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Post by Eunice on Feb 1, 2005 17:48:31 GMT -5
I loved this restaurant and the home of the zaberized cocktail. It was our "fancy" night out during our Wildwood vacations back in the 60's and 70's. I'm trying to think of other "era" restaurants. We also enjoyed Duffy's and the Duffy related restaurants including Duffers Challenge when it was just an ice cream stand/ fried clam joint with skee ball and mini golf.
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Post by FlyinGN on Feb 1, 2005 18:17:57 GMT -5
wow me too! As a child I remember our 'big' night out with my family at Zaberers or Duffys on the lake too! And Duffers challange is still there! We were there one night for our nightly mini golf challange and ice cream.. I remmeber going there with my Dad .. almost 34 years ago.. How about Sunbirds restaurant in North wildwood? or Dinos Italian?? Or my fav as a child (and now still) Groffs restaurant:) Frank
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Post by Al Alven on Feb 1, 2005 18:25:23 GMT -5
I was in awe of Zaberer’s when I was a kid, and feel privileged that I got a chance to enjoy (and still have memories of) the one-of-a-kind restaurant. I’m not quite sure how to describe the place to people who are unfamiliar with it.
All I can say is that it was an extremely (yet playfully) classy establishment. It featured hundreds of antique Tiffany lamps, stained glass portraits, paintings and many, many other neat features, all housed in a unique labyrinth of separate, themed rooms.
The restaurant could seat over 1,000 people, which gives an idea of its enormous size (it didn’t look particularly huge from the outside, but it was!). And, believe me, the place was jam-packed on most nights, a true testament to its popularity and overall reputation.
At any rate, Ed Zaberer (“The host of the Jersey Coast,” as he was known) sold the restaurant in 1989. It stayed in operation for a few years, but I don’t feel that it was ever run to quite the same standards of quality and overall service after the sale.
Sadly, as happens to be the fate of so many great Wildwood icons, Zaberer’s burnt down in (I believe) 1992. I remember that the circumstances regarding the fire were regarded as being “mysterious” and rather “suspicious,” but I don’t know what (if anything) investigations on the matter ever turned up.
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Post by MMM on Feb 5, 2005 16:04:57 GMT -5
Does anyone remember that there were different colored roads/paths (that you walked on) through the outside of Ed Zaberer's that would lead you to different parts of the restaurant, depending on which road you followed?
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beachboy
New Member
doo-in wwc since 1960
Posts: 45
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Post by beachboy on Feb 5, 2005 17:22:16 GMT -5
You know, this is one area where I might have been too young. We went there when I was very young, maybe 5-6 yrs old ,approx 1966, I remember lots of stuff on the walls and wild lamps but no paths on the floor. After that, My dad complained that the price was too high and the drinks were watered down so we stopped going there. Did you know that there were 2 Zaberer brothers in competition at one time in WW. It's a very old story that is hazy in my mind, maybe someone remembers.
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Post by MMM on Feb 5, 2005 17:27:40 GMT -5
I seem to remember advertisments/reading that there was a Zaberers in Atlantic City - did Ed's brother own that one?
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beachboy
New Member
doo-in wwc since 1960
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Post by beachboy on Feb 5, 2005 18:11:38 GMT -5
That could be it but I remember some stories about the two in WW and having some falling out but they are very old stories and hazy in my mind.
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Post by Al Alven on Feb 6, 2005 1:21:27 GMT -5
Does anyone remember that there were different colored roads/paths (that you walked on) through the outside of Ed Zaberer's that would lead you to different parts of the restaurant, depending on which road you followed? I'm not sure whether I remember this or not, to be honest. I have some vague memories of the colored paths, but it might be more a case of me remembering things and aspects my parents have told me about over the years than having actually experienced them myself. I went to Zaberer's at least once a year, from my birth in 1978 until the restaurant burnt down in the early 90s. Do you happen to know whether or not the colored paths were still there, say, during the 80s?
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Post by MMM on Feb 6, 2005 1:31:36 GMT -5
Yes, though I don't think they were there right to the end of the restaurant. Maybe they got removed around the time of when Ed sold the place? I don't think it would have been much before that IIRC.
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Post by Al Alven on Feb 6, 2005 2:01:18 GMT -5
That could be it but I remember some stories about the two in WW and having some falling out but they are very old stories and hazy in my mind. I’m not certain that the Zaberer brothers – Ed and Charlie – were ever actually “in competition” with each other in the Wildwoods at any point. They definitely co-owned multiple establishments on the island at one point, and eventually did have some sort of falling out (whether or not they ever reconciled, I do not know). But I believe that Charlie left all of his interests in the Wildwoods behind after deciding to move up the coast to establish his own restaurant, which he built right outside of Atlantic City.
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Post by wildre on Feb 15, 2005 9:42:56 GMT -5
Your were right beachboy, Ed Z and his brother were in business in Wildwood, found this snipit on a sign museum website. Zaberer's Restaurant Charlie and Ed Zaberer originally operated a hotdog stand on the Boardwalk (Charlie, incidentally, was also a bit of a signpainter). In the 1950s, they each opened separate restaurants . . . Charlie just outside of Atlantic City and Ed in North Wildwood where he became known as "The host of the Jersey Coast." Ed's restaurant opened as "Zaberer's Anglesa Inn as Anglesa was the former name for North Wildwood. It later grew to seat 1,000. It also offered a game room, 300 stained glass lamps and sold the "Zaberized Cocktail." The business was sold in 1987 and mysteriously burned down in 1992, but the signs in the parking area survived.
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