Post by AnthonyV on Mar 16, 2005 15:35:46 GMT -5
Al,
True. Change is inevitable - and often change is good sometimes and is usually simply nothing more than a result of the passage of time.
But as for those old stately homes and hotels that were demolished for the coming tide of 1950s POPULUXE style motels, when those motels were beginning to grow after WWII there was no national campaign to historically promote by building upon or drawing visitors or vacationers to the area by the lore of preserving Wildwoods past centred mainly around those older buildings as they were not uncommon. Plus, to a large degree, many and most of the mid-century motels that were built and are being threatened today - especially in the Crest - were usually built on unoccupied proprty and laregly undeveloped land. Historically, fire did more to undo the older hotels and original homes more so than the eventual advent of post WWII motels did.
In fact, Wildwood - with the exception of their famed boardwalk perhaps - was no different than any other resort community along the Jersey Shore simply because it had stately homes and classic hotels. If so, nearby Cape May, Atlantic City, and Ocean City could have easily outdrawn Wildwood based on those two elements alone. But Wildwood eventually found something unique (in a weird, kitschy sort of way that resembled the times in which they were forged) after World War II and that uniqueness was the foundation on which the Doo Woo Preservation League is built upon.
The hypocracy (if it is that) and resulting damage today comes via the fact that only eight short years ago the resort went national by their promoting these classic 1950s and '60s Populuxe (or Doo Wop) style motels as the unique signature mark of The Wildwoods. This is what the area banked it's future on and it was no more difficult to identify than by way of its past. It was almost too easy it seemed!
Today, that premise or very idea (as first initiacted by the late Mr. Izenour back around 1996 or 1997)) is being challenged and destroyed almost daily in favor of something that CHANGE simply did not have to allow for. Saving and promoting Populuxe style and Doo Wop architecture was a brilliant idea but one which was simply never approached properly or effectively enough to work for one reaosn or another. And that conclusion is based primarily on what has already been allowed to disappear through demolition just within the last four years!
UNLIKE Miami's South Beach community - which once served as a protype on which the future of The Wildwoods might be modeled - exists today because the people in that city preserved their past by revising it rather than destroying it . They understopod the imprtance and uniqueness of South Beach and did what they could to PROTECT IT!
By comparison, the changes in Wildwoods future have far less to do with anything from their past than what took place in Miami a few years back. In a town like Wildwood, the dollar is mightier than the concerned integrity needed to save the place from overzealous developers who have what appeals most to property owners: MONEY...And lots of it!
What was featured in so many newspaper, magazine, and various TV news station reports is being challended and threatened in ways the old hotels and stately homes really never were - simply because an industry based on that history was never intended to be an attraction.
That's just my opionion of course, and I very well might be wrong.
True. Change is inevitable - and often change is good sometimes and is usually simply nothing more than a result of the passage of time.
But as for those old stately homes and hotels that were demolished for the coming tide of 1950s POPULUXE style motels, when those motels were beginning to grow after WWII there was no national campaign to historically promote by building upon or drawing visitors or vacationers to the area by the lore of preserving Wildwoods past centred mainly around those older buildings as they were not uncommon. Plus, to a large degree, many and most of the mid-century motels that were built and are being threatened today - especially in the Crest - were usually built on unoccupied proprty and laregly undeveloped land. Historically, fire did more to undo the older hotels and original homes more so than the eventual advent of post WWII motels did.
In fact, Wildwood - with the exception of their famed boardwalk perhaps - was no different than any other resort community along the Jersey Shore simply because it had stately homes and classic hotels. If so, nearby Cape May, Atlantic City, and Ocean City could have easily outdrawn Wildwood based on those two elements alone. But Wildwood eventually found something unique (in a weird, kitschy sort of way that resembled the times in which they were forged) after World War II and that uniqueness was the foundation on which the Doo Woo Preservation League is built upon.
The hypocracy (if it is that) and resulting damage today comes via the fact that only eight short years ago the resort went national by their promoting these classic 1950s and '60s Populuxe (or Doo Wop) style motels as the unique signature mark of The Wildwoods. This is what the area banked it's future on and it was no more difficult to identify than by way of its past. It was almost too easy it seemed!
Today, that premise or very idea (as first initiacted by the late Mr. Izenour back around 1996 or 1997)) is being challenged and destroyed almost daily in favor of something that CHANGE simply did not have to allow for. Saving and promoting Populuxe style and Doo Wop architecture was a brilliant idea but one which was simply never approached properly or effectively enough to work for one reaosn or another. And that conclusion is based primarily on what has already been allowed to disappear through demolition just within the last four years!
UNLIKE Miami's South Beach community - which once served as a protype on which the future of The Wildwoods might be modeled - exists today because the people in that city preserved their past by revising it rather than destroying it . They understopod the imprtance and uniqueness of South Beach and did what they could to PROTECT IT!
By comparison, the changes in Wildwoods future have far less to do with anything from their past than what took place in Miami a few years back. In a town like Wildwood, the dollar is mightier than the concerned integrity needed to save the place from overzealous developers who have what appeals most to property owners: MONEY...And lots of it!
What was featured in so many newspaper, magazine, and various TV news station reports is being challended and threatened in ways the old hotels and stately homes really never were - simply because an industry based on that history was never intended to be an attraction.
That's just my opionion of course, and I very well might be wrong.