doo-wop-city

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Stella Star at Ala Kai, Part 1

Not only is Ala Kai one of the Deep Crest Motel District’s Doo Wop treasures, it doubled in size, after buying Blue Marlin Motel, and preserving it after painting it in Ala Kai’s signature yellow and lime. With twice the area, I’ll require two posts to cover all the photographs of my visit. These photos were taken on May 17th, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) Summer pounced upon Doo Wop City abruptly…

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The Doo Wop Tour, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I showed you part 1 of my Doo Wop tour photos. I’m now taking the opportunity to share with you the rest of the photographs. Please be advised beforehand that my husband and I were on a moving video, and he captured these snapshots on a camera without an adjustable shutter speed, so they aren’t the clearest images. I hope you can appreciate them, nonetheless. These photos were…

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Stella Star in the Tram Car

The Tram Car is one of the Wildwood boardwalk’s iconic features. After purchasing a milkshake at Steak ‘Em-Up, I hopped aboard to travel and cool off in the tram car’s shady refuge from the beating summer sun. I embark on the Sightseer. The courteous driver takes visitors from one end off the boardwalk to the other. The tram car is known for its primary yellow and blue color scheme. All…

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Sella at Steak 'Em-Up

Even today, in the late ’60s, Steak ‘Em-Up, located on the south side of 17th Avenue and the boardwalk, retains the 1950s’ charm, while its gangster mascot is a throwback to the Age of Gentlemen. These photos were taken on August 30th, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) Service is expeditious here: they slipped the milkshake I ordered on the counter while I was looking away. I’m so anxious to try it…

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Romeo's Neon Sign

Italy is known for romance and pizza. Romeo’s Famous Pizzeria in uptown Wildwood combines both with its amorous, heart-shaped neon sign welcoming pizza lovers. These photos were taken on Thursday, August 21st, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) If you ask me, I think the heart shape is merely a variant of the boomerang shape, an iconic Doo Wop motif. ultra red gas outlines the lettering, and even the…

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Stella Star on the Doo Wop Tour, Part 1

I achieved my long-standing dream to ride the Doo Wop Neon Nights Tour at the Doo Wop Museum. “Cathode” Ray was there, too, in his usual place, behind the camera. Here are a few photos from the tour. The tour begins and concludes here at the Doo Wop Museum. I visit to pay admission, and to appreciate contemporary design, preserved here for citizens from the World of Tomorrow. It seems distant…

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The Doo Wop Tour, Part 1

I finally made an excursion n the Doo Wop Preservation Society’s Doo Wop Neon Nights Tour. This year was extra special, since it was on a trolley car! Most of the photos aren’t the sharpest focus, since the trolley was always in motion during the tour. You’ll notice that this technique, photographing everything on a moving trolley, has a unique look with its own charm. The journey begins in…

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Stella Star at Crestwood Diner, Part 2

Crestwood Diner is one of centr city Wildwood’s mid-century delights. Now open for breakfast, it features the original seating and interior design it had when it first opened just six years ago in 1963. These photos were taken on April 17th, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) Okay. I’ll heed the shadow box’s suggestion. After rejuvenating myself with a hot mug of coffee, I wander over to the mural on…

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Stella Star's Among the Cars, Part 9

Oh, my goodness! We experience windy Wildwood weather quite frequently in the autumn and spring, but this weekend takes the cake! Inclement weather doesn’t hinder people of Doo Wop City from showing off their cars up on the boardwalk prior to the hectic tourist season. These photos were taken on May 10th, 1968. (…Or, was that 2024?) Regardless of the weather, I love the experience of standing…

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Snow Day in Doo Wop City 1969, Part 3

Looking at pictures of Wildwood last winter as a ploy to feel cool isn’t working. Wildwood’s intense dummer heat is besting us. Maybe I just have to look at more pictures from the Winter Wildwood Land. Fortunately, my husband developed another roll with a few more images. These photos were taken on January 12th, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) This roll had a few more photos of Pink Cadillac Diner.…

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Stella Star Meets Betty Boop

I love Betty Boop! She’s everyone’s favorite flapper girl from the Age of Gentlemen, and she’s always ready to serve you at Doo Wop Diner on the Wildwood Boardwalk, between Spencer and Youngs Avenues. Betty greeted me on my visit there on September 22nd, 1967. (…Or, was that 2023?) With me in my saddle shoes, and Betty on her roller skates, I think we make a great team! For more information…

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Snow Day in Doo Wop City 1969, Part 2

In a desperate attempt to maintain a cool body temperature during the unbearablly hot summer days in Doo Wop City, I, Stella Star, have been delving into photos of the icy snow days from last January. If you’re as overheated as I am, here are some of those photos to assist your efforts to stay cool. We head towards center city Wildwood for these photos. Here, on Atlantic Avenue, frosty whiteness…

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Stella Stops by Crusader

It was early in the season, but Stella Star was interested in visiting Crusader Oceanfront Family Resort on the intersection of Cardinal and Ocean Avenues in Wildwood Crest, to find out when in they open for the season. No one was in the office at the time, but Stella took a moment to pose next to the art in the office window. She’s wearing her new paisley-printed Carlisle faux-two piece knitted…

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Snow Day in Doo Wop City 1969, Part 1

We’re midway through the season, and it’s been blisteringly hot, humid, and balmy in Doo Wop City. Temperatures rose to 93 degrees on Monday, and five degrees hotter on Tuesday! I need to think of cold, cozy imagery, to psychologically remove hot thoughts from my consciousness. I’m sure you do, too, so here are some photos of the snowfall last winter. Whether or not you require them, everyone can…

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Stella Star at Lollipop Motel

As I post this,, it’s the middle of the summer. The mercury was 98 degrees in the red the other day. Stella Star wanted to share this post to reminisce over the cooler days, in the hopes that cold thoughts ease the sweltering heat. Doo Wop City is so chilly off-season, Stella Star has to put her corduroy jacket over her doo wop outfit when attending to a Christmas party. While in anticipation,…

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Ocean Sands Part 5 - Interior

Not long go, we shared some of the last photos of Ocean Sand’s Exterior. For posterity, we also photographed the interior. These are a few of the final photos of Ocean Sands from a recently-developed roll of film, captured just before the building was demolished to build a tiki bar. This is a view from a standard room, with a view of the unique checkmark-shaped window panes as seen from the…

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Stella Star's Among The Cars, Part 8

With her feet on the ground after a flight, and still in her TWA uniform (though her primary occupation is with Pan Am), Stella Star enjoys a stylish set of wheels. These photos were taken on March 15th, 1969. (…Or, was that 2025?) On a side street in proximity to the Blute Museum, the lovely Stella models alongside another beauty: a mid-decade Buick Rivera, shiny and sparkling white! This is a…