Doo Wop motels
The Doo Wop motels of the Wildwoods are several hundred hotels, built in the 1950s, in the New Jersey towns of Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and North Wildwood. The architectural style now known as "Doo Wop" was a pop-culture style, featuring bright ("garish") colors and large neon-lit signs. The motels are mostly small (20-30 rooms) and locally owned. Once thought of as "cheap" or "tacky," as they have started to vanish, enthusiasts have started a movement to preserve them as unique architectural style and as a piece of Americana.
The motels in the Wildwoods are "considered the largest collection of mid-20th century commercial resort architecture in the nation" and "irreplaceable icons of popular culture" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[1]. Described with adjectives such as "kitschy," "funky," and "exuberant," the National Trust praises their "neon-bright colors, funky signage and exotic architecture decked out with sawtooth angles, crazy overhangs, space-age "Jetson" ramps and lava rock siding."
One resident notes "garish, oversized plastic flamingos, pirate figures, Hawaiian tiki gods, and big artificial palm trees"[2]
External links
- The Funky Mid-Century Motels of the Wildwoods, gallery of pictures of dozens of the motels; Doo Wop Preservation League]
References
- ↑ http://www.nationaltrust.org/11most/doo_wop.html Doo Wop Motels, Wildwood, New Jersey], National Trust for Historic Preservations, one of their "11 Most Endangered Places
- ↑ It's a Wild World: New Jersey's Doo Wop Motels Turn Out the Lights, Preservation Online