with the stick of gum included (for me, it was Empire Strikes Back, Last Starfighter, the A-Team, etc.) were still all the rage! Good memories.  |
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Mar 16, 2006 17:29:50 GMT -5
Who remembers Walt's Market on NJ Ave in WC? That was the best place when I was a kid. They used to have penny candy like Swedish Fish, Bazooka gum, candy cigarettes, (both the gum and the chalky white sticks with the red tipped end to simulate burning) tattoos, Charlie's Angels and Star Wars cards WITH A STICK OF GUM. If that statement didn't date me, this one will: My cousins and I would get send to Walt's to get smokes for our parents. Cigarettes were something like 75 cents a pack, and they would let us use the change to get candy. This was back in the late 70's. I was probably around 7 or 8. There was a big pickle barrel next to the deli counter. He also had a big, glass jar of locatelli cheese that was freshly grated. I would get send down there Sunday morning to get cheese and Italian bread for dinner. Wawa opened at Rosemary and NJ, and that was the end of Walt's. Wawa bought Walt's and the old Big Top and built a new store on there. Now, they moved to the huge store on Rio Grande, and more townhouses are going up where Walt's was. Very sad. A little trivia: I didn't go there much since I was raised on Magnolia in Wildwood, but Walt (Walter Schultz - Everyone in the Wildwoods called him "Schultzie"). was my dad's best friend. They worked their main jobs together at the NJ Natural Gas Company. (Those big gas tanks on NJ Avenue where Sandman Towers is today). Shultzie was also a famous Wildwood Treasure Hunter. He would spend all his free time walking up and down the beach with his metal detector. He had an amazing collection of gold and diamond rings that he had found through the years. I think he was the one who turned me on to the hobby of Treasure Hunting. I have been metal detecting since 1972. (That's where the name JerseyDigger comes from, BTW). Thanks, Shultzie, for all the years of fun in the sun with my metal detector!). Thom |
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Post by Al Alven on Mar 16, 2006 18:18:23 GMT -5
Love the trivia, Thom. It really helps to make these old places (and, more importantly, the people) come to life.
I've been wondering about the origins of your screen name. Actually, I thought it might be a take off of the famous monster truck "Grave Digger," as I seem to remember you saying you had something to do with bringing the Monster Trucks to the Wildwoods.
How often do you go out searching for lost treasure?
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Post by MMM on Mar 16, 2006 23:46:25 GMT -5
I remember how I used to see people with metal detectors on the beach years ago much more often than in the last few years. It doesn't seem to be as popular as it once was...
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Post by FlyinGN on Mar 17, 2006 9:15:06 GMT -5
thats true. Last sept during the Hog rally we were on the beach with a few couples and started talking to a guy who was there with a metal detector and he was showing us some neat stuff he had found..  |
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Mar 17, 2006 9:19:48 GMT -5
Love the trivia, Thom. It really helps to make these old places (and, more importantly, the people) come to life. I've been wondering about the origins of your screen name. Actually, I thought it might be a take off of the famous monster truck "Grave Digger," as I seem to remember you saying you had something to do with bringing the Monster Trucks to the Wildwoods. How often do you go out searching for lost treasure? Yeah, I was special events coordinator for the city when we first brought the monster trucks to the beach, but JerseyDigger29 has nothing to do with Grave Digger. It's purely Treasure Hunting. I don't get to go out as often as I used to because I'm so busy trying to do TWR right now and my knees aren't what they used to be. Treasure Hunting is more popular today because of the incredible advances in technology. Everything is computerized. You can find a dime at about 18 inches under ground. You also know before you dig exactly what your find looks like underground so you can decide ahead of time whether to dig it up or not. You have no idea how incredibly rich the Wildwoods beaches are in lost coins and jewelery, etc. People have found expensive rolex watches, diamond rings big enough to choke a horse, and even two Spanish gold doubloons at 22nd street and the beach (from a sunken ship somewhere off the coast). Do you know about St. Ann's Church and the annual "Blessing of the sea" in August. Several years ago, the monseignor was being rowed out in the lifeguard boat to bless the sea and for some reason, the large cross that hangs from his neck fell overboard. Supposedly, it was 24 carat gold and studded with rubies and emeralds. Don't know about the true value of his cross but several people went down there with metal detectors after the event and searched for days for that beautiful cross. It still hasn't been found to this day. A trivia fact: "10 percent of the combined wealth of the entire world throughout all of history is still lost somewhere in the ground or under the oceans." That's a lot of moolah! Most people also aren't aware that when you go swimming your skin shrinks and all those rings get lost. How many millions of people have visited the Wildwoods beaches since the 1880's? Geez, don't get me started! Thom  |
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Post by thelastresort on Mar 21, 2006 14:00:34 GMT -5
sorry, I don't remember Walts, but I remember "P&R" market on the corner near Duffer's on New Jersey ave. I was surprised to see it still standing until like 1995. Now I think it is vacant.
And too bad the old time fudgie guys on the beach are all but gone now. and those guys had it tough, lugging those big ice chests..
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Post by wildre on Mar 21, 2006 14:12:44 GMT -5
We still have fudgey wudgey guys in NWW, they now have carts but they're still there.
re
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Mar 22, 2006 1:09:44 GMT -5
We still have fudgey wudgey guys in NWW, they now have carts but they're still there. re Still have them in Wildwood, too, I was one of them until about 5 years ago when my knees had had enough after 18 years. Every one of those men are military veterans and some of them have been out there for 30 years or more. I'm surprised I lasted 18. When I started we had to carry the box over our shoulders, no wheels or motors were allowed on the beach. About 12 years or so ago, a couple of the older vets left from the Korean War Era went to the Mayors and said,"Hey, guys, Give us old farts a break. We can't lug that kind of weight around on our backs all day anymore." So the cities allowed the carts with wheels. Now, it's possible to push several hundred pounds of IC around all day. Those big wheels are like giant Tonka Toys, they just float over the sand. What many people don't realize is that once a vet gets his beach vendor's license, he has it for life as long as he pays the fee each year. And the cities only allow so many out there, so if a new vet wants a license he has to wait for one of the old guys to give it up. I got mine in 1984 when one of the old guys before me passed away. And I gave mine up after 18 years because I couldn't walk anymore. Only Wildwood Crest has no vendors. They keep trying but it usually gets voted down by one vote or something. (Trivia): The reason WC doesn't have Fudgy Wudgy men was because of all the hotel's with restaurants along the beach. They always raised a stink about how they didn't need any competition for ice cream from the men on the beach when the hotels had to pay all those huge taxes, so the Borough always gave in. And everyone had to walk off the beach to get their hot dogs, IC and water. But ever since the ocean went farther out, no one was competing with the big hotels anymore. It's a better service for visitors to allow them to have IC and water brought out to them by vendors. The last I heard, they still hadn't approved vendors in WC. Let me know if I'm wrong. Thom |
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Post by skuakid on Mar 22, 2006 9:30:43 GMT -5
I have never seen a vendor on the beach in WC.
I sit at Rambler in front of the main guard house, and the trucks used to come all the way to the end of the street so could see them from the beach. Now they have to park like 25-30 feet from the end, and it's not as easy to see them. It's a long walk to find out the truck's not there.
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Post by MMM on Mar 22, 2006 19:28:23 GMT -5
I only remember newspaper service on the beach (being discussed currently in another thread). I do remember the ice cream truck and the fruit/vegtable truck that would pull up to the ends of a block in the Crest, and ring their bells...
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