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Post by huntspier4ever on Jun 14, 2006 22:44:53 GMT -5
I'm not sure if many of you know this but Vince Kostek passed away on Sunday, June 11th, 2006. Even though I never had a chance to meet him personally, Vince Kostek was important to the success of Hunt's Pier. For over 30 years, he worked for my grandfather, Bud Hunt, where his passion, dedication and hard work was evident in all that he accomplished. My deepest sympathy to his family and to Wildwood... Vince will be missed. For those of you who are interested, here is a link to his obituary on Press of Atlantic City's website. www.legacy.com/PressOfAtlanticCity/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=18111244
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Post by MMM on Jun 14, 2006 23:23:28 GMT -5
Ralph from Funchase has Vince's passing noted on the main page of his FUNCHASE site, including a nice picture of Vince from 1971 : www.funchase.com/Funchase.htm
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Post by writhinganacondo on Jun 15, 2006 4:33:56 GMT -5
Vince would be there daily when the pier opened and greet everyone, a nice touch that is long missing in the amusement business on the boardwalk.
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Jun 15, 2006 11:09:02 GMT -5
Vince was a really great guy, truly one of the Wildwoods' greatest legends. I worked for him on the pier for a number of years, ending up as manager of Jungleland for a while. He, along with his younger brother Billy (manager of the former Casino Theater) and Merle Paul (General Manager of all theaters and manager of the Shore Theater), were like the Three Musketeers to me; they were always together. I remember many occasions when the whole trio, along with several other employees would hang out at the old Karavan Resturant after the day's showings. Actually the Three Musketeers included a fourth Wildwood legend - Harold Sherwood. I guess his title was manager of theater projectionists, I'm not sure. The four of these gentlemen were quite a team. I always thought Vince looked like a combination of James Dean and Johnny Carson. Thom (Former usher and ride manager)
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Post by Robert on Jun 15, 2006 11:14:22 GMT -5
This is so sad, the last living legend of Hunt's Pier gone. I'm sure Vince was upset at the destruction of Hunt's Pier and now he won't see the reopening of the Golden Nugget if it happens. Now, apart from the surviving wives/daughters/children, including you, Kristen, all of the "leaders" of Hunt's Pier are gone. It's bad enough the pier was trashed and most of the former Hunt Theaters torn down (Casino, Shore 4) but now this. Sure the Hunt's and Kostek's officially left the scene in 1985/1986, but the properties continued to operate under new ownership/management for several years until their ultimate demise. There is not much left of the former Hunt's Properties surviving, the pier, Golden Nugget, Ocean Theatre, Strand is all that's left. Was Vince involved in the building of Hunt's dark rides, the Nugget, Pirate Ship, Whacky Shack, Keystone Kops, etc.? RIP Vince Kostek, thank you for such a wonderful place even though it is essentially defunct but was a big part of my childhood. There will never again be another Hunt's Pier the way it was. The world has changed since those simpler times. It would cost too much to recreate Hunt's with replicas of the old rides. Plus, today's generations expect "more" in today's advanced technical society. And, the Morey's don't want to be bothered with redeveloping Hunt's into a full amusement pier, they would rather concentrate on their three piers and use Hunt's for go-karts, storage and maintenance. Sportland and Casino and Nickels will never come back as full ride piers, either, the only pier that has any hope of a comeback is Seaport Village. The Morey's rule, monopolize, dominate the amusement ride scene today, hands down. Nobody else will ever be able to compete and win. In the 70's, all the piers were independently owned and all were regular ride piers, now, only 3 piers have regular rides and they're all Morey, and the others are either go-karts or waterslides or empty shells of what they once were. Family owned parks are rare in today's world of corporate-owned parks and the Six Flags craze of big companies buying up parks.
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Post by soulsurv on Jun 15, 2006 13:02:35 GMT -5
Ralph from Funchase has Vince's passing noted on the main page of his FUNCHASE site, including a nice picture of Vince from 1971 : www.funchase.com/Funchase.htm WOW! Just saw his photo, and the memory blew me away! I remember Mr. Kostek so well - very dapper and always crackling with energy. I printed out the photo to show my 83-year-old Father - who had the food concession accounts for the pier and the Theatres (Berlo and later Ogden foods). I would get free passes for all the rides and the movies at Hunt's every summer. I ADORED the Golden Nugget, the Scrambler (Bert Albert, anyone?), the Flyer, the Pirate ship and especially the Himalaya. Even fell "in love" with a guy who worked the cups and saucers in the summer of my 14th year. The boardwalk just isn't the same - last time I was there, on a jaunt from Cape May for some Mack's pizza, I was sick to my stomach to see it gone. Rest in Peace, Dear Mr. Kostek
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Post by rosiebear on Jun 15, 2006 18:10:43 GMT -5
I shared this info with my mom who worked for Berlo Vending company which was the candy concession for the theaters. Her immediate boss was Mrs. McCracken but she loved Vince. Mr Hunt (Bud) and Merle. She worked there for many years--mostly at the Shore (1955-1960). Her brother worked there too. She is 64 and still is friends with the "kids" she worked with many years ago at the Hunt's Theaters. They meet a few times each year at the shore to reminise about the good old Hunt's Pier days.
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Post by soulsurv on Jun 15, 2006 19:50:03 GMT -5
I shared this info with my mom who worked for Berlo Vending company which was the candy concession for the theaters. Her immediate boss was Mrs. McCracken but she loved Vince. Mr Hunt (Bud) and Merle. She worked there for many years--mostly at the Shore (1955-1960). Her brother worked there too. She is 64 and still is friends with the "kids" she worked with many years ago at the Hunt's Theaters. They meet a few times each year at the shore to reminise about the good old Hunt's Pier days. Get OUTTA here! My Dad got the accounts. His name is Rocky Bennett. Perhaps she knew him??
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Jun 15, 2006 21:10:52 GMT -5
I shared this info with my mom who worked for Berlo Vending company which was the candy concession for the theaters. Her immediate boss was Mrs. McCracken but she loved Vince. Mr Hunt (Bud) and Merle. She worked there for many years--mostly at the Shore (1955-1960). Her brother worked there too. She is 64 and still is friends with the "kids" she worked with many years ago at the Hunt's Theaters. They meet a few times each year at the shore to reminise about the good old Hunt's Pier days. I remember Mrs. McCracken who ran the candy counters at the theaters. What a beautiful lady. Anyone remember the lady who sold tickets at the Shore Theater: Thin, dark, graying hair. I think her name was Carol? Thom
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Post by JerseyDigger29 on Jun 15, 2006 21:56:14 GMT -5
Hey, guys - I was so shocked to hear about Vince that during my weekly trip to the museum today, I picked up some great pictures of Vince, Merle, etc. I'll be putting together a page on Vince for next week's TWR.com. Hope I can do him (them all) justice. Photo 1 is of Vince standing on the top track of the brand new Flyer during its construction. He looks to have been in his early 20's. From all the photos in the museum, it's obvious Vince took a hand's-on role in actually building Hunts Pier. There's also a great photo of him walking on a piece of 2 X 4 wood high above the ocean waves as they were building the pier's deck. I TOLD YOU HE LOOKED LIKE A COMBINATION OF JAMES DEAN AND JOHNNY CARSON. Check out the first photo. Photo 2 is of a very young Merle Paul also standing atop the Flyer. Check out the camera he's holding. Merle took almost all of the publicity shots dealing with Hunts during his years there. I think merle took the famous shots of comedian Mickey Shaunessey riding the rides and clowning around with the animals inside Jungleland, as well as the famous celebrity shots of Joey Bishop, Jerry Lewis, Red Buttons, etc. (Look behind Merle and you'll see what looks like some burned boardwalk pilings sticking up out of the waves. I'll bet they were the remnants of the burned-down Ocean Pier. I believe there was a gap of several years between the end of Ocean Pier and the beginning of Hunts)?? And photo 3 is of Vince and I believe the three Hunts at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pier. I assume it might be the grand opening, I don't know the dates of any of these photos. Mr. Bright was out today, so I could only guess at the occasion of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Hope you enjoy these great photos of some true "Wildwoods Warriors," courtesy of the Wildwood Historical Society Museum.With love and respect - Thom TheWildwoodsReporter.com
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Post by MMM on Jun 16, 2006 0:46:09 GMT -5
Great pictures - thanks Thom!
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Post by Robert on Jun 16, 2006 0:56:16 GMT -5
Hey, Thom, you said you worked for Hunt's Pier? On the Jungleland ride? I rode that ride several times a long time ago, between 1980-1983, I was between 6-9 years old at the time. Hunt's Pier to me was like paradise. I loved the Pirate Ship and the Golden Nugget and especially the ghost town train ride. Thank You Vince for such a wonderful place. I have memories of my father at Hunt's Pier, he died in Mar. 1986 so that was one of the few places I spent time with my father. Essentially the years that my father was alive was the time that Hunt and Vince were running the pier, 1985 was the final full year my dad was alive, didn't Hunt and Vince retire following the 1985 season? Fun Pier was ok back then with it's dark rides but Hunt's Pier was the best (other than the scary castles such as Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.) Thom, did you ever ride the Whacky Shack and if you did, could you describe the inside to me, such as did the props make sounds, was there a lot of animated stunts or not, and which one was scarier Whacky or Dante's. There's a great video of Hunt's Pier on dark in the park site. There's a bit of the Shack showing the letters turning back and forth the way I remember with scary sounds eminating from it sounding like a high to low pitched sound, an owl hooting, and a howl. And the Nugget actually running, you can hear the chain lift rattling. And the toot-toot and bell of the train as it goes across the crossing by the Flyer.
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Post by huntspier4ever on Jun 16, 2006 0:57:17 GMT -5
Thom- The first photo you have is definitely Vince Kostek, the second photo I am not sure who that is (possibly Merle Paul?) and the third photo is (left to right) Bud Hunt, Vince Kostek, not sure who the man is with the scissors and Guy Hunt.
Like I said before, I wish I got a chance to meet Vince but I guess there is a reason why I didn't. It's times like these that I really miss my grandparents... they are missing out on so much that is going on. -Kristen
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Post by Robert on Jun 16, 2006 1:11:21 GMT -5
Kristen, with Vince gone, are there no more higher up people alive that worked the pier? All the Hunt's are gone, Vince, I suppose there are a bunch of former employees alive such as Thom. Do you have any cousins, or aunts, uncles that remember the pier, too? Did your mom and dad take you to Grandpop's pier "back in the day" of the late 70's until 1985? Did you go back to the pier after it was sold? 1986 to 1990's? I'm sure it pained you to see all that destruction in 1989 since the pier was pretty much intact up until that time. And further destruction such as the Whacky Shack and Keystone Kops, and more recently the Log Flume and the embarrassment that the pier is today. Hunt's Pier was more of an adventure rather than 90% cheap thrill rides like most parks are today. That's what set it apart from most other parks. Today's young people don't know what they're missing.
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Post by novacancy on Jun 16, 2006 8:46:44 GMT -5
Sorry to hear of his passing. I'm glad that he was around to make such a positive impact for years on the boards.
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