Wildwood Crest's kitschy motels take visitors on journey in time

The palm trees along Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood Crest are swaying gently in the warm breeze, just as you'd expect in any summer resort town. Only here, travelers will notice that the trees make a strange, mechanical noise, like an old porch swing that needs oiling.

'They creak because they're made out of plastic and aluminum,' laughs Peter Ferriero, owner of the Memory Motel. Ferriero's rock 'n' roll and movie memorabilia theme motel is one of more than 200 examples of kitschy, eye-popping mid-century architecture lining the avenues of Wildwood Crest, New Jersey.

For several miles along the South jersey shoreline in this popular beachside resort town in Cape May County, visitors find themselves transported back to a time when space travel and Polynesian tiki huts were still considered fashionable decor motifs.

At Atlantic Avenue's Jolly Roger, a neon swashbuckler waves a giant broadsword from atop the hotel roof while at the nearby Royal Hawaiian, imitation thatched roofs and mock Asian decor lend the inn the feel of a set from TV's 'Gilligan's Island.'

The ostentatious period details aren't limited to the hotel exteriors, either. Each room in the newly re-appointed Kona Kai hotel contains a working lava lamp while the medieval lobby of the Crusader oceanfront resort could make King Arthur feel at home.

There are no gambling casinos and very few nightclubs in Wildwood Crest, although the town's main street lights up with enough gaudy neon to make visitors think they'd landed in Las Vegas, circa 1963.

Ferriero opened the Memory Motel - named after his favorite Rolling Stones song - in 1998. It was one of several derelict properties in the neighborhood housing transients and doing little to enhance property values or tourism. Ferriero, a lifetime music and movie fan, decided to invest his family's savings and sweat equity in creating 'the kind of place people never forget.'

With its swimming pool waterslide cast in the shape of the Rolling Stones' puckered lips logo and the musical scores from popular rock songs painted along its facade, the Memory is typical of a style of architecture known in Wildwood Crest as 'Doo-Wop.'

With developer Donald Trump building mega casinos in nearby Atlantic City and a new convention center slated for Wildwood Crest by summer 2002, it is amazing that these simple, low-priced inns have lasted for nearly half a century.

About two dozen Wildwood Crest innkeepers formed the Doo-Wop Preservation League in 1995 to study and maintain the area's uniquely irreverent character, says Donna Vecere of the Greater Wildwood Tourism Improvement and Development Authority.

With the help from the New Jersey architecture firm of Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates, Preservation League President Jack Mory found that Wildwood Crest had the country's largest existing collection of 1950s commercial architecture.

So far, the league has staved off efforts to build large, luxury chain hotels in the area, though Ferriero is uncertain how long they can keep the real estate speculators out.

'Most people who stay here have only $100 to spend on a room, and that's who our guests are. But I know that luxury travel is on the rise and lots of people want to stay at a Ritz Carlton,' says the man who has mounted a 30 foot, neon Fender guitar on his roof.

Although The Doo-Wop Preservation League has commissioned architecture studies of their wonderfully tacky hotels, organized guided tours and even opened a small museum dedicated to the heyday of what Vecere calls 'optimistic, mid-century architecture,' she is well aware of Wildwood Crest's close proximity to the classy Victorian stylings of neighboring Cape May.

But the striking visual contrasts only help attract larger crowds, she says.

'I think we're a nice compliment to each other. Cape May has a certain formal character, but when people come here, they can have fun with this really unusual, fun architecture,' she says.

In addition to the town of motels, Wildwood island is home to the famous Wildwood amusement park, several public golf courses and tennis courts. The beach is lined with boardwalks and beach resorts for several miles, its amenities serving most of New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Most of the inns that characterize Wildwood Crest were built as simple, L-shaped designs made of brick with little attention to longevity. Even today, few operate with central heating. Inventive innkeepers began decorating their businesses in outlandish themes during peak years in the late 1950s and early 196s in order to attract walk-up customers, Vecere says.

'The thatched roofs, the elaborate, whimsical design themes really came about back then when each hotel was competing with their neighbors for business. It was a way to visit Hawaii without actually having to travel there,' she says.

An economic lull in the 1980s meant that few hotel owners had the money to modernize their properties. This turned out to be a boon for the area, and contributed considerably to the area's 'lost in time,' appearance.

The Doo-Wop Preservation League has helped rekindle interest in the inns of Wildwood Crest and the 250,000 visitors that arrive on an average summer weekend now include many fans of '50s Americana from around the globe.

Ferriero expects to count Rolling Stone Keith Richards amongst his guests this summer, a honor for a musician depicted in portraits throughout the Memory Motel.

'This whole Doo-Wop thing is about more than just neon lights and paint. It's a chance to see how people enjoyed themselves years ago,' Ferriero says.

Wildwood Crest's Doo-Wop Preservation League offers daily guided trolley tours, May through September. Details: (609) 884-7400.