Doo Wop Museum and Neon Garden Question

[JerseyDigger29]

I have a general question for anyone who might be able to answer it:

We have all been talking feverishly for quite a while now about how the Surfside Restaurant was SAVED in WC and will be opened soon as the new Doo Wop Museum and Neon Garden at Fox Park in Wildwood.

We have also been talking about how sad it was that no one could save the historic Wildwood Diner.

As I was looking at the ongoing construction of the new Doo Wop Museum the last few days, is it just me, or does it look a whole lot smaller than the original Surfside Restaurant?

I realize the museum won't need all the space that was occupied by the Surfside's kitchen and dining area, etc, but does the new museum look waayyyyy smaller to any of you?

I also remember the mayor of Wildwood saying to me that the roof girders had to be re-fabricated because many of them had rusted away. It seems to me that the museum will NOT be the original Surfside Restaurant, but a much smaller reconstructed version of the original.

Maybe it's just my poor eyesight when I try to visualize the new layout but it does look a whole lot smaller than the original Surfside, doesn't it?

So, my question is: If we are rebuilding a smaller version of the original Surfside from scratch - a duplicate, or just a smaller look-alike - what are we actually saving?

Everyone wanted to save a masterpiece of Doo Wop history and it seems to me we are only getting a smaller copy of the original.

So what are we saving? Are we saving a masterpiece, or are we just saving its memory?

Tell me if I'm wrong. - Thom

[Doowopper]

Do you have any pictures, Thom?

[MMM]

I haven't seen this as you have, Thom. I was told that the original roof was saved and will be reused. Most of the original steel as well, but some of that had to be redone. If this is all correct, the "footprint" should be as it was. I guess when out in a more open area, it doesn't look as large as it did when up near the Water's Edge...?

[Crippled_Visions]

jerseydigger29 said:

Everyone wanted to save a masterpiece of Doo Wop history and it seems to me we are only getting a smaller copy of the original.

So what are we saving? Are we saving a masterpiece, or are we just saving its memory?

Do you think they can make a smaller version of the Skua Pirate Ship and put it on the outside of the museum? That would be wonderful. Maybe they can use Robert's model from RCT3 as the blueprints.

[writhinganacondo]

I'll agree with Thom. We attended the final Lion's Surfside dinner on a Sunday, within a few days it was demolished. A valiant effort was made and the remaining beams were saved to reassemble its pinwheel shape. How would it be feasible to save and reuse that roof? Meanwhile years go by and what builder at this point wants to deal with and figure out old beams(?) So what are we left with?
The front section of the Wildwood Diner, 6 blocks away, should have been moved and used as the museum. Now that was real.

[Rob Ascough]

Good point, but I would think that if the roof beams were the only things that had to be remanufactured, the museum would have to be the same size as the old restaurant if the other remaining materials were to be used. Of course there could be an "untold story" here...

[FlyinGN]

heres a pic of it saturday Sept 23rd