That does sound like a pattern there, Gary, while let me ask, is any new type of industry about to be introduced there, such as a gambling casino or something? Or, has there been a sharp new change in political leadership perhaps? I have seen this type of pattern before, such as in the New Jersey seaside resort of Ocean City (10 miles to Atlantic City’s south) when Atlantic City went the way of casinos and Ocean City was targetted to be a bedroom community for it. I also saw it in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time its highly corrupt political machine — the one that’s in place today — rose up. And fires related to that are still going on in Philadelphia, which is soon to be getting casinos.
On the other hand all the fires you list might be totally unrelated, especially if there’s no sort of singular catalyst to tie them all together that way. And in Owosso’s case the burned structures ARE getting rebuilt, which totally contrasts the patterns I’ve seen. But that in itself is a pattern; first a fire, and then the building gets rebuilt. Of the one or two times I have seen that, it was clearly a case of ownership arson each time.
In any event, if they do eventually catch whoever torched the Lebowsky Center, maybe then they’ll find out if there was link between all the arsons or not.
Does he recall when actor Erroll Flynn and other famous celebrities at that time stayed there? For myself not being around yet back when the Flanders was in its heyday, such were the stories I grew up hearing in relation to how glorious it once was. But by the time I came along the Flanders had become a grand old seaside hotel that didn’t know it was dead yet. Far from being rundown — luckily it never got to the point of becoming this — still, by the late ‘60s/early '70s it became the type of place only an old lady would want to stay at. While to be sure it made a magnificent comntribution to the Ocean City skyline over all — it, too, having been designed in the style of Spanish Revival architecture — so far as grand hotels go it had one of the worst main entrances I think I’ve ever seen, with no real way it seems of ever being able to correct that. Contrast that to the Port O’ Call, whose main entrance was a thousand times better. So given the way the main entrance of the Flanders was, it would be interesting to be able to go back in time to see how that particular detail was handled when it was in its heyday.
According to things I’ve been told, back in an earlier era Ocean City was so strict that you weren’t even permitted to stroll the boardwalk in the evening if you weren’t wearing a dinner jacket! Any man caught doing this was automatically ordered to leave. And all ladies had to wear formal dresses on the boardwalk in the evening hours, of course. And even during the day bathing suits were NOT permitted on the boardwalk, by either men or women, or children. So it appears against that backdrop the old Flanders, with its poorly planned out main entrance, was made workable. But when times changed it carried on by means of inertia only. Its regular clientele just got older and older till it just came down to old widows staying there, and ones with mouths agape in horror, as I found out when I walked into its lobby in 1974, that any young man would DARE walking into the Flanders' lobby not wearing his proper dinner jacket. And no one had the heart to tell them, not even me (though my words would not have done any good) that the world had changed by then. So by 1974 the Flanders' lobby had become a fascinating time capsule of stepping back in time.
And in its last days as a single-screen theater, the Strand’s lobby had become this as well. Though you didn’t have to dress formally to be admitted, inside the lobby there were these long sofas and end tables with large, living room style table lamps, as if to say, what was any of that for? For nobody used them, they were just there as some sort of additional but totally needless decor. And quite detracting if it was meant to be a classy theater.
In its last days as a single-screen theater clearly the Strand was in need of a massive overhaul. And all sorts of wonderful things could’ve been done with it had Ocean City not suddenly changed the way it did, taking all good people there by surprise as it were. And the Strand Theatre could still be brought back as a really great single-screen theater, but it would require the right management. And by that I don’t mean theater management, but over all resort and state of New Jersey management. The old Flanders Hotel on the other hand, though it complements the Ocean City skyline beautifully, would be quite a challenge, even with that change.
For just before the classic Ocean City was driven under, one of the last places I stayed at there while that was still intact, and which I now have the fondest memories of, was the Oceanview Apartments, which were located there on Plymouth Place right behind Gillian’s Fun Deck (which he later turned into that giant water park, Gillian’s Island.)
In its latter days, the Oceanview was in a somewhat rundown state, and I’ll be the first to admit that. But with its Spanish Revival architecture and enormous white pillared porches facing out towards the boardwalk and sea — with high-back rockers no less! — it was a dream come true staying there! The upstairs apartments (where I stayed each time) were enormous, and at the front end they had those large pillared porches facing towards the sea which I just described, while at the back (as you stepped out from the kitchen) they had these high up porches that overlooked all of Ocean City. The sunsets from way up there were fantastic!
And you really got a sense of Ocean City history when you stayed there, it being part of the original Ocean City from its late 1800s beginnings. Case in point, to its front end (facing the boardwalk) at the lower level it had a large wooden sundeck which in actuality was a section of Ocean City’s original boardwalk when this building was positioned directly on it!
But…
After Gillian became mayor, all historic importance be damned, one of the first things he did after he got in office was push through an ordinance requiring all Ocean City buildings beyond a certain size to have sophisticated fire sprinkler systems installed. The owner of the Oceanview, unfortunately, couldn’t even begin to afford that and thus was forced to sell, and, to none other than Gillian himself.
The moment Gillian bought it up, and at bottom dollar at that (being he was mayor he was able to rig it that way), and then instantly tore it down to build a parking lot in its place for his water park.
Though it had been somewhat in a rundown state in its last days as I say, by that I only mean superficially. For at the core it was in excellent shape, very solid, one of those classic “they don’t build ‘em like they used to” type buildings. And like I say, it had been one of Ocean City’s oldest. For over a century it had easily withstood hurricanes and floods and Nor'Easters.
But alas, it could not withstand Gillian’s shear greed and stupidity.
At the same time, just to be totally fair, I don’t fully blame Gillian for what happened. When nearby Atlantic City had gone the way of casinos and governmental attention became fully focused on that — primarily to “keep the mob out” — Ocean City, 10 miles to its south, was left wide open. Suddenly it was without any real law or other protection to speak of whatsoever, for no one beforehand ever foresaw the need for this. So overnight — and I mean that literally — Ocean City suddenly became this very lawless place. Any attempts to reverse it, including my own, were too little too late. for at that point it became rule of the thugs and “commerce” at its utmost worst. No legitimate businesses based there could survive it. For governmental regulatory agencies, with their resources stretched too thin with Atlantic City, couldn’t even begin to get to Ocean City’s problems let alone adequately handle Atlantic City’s.
Add to this that it was the Reagan era of deregulation, which added even more to the confusion. For no one at that time, with its being relatively new, quite knew what deregulation meant. And for some it simply meant anything goes in the name of making a buck. And anything that stood in the way of that was without bearing.
And because Ocean City was primarily classified as a “resort” and not where Americans actually lived, that also prevented it from receiving many regulatory protections it might have gotten otherwise. Casino workers took up permanent year round residence there, yes, but as such they were viewed as only “temporary.” And most of the casino workers saw themselves that way. I remember that firsthand. When I tried to engage their support in saving the resort from becoming a “nightmare vacation spot by the sea,” to them they just saw it as a “bedroom community” only, a place close to Atlantic City simply to sleep and wash up between shifts, nothing more. And the vast majority of them, totally new to Ocean City, never even knew it had been this great seaside legacy the way you and I had gotten to know it. Plus, by then it was too late for them to get to know that, all the downward changes came so quickly.
One or two things of yore survived — the Music Pier, the Flanders Hotel, the Port ‘O Call, plus the boardwalk itself.
And miraculously, the Strand Theatre — although it’s all chopped up into little mini theaters now — is still there. And at this late stage it is Ocean City’s LAST movie theater, to give credit where it is due. However, it’s not one where I feel any customer gets a sense of what all once was. rather, I get this feeling it was reworked to prevent newcomers from ever seeing that. “Better they not know,” some might say. But I almost feel like I’m Marc Antony or somebody in my saying that.
No, the Blue Laws was the first casualty when Ocean City underwent its downward transition.
I was living and working there at the time, and as I recall, an all out campaign was launched that year to register the sizeable number of new residents to town (re: Atlantic City casino workers) to vote, with voting out the Blue Laws placed at the top of the ballot. The only aspect of Ocean City’s Blue Laws kept in tact, I suppose for Somers Point’s economy sake, was the continued prohibition of bars in Ocean City, which still holds to this day.
And you’re right about the big amusement pier at the upper end of the boardwalk being Wonderland, but I don’t believe Gillian owned it in the years you remember. Perhaps he did, but if so he was in a dormant state of the kind of person he evolved into later, sort of like the two Nicks depicted in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. After Ocean City sharply underwent its downward transition he rose up to be mayor for a time, which is when he created that big water park — Gillian’s Island at Plymouth Place and the boardwalk. All to cash in on the huge ocean pollution crisis that hit Ocean City during that period. As mayor, he was able to supply his new water park with the city’s water free of charge which, incidentally, coincided with a severe drought New Jersey farmers suffered that year. Later, a mother and two kids got killed on one of his faulty rollercoaster rides, but because he was mayor he got off with something like a $20,000.00 fine.
In other words, you’re lucky you got to experience Ocean City when you did, so was I. While I really wish I had not seen it later when it sharply underwent its downward slide. As I say, the last movie I saw there at the Strand while it was still a single screen theater was THE UNTOUCHABLES, while my guess is the movers and shakers of Ocean City by that point felt it hit too close to home for them. For that year I saw that movie it really did feel like I was living it while I was seeing it.
Anyway, I wasn’t in Ocean City for the 4th of July this year. But they said on the news tonight that for this year’s 4th of July it was an unusually cold night on the Ocean City boardwalk. Winter coat weather almost.
It’s now the height of summer in the seaside vacation resort town of Ocean City, NJ — tomorrow is the 4th of July, 2007 no less — and the Strand Theatre, strategically located at the pinnacle of the entire town (9th Street & the Boardwalk is clearly the pinnacle of the entire town), is the only last movie theater Ocean City has at this point to its name. So given that, one would think a very special effort would be made to go all out to insure it’s one that doesn’t insult peoples' intelligence. But lo and behold what do we see but the exact opposite. And I’m trying very hard to understand that right now, but hard as I try, I can’t. Yet it is a question that begs to be answered.
I’m not saying this is the theater operator’s fault, for ultimately I don’t believe that to be the case. Faced with all sorts of bureaucratic governmental pressures, it’s in a position where it’s forced to either sink or swim. Of course some business operators, strange as it might sound, like that sort of thing. It levels the playing field so that incompetent businessmen can be happy while no one else can. And when the main — and only — movie theater in town is run in such a way that insults the intelligence, who’s to know?
If a program could be started up in this country that would grant movie theaters a type of diplomatic immunity — which they should have anyway thanks to the First Amendment — that could begin to change. For why not movie theaters that can raise peoples' awareness in ways they need to be raised? And the Strand Theatre in Ocean City — where countless hundreds of thousands flock to each summer — would be an excellent starting place for this.
But watch. I’ll say what I’ve just said here, and the only response I’ll get is one of one huge blank. As in, “Raise awareness? Raise awareness of what? What are you talking about? We go to Ocean City each summer and find it ‘lovely’.” Which will only reinforce my point why movie theaters — protected by diplomatic immunity — are needed. For to be sure, Ocean City could be lovely. It could be outright beautiful. But it’s far from that now. And who’s to know, given the current way the Strand Theatre is being run. Again reinforcing my point.
Now with the increasing reliance on ethanol forcing corn prices higher (even though hydrogen I.C.E. was the much better choice and was all set to go till stupidity put a stop to it) it won’t make good economic sense much longer for popcorn to remain the standard movie theater concession staple it traditionally has been all these many years.
But rather than candy emerging triumphant on the next leg ahead, could future movie theatergoers be sold on the idea of pretzels or potato chips becoming the next movie theater concession standard? For wheat and potato prices look like they’re to remain stable for now, along with salt itself, while regarding anything with sugar that’s hard to say — it being another source of biofuel, as is the case in Brazil now. Of course in cases where farmers can grow corn instead of wheat or potatoes, and the pressure is on them to do that, that could reduce wheat and potato supply, hence forcing the price of that to go up also. The “Domino Principle” if you will, and all tracing back to the holding back of hydrogen I.C.E. Plus, a refusal on the part of our government to allow farmers to own and operate their land tax-exempt — all for the sake of keeping new housing starts going strong.
And alas, movie theaters, though at times they might appear to be a world unto themselves and above all the everyday fray we go to these theaters to get away from, are a part of this world after all. As revealed by the skyrocketing popcorn prices at their in-house concession stands.
Hey, don’t sweat it, HDTV267, for by rights my fellow investors and I should be thanking you right now. Back in 2005, when I eyed the potential of the historic old Holme Theatre building — at that time all boarded up and looking like it was mistakenly being about to see the wrecking ball next — an article appeared in National Geographic Traveler saying Philly was destined to be the next great city, and we thought it was meant as the real deal. Embarrassingly, many people did, not just us. And some even lost their shirts by forcing through this or that new business as if it were true. All I lost was a few countless hours chatting with various everyday Philadelphians on the Internet — such as yourself — which, all told, really wasn’t a waste, because now two years later we know Philadelphia was never on any actual course to become the next great city. To achieve that goal, Philadelphia would have to become a major world seaport once more, and as you can see by what’s happening now on the bigger scale that was never part of the plan. And it’s the last thing anyone in Philadelphia or throughout the rest of Pennsylvania is thinking right now. And regarding the Holme Theatre building, at this point I’m just happy it wasn’t torn down and hope that the way it’s being used now will be enough to weather it through what comes next.
As for yourself, again as I say, don’t sweat it. You did your part well, and the Lord works in mysterious ways as they say…
Well that’s unsettling. Have there been other arsons that fit this same pattern, or was this the only one? If the answer is the latter, I would presume/hope that factor is being factored in in the rebuilding of this theater so it can’t happen again, while I still hold out hope they catch the guy.
Well, HDTV267, if that’s how you truly feel, it’s a shame you didn’t get behind the Holme Theatre restoration proposal back when you had a chance to — instead of slamming it the way you did. Because in the business plan I had for it I had all those problems you’re complaining about worked out and resolved. And, I had all the investors lined up to make it happen. But all we needed — ALL WE NEEDED — was enough people such as yourself saying they wanted it. For we were not about to push through something that nobody wanted. In any event, too late now. Enjoy your pizza and made in China trinkets the next time you’re over at what the Holme Theatre’s been converted into now, while perhaps pausing a minute to think what might’ve been. C'est la vie…
That sounds like relatively good news — I say “relatively” because I would have much preferred what was still left of the original historic structure been fully restored in every single instance. But hey, in an era when doing away with theaters completely has become so standard, who can be too critical in this instance?
But in this case did they ever find out who the arsonist was and what the motivation was, or is that much still left hanging in the air?
If it’s any consolation, Joyce, I can definitely relate to what you’re saying. I had the same experience here in Philadelphia, PA several years back (see Cinema Treasures' Holme Theatre page, /theaters/9141/),,) where an old historic single-screen movie theater building — designed in the Art Deco style by William Harold Lee no less — was vacant for a time, it’s not having served as a movie theater since the 1950s. And in its forelorn, boarded-uo state it just looked so ripe for becoming a beautiful neighborhood theater once more. But alas, developers who had other ideas for it beat me to the draw. Plus, the over all community response to my proposal could not have been more hostile.
This, of course, isn’t to say the reasons why your plan and mine were blocked are one and the same, as the reasons why in Philly’s case appear to be rather unique. In this instance the community where the theater building stands — though far from being ghetto — is hardly posh. It’s for the most part small town-like and middle class, but also extremely poorly educated, and with the overwhelming majority of current residents (who are not the residents of this community originally) and the politicians very determined to keep things that way. And a well-run, beautifully restored neighborhood movie theater of historic significance simply would not fit well with that theme.
And other than my experience, just to show how you’re not totally alone, you should review the commentaries posted at Cinema Treasures' DuPage Theater page (/theaters/801/) which got so bad CT had to finally shut it down. In that case it was an atmospheric single-screen movie palace designed by the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp — which many rank as the greatest theater designing firm of all time — and was located in the very posh village of Lombard, Illinois just outside of Chicago. And it appears very good plans were in place to breathe all new life into it. But, for a theater that just happened to be located in the worst possible place people-wise. In that case there was a ferocious stampede to get the historic theater torn down completely, not even so much as converted to another usage, as it was in your case and mine.
Out in California, though, where motion picture production is such a mainstay of its over all economy, it’s especially uncanny that anyone would put up any resistance to a theater being kept as a theater.
But, I suppose, as it is here in Philadelphia, PA and up in Lombard, Ill, people in that particular California town have their good reasons, or at least “good” from their own viewpoint, for putting up resistance, in some instances outright hostility, to keeping movie theaters at bay. Fortunately though, it’s not that way every place. Here at this Cinema Treasures website you’ll find many wonderful accounts of theater rescues and restorations that were accompanied with the greatest community support and enthusiasm. Right here in the state of Pennsylvania and in neighboring New Jersey we have many such cases — the Ambler, the Colonial, the Hi-Way, the County, the Majestic, the State, the Broadway, the Beach… (well, we’re still watching with the Beach, but I think it’s going to be okay.)
To me personally, as I’m sure it is with you, a movie theater that’s alive and well is a healthy sign, the mark of a very great place to be, to live, to work, to thrive. And fortunately we still have that some places, just not everywhere.
And I consider it wonderful that the U.S. still has a theater as well run as this within its boundaries. For in the age America has entered into now it is a true rarity. So by all means, cherish it for all it’s worth, and don’t take it for granted.
CORRECTION: I said above that you can go through image files in rapid succession by pressing the ENTER key. I meant to say the SPACE BAR key. (Press the ENTER key if you want to view an image file full screen.) In any event, you’ll find this program very intuitive….er, so much so that you won’t be thinking much about which key you’re pressing when doing this or that function, hence explaining my mix-up.
As a good basic file viewing program, and with a high degree of editing capability, and so readily accessible the moment you click on its icon, to me it’s a must have program to have on every computer. For instance, if you have a bunch of image files in a folder, open the first image file with IrfanView, and simply by pressing the ENTER key on your computer keyboard you can then go through all the image files in rapid succession, or slow if you prefer, without having to open each file separately.
You can also easily crop photos, convert them to grey scale, blur or sharpen them, intensify the color, change the coloration, increase or decrease the contrast, brighten or darken them, enlarge or reduce the image size, rotate and reverse the image, change the file format, and so on, more easily with this program than any other I’ve ever come across. So for Cinema treasures members I’d say it’s a must-have program all told.
Though it’s basically a file viewing program, it has full editing capability and is very easy to use. I’ve been using various versions of this program ever since I began computing and couldn’t even imagine not having it on my computer. So go ahead and download it and you’ll both be happy you did, I guarantee it!
One thing that Philly lacks right now that those other city’s you mention have is checks and balances. For instance, with a mayoral race going on here, the city’s most likely next mayor, Michael Nutter, wants to give Philadelphia police the power of stop and frisk. The introduction of martial law, in other words. The mayor of Baltimore wanted to bring the same to Baltimore, but there the Baltimore Sun was quick to state the truth that it would be the same as when Fascism was on the rise in Europe. Checks and balances, i.e.
And the reason for the big difference between Philadelphia and those other cities you mention, brucec, is because those other cities have not been written off the way Philly has. Unlike Philadelphia they are still vital to the U.S. over all. And they are vital because they still have some sort of checks and balances in place.
And to restore a movie palace and make that restoration stick, you have to have checks and balances firmly in place. But sadly, the way Philadelphia is right now, I would compare trying to restore a movie palace here at this point in time to the prospect of trying to do so in Germany at the height of the Nazi Third Reich. For there’s a breakdown of law going on here, a breakdown in a truthful press and so on — as in “Sound familiar?” when referring back to the WWII era?
Since most of those two weeks I spent in Ocean City that summer were down at 59th Street and hitting the beach at that fantastic state park below there leading out to Corson’s Inlet, I don’t know if Roy Gillian owned Ocean City’s big amusement parks that year or if all of that was to come later. Probably later, since Ocean City was still very much on the up and up at that time. Cases in point, Chris’s Restaurant back on the bay at 9th Street, where we ate on several occasions, was in full swing that year, and beachtags were still way off in the future if you can imagine. But in your case you were there so you know that firsthand.
But in remembering things uptown on the boardwalk that year, there was a pinball arcade in a large white airplane hanger shaped building with amusement rides in back — I think it was Paul’s Fundeck (though it might not have been called that at that time) — which had a full-size painted metal cowboy riding a metal horse up over its entryway. The cowboy was supposed to be holding onto and swinging a lasso high in the air, but the metal lasso part was missing. I don’t know if the hippies that year climbed up there and stole it or what. In any event it was like straight out of the Rory Calhoun western movie era. In the years to follow, that same cowboy on a horse reemerged in one of the boardwalk miniture golf places, though I don’t remember which one now. But why it was ever removed from over the entrance of that pinball arcade I have no idea, as it was just so memorably classic up there.
So often the business owners in Ocean City don’t know a good thing when they have it. And that most certainly was the case when Frank Family Management acquired and reworked the Strand Theatre. You look at the photo of how it’s being run now and compare it to how it once had been, and you can’t help but think, what were they thinking?! For in the summer of ‘72 as a single-screen theater it had been a major uptown centerpiece, rivaled only by the Ocean City Music Pier, Flanders Hotel and Stainton’s Department Store. And who does that really? Take a main attraction such as that and reduce it to what for the most part is now a chopped up nothing? Maybe Ocean City at some future point could all be brought back to what it once was. But it seems it would require a whole different class of people for that to be possible.
So do I, and being as I was in my teens at the time I thought it was fantastic! My widowed, childless aunt rented a place for herself, my brother and I down at 59th Street for two weeks in July of that summer, and after we got all settled in and then went uptown to visit the boardwalk and saw all the hippies and flower children everywhere I turned to my aunt — who was quite conservative — and said all excitedly, “Wow! Ocean City’s really become a hippie heaven!” She was horrified, and quickly scoffed, “Why on earth would anyone think that is a good thing?!” I don’t recall what my exact reply was, but I remember feeling, why wouldn’t they? But alas, I guess you had to be young to see it that way. Still, here it is 35 years later, I’m not that young person anymore, and yet I still see it that way.
And the two brightly lit up things I remember in the middle of it all at that time were the Strand Theatre to one side of the 9th Street ramp and Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy with its neon lights to the other. That was the main central point of the boardwalk, and when you arrived to there it felt like coming to the top of the world. And it was, it was, it was!
Back when it was a real theater the main entrance was right behind the circular ticket booth, of course. But going by this photo that part looks like it’s completely sealed over now and has been for quite some time. So who knows where the patrons are expected to enter in through. To the theater’s immediate right that’s a ramp leading off the boardwalk, so I’m guessing the entrance (or entrances) is somewhere along there.
At least it’s still a theater, albeit all chopped up now.
But if there’s one location where a single screen theater should be able to work out very well, this is it, at least all throughout the summer months when that boardwalk is jammed packed with tourists. And because the tourism turnover rate is extraordinarily high now, given the very high cost to vacation in Ocean City these days (gone are the days when sizeable numbers of people could afford to spend their whole summers there), you could have one movie playing there all summer yet expect that theater to operate at full capacity every single night.
Meantime, just to tell an interesting story relating to something near to there, just up the boardwalk is the Ocean City Music Pier. traditionally Ocean City’s Music Pier hosted free live performances throughout the summer months, but this year the tickets for each show will be $20. One of the performers it will host this year is John Sebastian, leader of the 1960’s band the Lovin' Spoonful. An interesting story about John Sebastian which may be true or merely urban legend, back in the summer of ‘72 Ocean City caught the ripple effect from the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair held up in New York State just three years before. The whole entire resort that year was completely swamped with hippies and flower children everywhere. And one of the tales of that summer was that John Sebastian attempted to enter the resort (which is out on a barrier island) totally stoned on L.S.D. and driving a paisley Rolls Royce but was immediately intercepted by Ocean City police and forced to depart the resort the same way he drove in. So in that sense I just thought it’s very interesting that 35 years later he’ll now be performing at the Ocean City Music Pier. Maybe somebody can ask him if that longstanding story is really true. But at the same time, if he was really stoned on L.S.D. as the story goes, he probably wouldn’t remember it, would he?
Thanks, Lost Memory, for posting a link to what to a large extent is a very sad photo, at least in relation to the Strand Theatre’s one time glory. And just looking at how it’s being run now, it having been greatly reworked since I last saw a movie there in 1987 (ironically called THE UNTOUCHABLES), where do you even go in at? And given how it wasn’t all that big inside when it was a single screen theater, the five seperate auditoriums it’s been chopped up into must be really cramped. Not the best place I would say to see PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END. The way it had been before would’ve worked out quite well for a movie such as though.
There is something totally unAmerican about a theater, or any other type of U.S.-based establishment for that matter, seeking to alienate anyone. The far better — and more ethical — thing to do is to plan out the theater using the Murphy’s Law approach. Have it so it works out well for everyone no matter who comes to it. There’s the old saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” But if someone tries to bring back a theater style of old and it is greatly clashed by such things as teenagers with cellphones or whatever it’s time to face the music and recognize that what worked out well in the past needs to be seriously updated. For as Murphy’s Law states, if something can go wrong it will.
Now to Dr Pepper, what you said caught my interest. You stated, “I think the Ritz was the best thing to do in South Jersey” (referring to the years you were growing up there.) Now I don’t know when that was, but to me if going to a theater is the best thing to do in South Jersey there’s something majorly wrong with South Jersey. And this you’re hearing from someone who spent much of his youth in South Jersey. But in my case — and I felt very fortunate — the best thing to do in South Jersey was to hit the Jersey beach every summer. And while all my life I’ve always loved movie theaters, the whole point of them was to greatly enhance how we view life itself. Take the Beatles' movie HELP!, for instance. My having seen that at a theater when I was a kid when it was all new (1965) the beach scenes shot in the Bahamas made me want to get down to the South Jersey beaches and enjoy life for all it’s worth. And then there was that movie documentary ENDLESS SUMMER that motivated me to get out there to see what real surfing is like.
Now admittedly the Shore scene in South Jersey these days is a total mess. For the past 20 years straight it’s been a disgusting rip-off at every turn. And made all the worse by the media rarely daring to tell it like it really is. And so if you grew up in South Jersey during that last 20-year time period I can fully understand your saying that going to a movie theater is the best thing to do in South Jersey. But at the same time can you see why I see that statement as being very sad? For movies and movie theaters in themselves — as much as I personally really love them — are not enough. They shouldn’t be enough. If they’re looked upon as if they are sufficient just in themselves and without really motivating anybody to do anything really exciting with their lives it’s like they’re cannons designed not to fire or what have you. Movie theaters should not merely be pacifyers but actual motivators — eye-openers, awareness-raisers, truth-revealers and all that good stuff. Things that get the people really riled up to bring about positive change where it’s needed. And South Jersey could really use that right now I feel.
Though I haven’t heard anything specific — and given the current state of politics, organized religion, the press and the local blogs around here I’m not likely to — now that Pennsylvania State Representative John Perzel is no longer House Speaker it’s probably safe to say the Devon Theatre restoration project as a live arts entertainment venue is now officially dead in the water.
For I can pretty much guarantee the new House Speaker, Dennis O'Brian — who’s also from Northeast Philadelphia — has no interest in this project going forward. You can write or call his office, or that of Perzel, or Philadelphia City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, or the Mayfair CDC organization, or whoever else, but I can pretty much guarantee you won’t get any replies. Nor will anyone who tries to step in and take over where Perzel left off get very far.
As for sound explanations for all this? Your guess is as good as mine. But usually when things get all hushed up this way the explanations behind it are more likely of a sinister rather than positive nature. Hey, why do you think Phoenix just surpassed Philadelphia in population size, making Philadelphia now America’s 6th largest city? People don’t stay around places that turn this way if they can help it.
And more importantly, or at least I feel, is that it will be the FIRST — yes, you read that right, FIRST — time any movie theaters directly IN Philadelphia will have digital projection. Or at least this according to the Philadelphia Inquirer for Sat., March 31, 2007: View link
And let’s hope the Philadelphia Inquirer is telling it straight this time. For if it is true I compare this to the Berlin Wall finally coming down or something. Yet Landmark is saying — at least according to that article — that at least two of the Ritz Theatre auditoriums will get digital projection.
That does sound like a pattern there, Gary, while let me ask, is any new type of industry about to be introduced there, such as a gambling casino or something? Or, has there been a sharp new change in political leadership perhaps? I have seen this type of pattern before, such as in the New Jersey seaside resort of Ocean City (10 miles to Atlantic City’s south) when Atlantic City went the way of casinos and Ocean City was targetted to be a bedroom community for it. I also saw it in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time its highly corrupt political machine — the one that’s in place today — rose up. And fires related to that are still going on in Philadelphia, which is soon to be getting casinos.
On the other hand all the fires you list might be totally unrelated, especially if there’s no sort of singular catalyst to tie them all together that way. And in Owosso’s case the burned structures ARE getting rebuilt, which totally contrasts the patterns I’ve seen. But that in itself is a pattern; first a fire, and then the building gets rebuilt. Of the one or two times I have seen that, it was clearly a case of ownership arson each time.
In any event, if they do eventually catch whoever torched the Lebowsky Center, maybe then they’ll find out if there was link between all the arsons or not.
Does he recall when actor Erroll Flynn and other famous celebrities at that time stayed there? For myself not being around yet back when the Flanders was in its heyday, such were the stories I grew up hearing in relation to how glorious it once was. But by the time I came along the Flanders had become a grand old seaside hotel that didn’t know it was dead yet. Far from being rundown — luckily it never got to the point of becoming this — still, by the late ‘60s/early '70s it became the type of place only an old lady would want to stay at. While to be sure it made a magnificent comntribution to the Ocean City skyline over all — it, too, having been designed in the style of Spanish Revival architecture — so far as grand hotels go it had one of the worst main entrances I think I’ve ever seen, with no real way it seems of ever being able to correct that. Contrast that to the Port O’ Call, whose main entrance was a thousand times better. So given the way the main entrance of the Flanders was, it would be interesting to be able to go back in time to see how that particular detail was handled when it was in its heyday.
According to things I’ve been told, back in an earlier era Ocean City was so strict that you weren’t even permitted to stroll the boardwalk in the evening if you weren’t wearing a dinner jacket! Any man caught doing this was automatically ordered to leave. And all ladies had to wear formal dresses on the boardwalk in the evening hours, of course. And even during the day bathing suits were NOT permitted on the boardwalk, by either men or women, or children. So it appears against that backdrop the old Flanders, with its poorly planned out main entrance, was made workable. But when times changed it carried on by means of inertia only. Its regular clientele just got older and older till it just came down to old widows staying there, and ones with mouths agape in horror, as I found out when I walked into its lobby in 1974, that any young man would DARE walking into the Flanders' lobby not wearing his proper dinner jacket. And no one had the heart to tell them, not even me (though my words would not have done any good) that the world had changed by then. So by 1974 the Flanders' lobby had become a fascinating time capsule of stepping back in time.
And in its last days as a single-screen theater, the Strand’s lobby had become this as well. Though you didn’t have to dress formally to be admitted, inside the lobby there were these long sofas and end tables with large, living room style table lamps, as if to say, what was any of that for? For nobody used them, they were just there as some sort of additional but totally needless decor. And quite detracting if it was meant to be a classy theater.
In its last days as a single-screen theater clearly the Strand was in need of a massive overhaul. And all sorts of wonderful things could’ve been done with it had Ocean City not suddenly changed the way it did, taking all good people there by surprise as it were. And the Strand Theatre could still be brought back as a really great single-screen theater, but it would require the right management. And by that I don’t mean theater management, but over all resort and state of New Jersey management. The old Flanders Hotel on the other hand, though it complements the Ocean City skyline beautifully, would be quite a challenge, even with that change.
How about that, Ken MC!
For just before the classic Ocean City was driven under, one of the last places I stayed at there while that was still intact, and which I now have the fondest memories of, was the Oceanview Apartments, which were located there on Plymouth Place right behind Gillian’s Fun Deck (which he later turned into that giant water park, Gillian’s Island.)
In its latter days, the Oceanview was in a somewhat rundown state, and I’ll be the first to admit that. But with its Spanish Revival architecture and enormous white pillared porches facing out towards the boardwalk and sea — with high-back rockers no less! — it was a dream come true staying there! The upstairs apartments (where I stayed each time) were enormous, and at the front end they had those large pillared porches facing towards the sea which I just described, while at the back (as you stepped out from the kitchen) they had these high up porches that overlooked all of Ocean City. The sunsets from way up there were fantastic!
And you really got a sense of Ocean City history when you stayed there, it being part of the original Ocean City from its late 1800s beginnings. Case in point, to its front end (facing the boardwalk) at the lower level it had a large wooden sundeck which in actuality was a section of Ocean City’s original boardwalk when this building was positioned directly on it!
But…
After Gillian became mayor, all historic importance be damned, one of the first things he did after he got in office was push through an ordinance requiring all Ocean City buildings beyond a certain size to have sophisticated fire sprinkler systems installed. The owner of the Oceanview, unfortunately, couldn’t even begin to afford that and thus was forced to sell, and, to none other than Gillian himself.
The moment Gillian bought it up, and at bottom dollar at that (being he was mayor he was able to rig it that way), and then instantly tore it down to build a parking lot in its place for his water park.
Though it had been somewhat in a rundown state in its last days as I say, by that I only mean superficially. For at the core it was in excellent shape, very solid, one of those classic “they don’t build ‘em like they used to” type buildings. And like I say, it had been one of Ocean City’s oldest. For over a century it had easily withstood hurricanes and floods and Nor'Easters.
But alas, it could not withstand Gillian’s shear greed and stupidity.
At the same time, just to be totally fair, I don’t fully blame Gillian for what happened. When nearby Atlantic City had gone the way of casinos and governmental attention became fully focused on that — primarily to “keep the mob out” — Ocean City, 10 miles to its south, was left wide open. Suddenly it was without any real law or other protection to speak of whatsoever, for no one beforehand ever foresaw the need for this. So overnight — and I mean that literally — Ocean City suddenly became this very lawless place. Any attempts to reverse it, including my own, were too little too late. for at that point it became rule of the thugs and “commerce” at its utmost worst. No legitimate businesses based there could survive it. For governmental regulatory agencies, with their resources stretched too thin with Atlantic City, couldn’t even begin to get to Ocean City’s problems let alone adequately handle Atlantic City’s.
Add to this that it was the Reagan era of deregulation, which added even more to the confusion. For no one at that time, with its being relatively new, quite knew what deregulation meant. And for some it simply meant anything goes in the name of making a buck. And anything that stood in the way of that was without bearing.
And because Ocean City was primarily classified as a “resort” and not where Americans actually lived, that also prevented it from receiving many regulatory protections it might have gotten otherwise. Casino workers took up permanent year round residence there, yes, but as such they were viewed as only “temporary.” And most of the casino workers saw themselves that way. I remember that firsthand. When I tried to engage their support in saving the resort from becoming a “nightmare vacation spot by the sea,” to them they just saw it as a “bedroom community” only, a place close to Atlantic City simply to sleep and wash up between shifts, nothing more. And the vast majority of them, totally new to Ocean City, never even knew it had been this great seaside legacy the way you and I had gotten to know it. Plus, by then it was too late for them to get to know that, all the downward changes came so quickly.
One or two things of yore survived — the Music Pier, the Flanders Hotel, the Port ‘O Call, plus the boardwalk itself.
And miraculously, the Strand Theatre — although it’s all chopped up into little mini theaters now — is still there. And at this late stage it is Ocean City’s LAST movie theater, to give credit where it is due. However, it’s not one where I feel any customer gets a sense of what all once was. rather, I get this feeling it was reworked to prevent newcomers from ever seeing that. “Better they not know,” some might say. But I almost feel like I’m Marc Antony or somebody in my saying that.
No, the Blue Laws was the first casualty when Ocean City underwent its downward transition.
I was living and working there at the time, and as I recall, an all out campaign was launched that year to register the sizeable number of new residents to town (re: Atlantic City casino workers) to vote, with voting out the Blue Laws placed at the top of the ballot. The only aspect of Ocean City’s Blue Laws kept in tact, I suppose for Somers Point’s economy sake, was the continued prohibition of bars in Ocean City, which still holds to this day.
And you’re right about the big amusement pier at the upper end of the boardwalk being Wonderland, but I don’t believe Gillian owned it in the years you remember. Perhaps he did, but if so he was in a dormant state of the kind of person he evolved into later, sort of like the two Nicks depicted in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. After Ocean City sharply underwent its downward transition he rose up to be mayor for a time, which is when he created that big water park — Gillian’s Island at Plymouth Place and the boardwalk. All to cash in on the huge ocean pollution crisis that hit Ocean City during that period. As mayor, he was able to supply his new water park with the city’s water free of charge which, incidentally, coincided with a severe drought New Jersey farmers suffered that year. Later, a mother and two kids got killed on one of his faulty rollercoaster rides, but because he was mayor he got off with something like a $20,000.00 fine.
In other words, you’re lucky you got to experience Ocean City when you did, so was I. While I really wish I had not seen it later when it sharply underwent its downward slide. As I say, the last movie I saw there at the Strand while it was still a single screen theater was THE UNTOUCHABLES, while my guess is the movers and shakers of Ocean City by that point felt it hit too close to home for them. For that year I saw that movie it really did feel like I was living it while I was seeing it.
Anyway, I wasn’t in Ocean City for the 4th of July this year. But they said on the news tonight that for this year’s 4th of July it was an unusually cold night on the Ocean City boardwalk. Winter coat weather almost.
It’s now the height of summer in the seaside vacation resort town of Ocean City, NJ — tomorrow is the 4th of July, 2007 no less — and the Strand Theatre, strategically located at the pinnacle of the entire town (9th Street & the Boardwalk is clearly the pinnacle of the entire town), is the only last movie theater Ocean City has at this point to its name. So given that, one would think a very special effort would be made to go all out to insure it’s one that doesn’t insult peoples' intelligence. But lo and behold what do we see but the exact opposite. And I’m trying very hard to understand that right now, but hard as I try, I can’t. Yet it is a question that begs to be answered.
I’m not saying this is the theater operator’s fault, for ultimately I don’t believe that to be the case. Faced with all sorts of bureaucratic governmental pressures, it’s in a position where it’s forced to either sink or swim. Of course some business operators, strange as it might sound, like that sort of thing. It levels the playing field so that incompetent businessmen can be happy while no one else can. And when the main — and only — movie theater in town is run in such a way that insults the intelligence, who’s to know?
If a program could be started up in this country that would grant movie theaters a type of diplomatic immunity — which they should have anyway thanks to the First Amendment — that could begin to change. For why not movie theaters that can raise peoples' awareness in ways they need to be raised? And the Strand Theatre in Ocean City — where countless hundreds of thousands flock to each summer — would be an excellent starting place for this.
But watch. I’ll say what I’ve just said here, and the only response I’ll get is one of one huge blank. As in, “Raise awareness? Raise awareness of what? What are you talking about? We go to Ocean City each summer and find it ‘lovely’.” Which will only reinforce my point why movie theaters — protected by diplomatic immunity — are needed. For to be sure, Ocean City could be lovely. It could be outright beautiful. But it’s far from that now. And who’s to know, given the current way the Strand Theatre is being run. Again reinforcing my point.
Now with the increasing reliance on ethanol forcing corn prices higher (even though hydrogen I.C.E. was the much better choice and was all set to go till stupidity put a stop to it) it won’t make good economic sense much longer for popcorn to remain the standard movie theater concession staple it traditionally has been all these many years.
But rather than candy emerging triumphant on the next leg ahead, could future movie theatergoers be sold on the idea of pretzels or potato chips becoming the next movie theater concession standard? For wheat and potato prices look like they’re to remain stable for now, along with salt itself, while regarding anything with sugar that’s hard to say — it being another source of biofuel, as is the case in Brazil now. Of course in cases where farmers can grow corn instead of wheat or potatoes, and the pressure is on them to do that, that could reduce wheat and potato supply, hence forcing the price of that to go up also. The “Domino Principle” if you will, and all tracing back to the holding back of hydrogen I.C.E. Plus, a refusal on the part of our government to allow farmers to own and operate their land tax-exempt — all for the sake of keeping new housing starts going strong.
And alas, movie theaters, though at times they might appear to be a world unto themselves and above all the everyday fray we go to these theaters to get away from, are a part of this world after all. As revealed by the skyrocketing popcorn prices at their in-house concession stands.
Hey, don’t sweat it, HDTV267, for by rights my fellow investors and I should be thanking you right now. Back in 2005, when I eyed the potential of the historic old Holme Theatre building — at that time all boarded up and looking like it was mistakenly being about to see the wrecking ball next — an article appeared in National Geographic Traveler saying Philly was destined to be the next great city, and we thought it was meant as the real deal. Embarrassingly, many people did, not just us. And some even lost their shirts by forcing through this or that new business as if it were true. All I lost was a few countless hours chatting with various everyday Philadelphians on the Internet — such as yourself — which, all told, really wasn’t a waste, because now two years later we know Philadelphia was never on any actual course to become the next great city. To achieve that goal, Philadelphia would have to become a major world seaport once more, and as you can see by what’s happening now on the bigger scale that was never part of the plan. And it’s the last thing anyone in Philadelphia or throughout the rest of Pennsylvania is thinking right now. And regarding the Holme Theatre building, at this point I’m just happy it wasn’t torn down and hope that the way it’s being used now will be enough to weather it through what comes next.
As for yourself, again as I say, don’t sweat it. You did your part well, and the Lord works in mysterious ways as they say…
Well that’s unsettling. Have there been other arsons that fit this same pattern, or was this the only one? If the answer is the latter, I would presume/hope that factor is being factored in in the rebuilding of this theater so it can’t happen again, while I still hold out hope they catch the guy.
Well, HDTV267, if that’s how you truly feel, it’s a shame you didn’t get behind the Holme Theatre restoration proposal back when you had a chance to — instead of slamming it the way you did. Because in the business plan I had for it I had all those problems you’re complaining about worked out and resolved. And, I had all the investors lined up to make it happen. But all we needed — ALL WE NEEDED — was enough people such as yourself saying they wanted it. For we were not about to push through something that nobody wanted. In any event, too late now. Enjoy your pizza and made in China trinkets the next time you’re over at what the Holme Theatre’s been converted into now, while perhaps pausing a minute to think what might’ve been. C'est la vie…
That sounds like relatively good news — I say “relatively” because I would have much preferred what was still left of the original historic structure been fully restored in every single instance. But hey, in an era when doing away with theaters completely has become so standard, who can be too critical in this instance?
But in this case did they ever find out who the arsonist was and what the motivation was, or is that much still left hanging in the air?
If it’s any consolation, Joyce, I can definitely relate to what you’re saying. I had the same experience here in Philadelphia, PA several years back (see Cinema Treasures' Holme Theatre page, /theaters/9141/),,) where an old historic single-screen movie theater building — designed in the Art Deco style by William Harold Lee no less — was vacant for a time, it’s not having served as a movie theater since the 1950s. And in its forelorn, boarded-uo state it just looked so ripe for becoming a beautiful neighborhood theater once more. But alas, developers who had other ideas for it beat me to the draw. Plus, the over all community response to my proposal could not have been more hostile.
This, of course, isn’t to say the reasons why your plan and mine were blocked are one and the same, as the reasons why in Philly’s case appear to be rather unique. In this instance the community where the theater building stands — though far from being ghetto — is hardly posh. It’s for the most part small town-like and middle class, but also extremely poorly educated, and with the overwhelming majority of current residents (who are not the residents of this community originally) and the politicians very determined to keep things that way. And a well-run, beautifully restored neighborhood movie theater of historic significance simply would not fit well with that theme.
And other than my experience, just to show how you’re not totally alone, you should review the commentaries posted at Cinema Treasures' DuPage Theater page (/theaters/801/) which got so bad CT had to finally shut it down. In that case it was an atmospheric single-screen movie palace designed by the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp — which many rank as the greatest theater designing firm of all time — and was located in the very posh village of Lombard, Illinois just outside of Chicago. And it appears very good plans were in place to breathe all new life into it. But, for a theater that just happened to be located in the worst possible place people-wise. In that case there was a ferocious stampede to get the historic theater torn down completely, not even so much as converted to another usage, as it was in your case and mine.
Out in California, though, where motion picture production is such a mainstay of its over all economy, it’s especially uncanny that anyone would put up any resistance to a theater being kept as a theater.
But, I suppose, as it is here in Philadelphia, PA and up in Lombard, Ill, people in that particular California town have their good reasons, or at least “good” from their own viewpoint, for putting up resistance, in some instances outright hostility, to keeping movie theaters at bay. Fortunately though, it’s not that way every place. Here at this Cinema Treasures website you’ll find many wonderful accounts of theater rescues and restorations that were accompanied with the greatest community support and enthusiasm. Right here in the state of Pennsylvania and in neighboring New Jersey we have many such cases — the Ambler, the Colonial, the Hi-Way, the County, the Majestic, the State, the Broadway, the Beach… (well, we’re still watching with the Beach, but I think it’s going to be okay.)
To me personally, as I’m sure it is with you, a movie theater that’s alive and well is a healthy sign, the mark of a very great place to be, to live, to work, to thrive. And fortunately we still have that some places, just not everywhere.
And I consider it wonderful that the U.S. still has a theater as well run as this within its boundaries. For in the age America has entered into now it is a true rarity. So by all means, cherish it for all it’s worth, and don’t take it for granted.
CORRECTION: I said above that you can go through image files in rapid succession by pressing the ENTER key. I meant to say the SPACE BAR key. (Press the ENTER key if you want to view an image file full screen.) In any event, you’ll find this program very intuitive….er, so much so that you won’t be thinking much about which key you’re pressing when doing this or that function, hence explaining my mix-up.
As a good basic file viewing program, and with a high degree of editing capability, and so readily accessible the moment you click on its icon, to me it’s a must have program to have on every computer. For instance, if you have a bunch of image files in a folder, open the first image file with IrfanView, and simply by pressing the ENTER key on your computer keyboard you can then go through all the image files in rapid succession, or slow if you prefer, without having to open each file separately.
You can also easily crop photos, convert them to grey scale, blur or sharpen them, intensify the color, change the coloration, increase or decrease the contrast, brighten or darken them, enlarge or reduce the image size, rotate and reverse the image, change the file format, and so on, more easily with this program than any other I’ve ever come across. So for Cinema treasures members I’d say it’s a must-have program all told.
Patsy and Lost Memory, you should download Irfanview 4.00 — which is free shareware — from the following link:
http://www.tucows.com/start_dl/194967_75076_245
Though it’s basically a file viewing program, it has full editing capability and is very easy to use. I’ve been using various versions of this program ever since I began computing and couldn’t even imagine not having it on my computer. So go ahead and download it and you’ll both be happy you did, I guarantee it!
One thing that Philly lacks right now that those other city’s you mention have is checks and balances. For instance, with a mayoral race going on here, the city’s most likely next mayor, Michael Nutter, wants to give Philadelphia police the power of stop and frisk. The introduction of martial law, in other words. The mayor of Baltimore wanted to bring the same to Baltimore, but there the Baltimore Sun was quick to state the truth that it would be the same as when Fascism was on the rise in Europe. Checks and balances, i.e.
And the reason for the big difference between Philadelphia and those other cities you mention, brucec, is because those other cities have not been written off the way Philly has. Unlike Philadelphia they are still vital to the U.S. over all. And they are vital because they still have some sort of checks and balances in place.
And to restore a movie palace and make that restoration stick, you have to have checks and balances firmly in place. But sadly, the way Philadelphia is right now, I would compare trying to restore a movie palace here at this point in time to the prospect of trying to do so in Germany at the height of the Nazi Third Reich. For there’s a breakdown of law going on here, a breakdown in a truthful press and so on — as in “Sound familiar?” when referring back to the WWII era?
Since most of those two weeks I spent in Ocean City that summer were down at 59th Street and hitting the beach at that fantastic state park below there leading out to Corson’s Inlet, I don’t know if Roy Gillian owned Ocean City’s big amusement parks that year or if all of that was to come later. Probably later, since Ocean City was still very much on the up and up at that time. Cases in point, Chris’s Restaurant back on the bay at 9th Street, where we ate on several occasions, was in full swing that year, and beachtags were still way off in the future if you can imagine. But in your case you were there so you know that firsthand.
But in remembering things uptown on the boardwalk that year, there was a pinball arcade in a large white airplane hanger shaped building with amusement rides in back — I think it was Paul’s Fundeck (though it might not have been called that at that time) — which had a full-size painted metal cowboy riding a metal horse up over its entryway. The cowboy was supposed to be holding onto and swinging a lasso high in the air, but the metal lasso part was missing. I don’t know if the hippies that year climbed up there and stole it or what. In any event it was like straight out of the Rory Calhoun western movie era. In the years to follow, that same cowboy on a horse reemerged in one of the boardwalk miniture golf places, though I don’t remember which one now. But why it was ever removed from over the entrance of that pinball arcade I have no idea, as it was just so memorably classic up there.
So often the business owners in Ocean City don’t know a good thing when they have it. And that most certainly was the case when Frank Family Management acquired and reworked the Strand Theatre. You look at the photo of how it’s being run now and compare it to how it once had been, and you can’t help but think, what were they thinking?! For in the summer of ‘72 as a single-screen theater it had been a major uptown centerpiece, rivaled only by the Ocean City Music Pier, Flanders Hotel and Stainton’s Department Store. And who does that really? Take a main attraction such as that and reduce it to what for the most part is now a chopped up nothing? Maybe Ocean City at some future point could all be brought back to what it once was. But it seems it would require a whole different class of people for that to be possible.
So do I, and being as I was in my teens at the time I thought it was fantastic! My widowed, childless aunt rented a place for herself, my brother and I down at 59th Street for two weeks in July of that summer, and after we got all settled in and then went uptown to visit the boardwalk and saw all the hippies and flower children everywhere I turned to my aunt — who was quite conservative — and said all excitedly, “Wow! Ocean City’s really become a hippie heaven!” She was horrified, and quickly scoffed, “Why on earth would anyone think that is a good thing?!” I don’t recall what my exact reply was, but I remember feeling, why wouldn’t they? But alas, I guess you had to be young to see it that way. Still, here it is 35 years later, I’m not that young person anymore, and yet I still see it that way.
And the two brightly lit up things I remember in the middle of it all at that time were the Strand Theatre to one side of the 9th Street ramp and Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy with its neon lights to the other. That was the main central point of the boardwalk, and when you arrived to there it felt like coming to the top of the world. And it was, it was, it was!
Back when it was a real theater the main entrance was right behind the circular ticket booth, of course. But going by this photo that part looks like it’s completely sealed over now and has been for quite some time. So who knows where the patrons are expected to enter in through. To the theater’s immediate right that’s a ramp leading off the boardwalk, so I’m guessing the entrance (or entrances) is somewhere along there.
At least it’s still a theater, albeit all chopped up now.
But if there’s one location where a single screen theater should be able to work out very well, this is it, at least all throughout the summer months when that boardwalk is jammed packed with tourists. And because the tourism turnover rate is extraordinarily high now, given the very high cost to vacation in Ocean City these days (gone are the days when sizeable numbers of people could afford to spend their whole summers there), you could have one movie playing there all summer yet expect that theater to operate at full capacity every single night.
Meantime, just to tell an interesting story relating to something near to there, just up the boardwalk is the Ocean City Music Pier. traditionally Ocean City’s Music Pier hosted free live performances throughout the summer months, but this year the tickets for each show will be $20. One of the performers it will host this year is John Sebastian, leader of the 1960’s band the Lovin' Spoonful. An interesting story about John Sebastian which may be true or merely urban legend, back in the summer of ‘72 Ocean City caught the ripple effect from the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair held up in New York State just three years before. The whole entire resort that year was completely swamped with hippies and flower children everywhere. And one of the tales of that summer was that John Sebastian attempted to enter the resort (which is out on a barrier island) totally stoned on L.S.D. and driving a paisley Rolls Royce but was immediately intercepted by Ocean City police and forced to depart the resort the same way he drove in. So in that sense I just thought it’s very interesting that 35 years later he’ll now be performing at the Ocean City Music Pier. Maybe somebody can ask him if that longstanding story is really true. But at the same time, if he was really stoned on L.S.D. as the story goes, he probably wouldn’t remember it, would he?
Thanks, Lost Memory, for posting a link to what to a large extent is a very sad photo, at least in relation to the Strand Theatre’s one time glory. And just looking at how it’s being run now, it having been greatly reworked since I last saw a movie there in 1987 (ironically called THE UNTOUCHABLES), where do you even go in at? And given how it wasn’t all that big inside when it was a single screen theater, the five seperate auditoriums it’s been chopped up into must be really cramped. Not the best place I would say to see PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END. The way it had been before would’ve worked out quite well for a movie such as though.
There is something totally unAmerican about a theater, or any other type of U.S.-based establishment for that matter, seeking to alienate anyone. The far better — and more ethical — thing to do is to plan out the theater using the Murphy’s Law approach. Have it so it works out well for everyone no matter who comes to it. There’s the old saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” But if someone tries to bring back a theater style of old and it is greatly clashed by such things as teenagers with cellphones or whatever it’s time to face the music and recognize that what worked out well in the past needs to be seriously updated. For as Murphy’s Law states, if something can go wrong it will.
Now to Dr Pepper, what you said caught my interest. You stated, “I think the Ritz was the best thing to do in South Jersey” (referring to the years you were growing up there.) Now I don’t know when that was, but to me if going to a theater is the best thing to do in South Jersey there’s something majorly wrong with South Jersey. And this you’re hearing from someone who spent much of his youth in South Jersey. But in my case — and I felt very fortunate — the best thing to do in South Jersey was to hit the Jersey beach every summer. And while all my life I’ve always loved movie theaters, the whole point of them was to greatly enhance how we view life itself. Take the Beatles' movie HELP!, for instance. My having seen that at a theater when I was a kid when it was all new (1965) the beach scenes shot in the Bahamas made me want to get down to the South Jersey beaches and enjoy life for all it’s worth. And then there was that movie documentary ENDLESS SUMMER that motivated me to get out there to see what real surfing is like.
Now admittedly the Shore scene in South Jersey these days is a total mess. For the past 20 years straight it’s been a disgusting rip-off at every turn. And made all the worse by the media rarely daring to tell it like it really is. And so if you grew up in South Jersey during that last 20-year time period I can fully understand your saying that going to a movie theater is the best thing to do in South Jersey. But at the same time can you see why I see that statement as being very sad? For movies and movie theaters in themselves — as much as I personally really love them — are not enough. They shouldn’t be enough. If they’re looked upon as if they are sufficient just in themselves and without really motivating anybody to do anything really exciting with their lives it’s like they’re cannons designed not to fire or what have you. Movie theaters should not merely be pacifyers but actual motivators — eye-openers, awareness-raisers, truth-revealers and all that good stuff. Things that get the people really riled up to bring about positive change where it’s needed. And South Jersey could really use that right now I feel.
Oops! Apologies for my not being that techically proficient, but hopefully this link will lead you to the article:
View link
The latest news on this theater can be read View link this having appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer for April 12, 2007.
Though I haven’t heard anything specific — and given the current state of politics, organized religion, the press and the local blogs around here I’m not likely to — now that Pennsylvania State Representative John Perzel is no longer House Speaker it’s probably safe to say the Devon Theatre restoration project as a live arts entertainment venue is now officially dead in the water.
For I can pretty much guarantee the new House Speaker, Dennis O'Brian — who’s also from Northeast Philadelphia — has no interest in this project going forward. You can write or call his office, or that of Perzel, or Philadelphia City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, or the Mayfair CDC organization, or whoever else, but I can pretty much guarantee you won’t get any replies. Nor will anyone who tries to step in and take over where Perzel left off get very far.
As for sound explanations for all this? Your guess is as good as mine. But usually when things get all hushed up this way the explanations behind it are more likely of a sinister rather than positive nature. Hey, why do you think Phoenix just surpassed Philadelphia in population size, making Philadelphia now America’s 6th largest city? People don’t stay around places that turn this way if they can help it.
And more importantly, or at least I feel, is that it will be the FIRST — yes, you read that right, FIRST — time any movie theaters directly IN Philadelphia will have digital projection. Or at least this according to the Philadelphia Inquirer for Sat., March 31, 2007: View link
And let’s hope the Philadelphia Inquirer is telling it straight this time. For if it is true I compare this to the Berlin Wall finally coming down or something. Yet Landmark is saying — at least according to that article — that at least two of the Ritz Theatre auditoriums will get digital projection.
And if so, can democracy be very far behind?