Strand Theatre

Look at how incredible this place was in the 40's
http://community.webshots.com/photo/158558294edpNiW

Actually that outside view is not completely different from how it looks now. The round marquee and box office are still there, although the box office is no longer used (neither are those entrance doors) and the "STRAND" letters atop the marquee have been replaced by less distinctive ones. I think that that glass block along the right side of the picture (ramp to 9th Street) has been replaced by retail space and the new entrance to the theater.

A few photos of the Strand Theater:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/5499133/5499398laPZBAWSOg#

http://community.webshots.com/photo/5499133/5499407VnTNmzrqlW#

http://community.webshots.com/photo/5499133/5499419wwvzFAfJEa#

A lot of distinctive features were lost on the conversion in 1989. In particular, I used to love the 5 rings of incandescent lights under the circular marquee. They created a lot of light, so much that you could feel the heat from them when standing underneath. I didn't like having to remove them all for the winter each year.
Inside, the auditorium had a very cool art deco look, with wide striped bands running down the walls, curving in to the columns on each side of the stage. I was always amazed at how even after 50 years it still looked fresh, and was well maintained. I've sen it a few times since the conversion and was very disappointed.

Current homepage:
http://www.franktheatres.com/movies_strand5.php

A Moller organ, opus 2658, was installed in the "old" Strand theater in 1919.

What about the Strand Theater on the Atlantic City boardwalk? It was near the Virginia Theater by the Steel Pier.

Nice photo album:
http://community.webshots.com/album/145872143yvwFjU

A photo:
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/ocstrand.jpg

Listed in the 1944 FDY. Listed in the 1961 FDY as part of Triangle-Liggett Theatre Service & in the 1970 FDY as part of Triangle Theatre Service Inc.

This theatre is now closed.

Given how the Strand Theatre was mistakenly converted into a multiplex, it's amazing it stayed open as a theater for as long as it had. A far more intelligent decision would have been to keep it as a single screen theater but to upgrade it from how it had been designed originally. For like Ocean City's Music Pier and its Flanders Hotel building, this is yet another of Ocean City's last few original structures still left that should be immune to development pressures of any sort, that should be above being treated as "just a business like any other."

And if the Strand Theatre could be recognized in that way, and then restored to be a single screen theater in the best possible way accordingly, I believe it could go a long way in bringing Ocean City back up again, though obviously a lot more will be needed then just that theater's restoration alone to bring that onetime wonderful resort fully back to life once more. A lot of people responsible for Ocean City's demise have still yet to be convicted, which, of course, continues to put a dampener on that NJ seaside town's being able to get back on its feet once more. But maybe one or two good things can be done there until this finally happens.

Hmmm... My having not been back to Ocean City, NJ other than a mere three days back in the summer of 1995 -- and oh, did it ever look totally hopeless at that time! -- is it so awful now that there's just no way the Strand Theatre could ever be brought back to be better than ever before? It's very easy to list the many ways it could be a very beautiful theater by today's 21st century standards. But in today's Ocean City are there the Roy Gillians and John Barattas and Mark Soiffers and Tony Frank Jrs and Harris Bermans and U.S. Rep. Hughes and F.C. Kerbecks and Tim Richards and James Penlands others such as that who would all fiercely team up -- motivated by their innate jealousies, their total shortfalls as human beings -- to make damned sure it could never happen?

Since you the people of Ocean City, NJ have seen firsthand the negative impact that newly introduced gambling can have on an area's movie theaters, particularly those of you who over the years have been directly involved with the Strand, I strongly urge that you please let your views on this topic be known at a special Cinema Treasures webpage I've created where I pose the question regarding the likely impact Pennsylvania's recently legalized gambling will have on Pennsylvania's theaters. Here's the link for that page, while I thank you for your participation: http://cinematreasures.org/news/14515_0_1_0_M/

Are you sure that this theater is closed? Here is a 2006 marquee photo showing Poseidon and Mission Impossible 3 playing here.

The Strand is a seasonal theater. The Moorlyn may sometimes stay open for the winter, but I don't know if the Strand ever has.

By allowing itself to be part of a chain, the Strand Theatre has become a far lesser theater than what it could be otherwise. To better understand where I'm coming from, please see the July 1, 2006 comment I posted at the Cinema Treasures' link:
http://cinematreasures.org/polls/106_0_6_0_C/
Ocean City, NJ has allowed itself to become too much of a "McResort" geared to "McVacationers" and "McYear-rounders" while sacrificing its far greater side in the process. Which is why anybody with a soul still intact these days avoids that town like the plague. But once it comes to light what is wrong with that town (which, by the way, just did), so, too, surfaces the new direction of how it must change.

As for the Strand Theatre itself, I believe it CAN be run as an independent, and better than it ever was before. But its becoming an independent theater, rather than remaining part of a chain, is the only way this is possible. And to reach its highest level, of course it would have to be made a single-screen theater once more. For in the realm of art we don't try to cram several paintings into one frame; why should it be any different with real theaters?

By allowing itself to be part of a chain, the Strand Theatre has become a far lesser theater than what it could be otherwise. To better understand where I'm coming from, please see the July 1, 2006 comment I posted at the Cinema Treasures' link:
http://cinematreasures.org/polls/106_0_6_0_C/
Ocean City, NJ has allowed itself to become too much of a "McResort" geared to "McVacationers" and "McYear-rounders" while sacrificing its far greater side in the process. Which is why anybody with a soul still intact these days avoids that town like the plague. But once it comes to light what is wrong with that town (which, by the way, just did), so, too, surfaces the new direction of how it must change.

As for the Strand Theatre itself, I believe it CAN be run as an independent, and better than it ever was before. But its becoming an independent theater, rather than remaining part of a chain, is the only way this is possible. And to reach its highest level, of course it would have to be made a single-screen theater once more. For in the realm of art we don't try to cram several paintings into one frame; why should it be any different with real theaters?

Nice evening photo:
http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/newJersey/OceanCityBoardwalk.jpg

I always preferred the OC boardwalk to the one in Atlantic City. Better theaters, better miniature golf, the works.

For me it was never a choice between Ocean City and Atlantic City, or Ocean City and Wildwood, but at all times for me it was Ocean City or nothing. And if I ever visited Atlantic City or Wildwood or even Cape May for that matter, it was just to appreciate Ocean City all the more in such stark contrast. But then came the big blood transfusion so to speak, that is to say bad blood fully displacing the good blood that had given life to Ocean City before. And so long as that bad blood continues flowing through Ocean City's veins, I and other good people who used to go there regularly every summer won't go anywhere near there now -- while Atlantic City, Wildwood and Cape May continue being held in the same perspective as before. Prior to the casinos Atlantic City was bad in that so much of it had become rundown and impoverished, but after the casinos it became an equally undesireable place to go for totally different reasons. And Wildwood in my views remained the same as always -- an always dirty looking oversized boardwalk plus that constant "Watch the tram car, please" business. As for Cape May, it always struck me as way too cramped. But Ocean City in all respects was always just right. Then came the bad blood. Some from the outside, and some from Ocean City's own pores. And it lost its soul accordingly. Alas, will there ever be another Ocean City? I think of those who have their pets dry freezed. Which is how Ocean City seems to me now. Glad I got to know it while it was still alive though.

If you click on the link "posted by TC on Sep 7, 2005 at 12:54pm", it claims that the Strand was designed by Armand Carroll.

Here is a recent photo of the Strand marquee.

This was once part of Hoyts?? I didn't know this. Were others part of Hoyts that are now and were owned by Frank's Theatres? I'm confused. Hoyts' American operations were based in MA, and they had a financing deal with BCG for some of their MA/CT theaters, which were than reaquired. I know Hoyts was also going to build the Bayone theater that Frank's Theatres finished. (Most newer Hoyts sites are run by Regal Entertainment Group, others are now opperated by National Amusements, Crown (now Bow Tie), and BCG's Entertainment Cinemas/NorthEast Cinemas). Can anyone clarify the corporate relationship between Frank's Theaters, Hoyts, and BCG?

Dear John:

I'm not responding to your previous post.

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your posts throughout CT.
I appreciate your comments about Lehigh Valley. I can't imagine it closed either. I was an Assistant Manager there in the mid-80's. Bob Klaas was the Manager, until he moved to Cleveland as the DM. I later heard that when GCC eliminated the Division system, he became an Area Manager, with offices at Bidgewater Commons 7. When Bob left, Glenn D. Schattan became the Manager. I later moved to the Viewmont Mall 5 managed by Fred Jensen.

In many ways, I guess most of us are flabbergasted by the demise of GCC. It's hard to believe that they went bankrupt 4 months after opening Fenway.

Do you know if many GCC Managers now work at AMC? I wonder because that GCC's Managers used to earn much more than those at other circuits. There was also a number of GCC Managers who earned more than Division Managers. You probably remember all that.

Thank you.

Dan Doherty

John, you left out the important detail that Hoyt's is ultimately an Australian-based corporation. And if there is a link between Hoyt's and Ocean City, NJ's Strand the way it's been run since the late 1980s onward it's not to their credit and both Ocean City and Australia were harmed by the relationship.

International conglomerates like Hoyt's tend to have a high degree of diplomatic immunity. And it's a shame they don't use it for good rather than bad, as Ocean City's Strand sure could have used such an advantage over the past 20 years. That is, if there was a Hoyt's connection as you're still trying to find out. Let us all know when you find out for sure. Thanks!

This is a 2007 photo of the Strand Theater.

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.

I have never been to the Strand, TheaterBuff1. Looking at the photo, I'm also curious where the entrance is. Is it behind the ticket booth or could the entrance be a side door?

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?

My grandparents lived at 32nd & Asbury. I remember the hippies very well that summer.

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!

I played a lot of miniature golf on the Boardwalk that summer. Also the rides at that big complex, I forget now what it was called. My great uncle was a night watchman at the complex, despite being almost ninety, and used to slip me rolls of free ride tickets. I was a very popular kid that summer.

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.

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.

The amusement park was Gillian's Wonderland. Do they still have the Blue Laws in Ocean City?

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.

Plymouth Place was the street where my great aunt and uncle owned a duplex. They lived on the second floor and rented out the first floor to summer people. We used to have lunch with them at the Plymouth Inn across the street. This is more than thirty five years ago, now. Time flies.

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.

We have an oil painting of the Flanders in our house back in Absecon. My dad was an angineer at the Flanders in the 40s.

That should be engineer, of course. It's kind of early.

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.

I wish I had seen this discussion earlier.

I was an operator and occasional manager of the Strand Theatre for many years before the three boardwalk theaters were sold to the Frank Company in 1989. When the previous owner, Helen Shriver Schilling, decided she would sell the properties, she insisted that they not be sold to her long-time competitor. But unfortunately, the sale was handled by someone without fully briefing her, and the Frank Company used a front company called ASF Industries to make the purchase. At that time, the OC Historic Commission asked me to come brief them and testify at two planning board meetings.

The Historic Commission tried very hard to prevent the drastic and ugly alterations, but they didn’t have the authority to demand it. The planning board was not interested in historic preservation at the time, and even if they had been, they could not prevent the alterations since the buildings would still be theaters. They could dictate parking spaces, entrances and exits, but not style. Nonetheless, the new owners promised to keep the exterior the same, to use the boxoffice, and to build only 4 auditoriums consistent with the machine age art deco style.

Unfortunately, they removed all the glass block, converted the lobby into retail space, closed the round boxoffice, covered the hundreds of incandescent light circles under the marquee, and built 5 auditoriums instead of 4. The entrance is now on the side of the building where an emergency exit once was.

Since that time I’ve created the boardwalk theater history site at www.moorlyn.com and have been honored to speak at the museum a couple of times. But looking back at it all now, I of course think it is a shame that the theaters were sacrificed for money, but it would be almost impossible today to support the value of that real estate at 9th and boardwalk without multiple films running. Before the sale, the theaters were profitable because they carried no debt. They were inherited decades before from Mrs. Schilling’s father, William Shriver. To buy them in 1989 meant you had to make enough profit to cover the mortgage.

In 1989 I had a partner and a local bank lined up to help me with purchasing the theaters with the intent of keeping them the way the Shriver family had wanted. And based on the income of single screens (the Moorlyn was a twin) the properties could have supported a purchase value of $1.5 M. Yet, the buyers actually paid $6.5 M. You can’t sell enough tickets to support that with only four screens. So they carved them up. I don’t know how they ever made enough to cover that debt. Perhaps the Village fire helped reduce that burden, and perhaps the Hoyt management deal helped bring them back into the black.

And I can say from experience running those boardwalk theaters that people don’t really come to the boardwalk to watch a movie. They can do that at home. They will watch a movie if they have nothing else to do, or if it is raining. The Strand had 1,450 very comfy seats, but even as a flagship theatre it would have been very difficult to fill them, and with that kind of mortgage, you need to fill them.

This has been that company’s strategy for many years. Get maximum profit out of a theatre, do no maintenance, and sell the land when it crumbles. The Margate Twin (built in 1938) and the Somers Point 4 (converted in 1981) theatres are both examples, and are both gone now.

So it is a damn shame that the Strand did not survive in its previous configuration. It had been painstakingly cared for since 1938 and was still in very good shape in 1989. but the owner was too old to worry about it anymore. Still I am glad that I worked there. For two years now there has been a night dedicated at the OC museum to the history of the boardwalk theaters, and it is always fun to hear the stories that long-time residents tell.

Check out www.moorlyn.com and http://photobook.smugmug.com/gallery/2236013

Jim Laymon

Was that the Shriver family that sold salt water taffy?

Yep. Shriver's Taffy was started by Helen Schilling's grandfather. I believe he was William Shriver. And his son was also William Shriver. Helen, who was in her 90's when I knew her, inherited the theaters and taffy from her father in the 1940's I believe.

The taffy business was started in the very late 1800's.

And the Taffy business was sold to the present owner a long time ago. 1960's perhaps? The actual property the taffy store sits on was still owned by Helen until she died in the 1998.

I can't eat that stuff anymore. I spent a summer working at a taffy place on the AC walk that had big bins which we would snack on. Ruined me forever.

I know the feeling. I rarely eat popcorn!

But Shriver's is still my favorite taffy!

I've also sworn off frozen bananas, giant pretzels and Taylor pork roll sandwiches. It's kind of a moot point as neither is available in Los Angeles. I guess I could stick a banana in the freezer if absolutely necessary.

The 1963 motion picture almanac lists the Strand Theater Co. out of Ocean City. The Strand Co. owned the Village Theater and the Strand at that time. Owner was D. Roscoe Faunce. There is a Faunce Landing Road in Absecon, so I assume this is a family with some roots in the area.

Ken, Thanks for the info.
Mr. Faunce owned the business, but Shriver owned the buildings, and after Faunce died, Mrs. Shriver-Schiling decided she would own the business and hire a general manager (Arthur Oehlschlager) to run the Shriver Theatre Company.

Don't know if this is the same Faunce family as the Absecon road. But D. Roscoe Faunce's father did own the Faunce Theatre on the boardwalk that burned down in 1927. And his son, Roscoe (Rip) Faunce was a manager while I was there.

The Strand Theatre Company also operated the Moorlyn and Gateway Theatres at that time. Don't know why they were left out of the almanac. But thanks again for the info!

jim

I applied for a job at Shriver's Saltwater Taffy in the summer of 1974 and was interviewed by Mr. Shriver himself -- a very classy gentleman! -- so I can only assume from that that the Shriver family still owned the taffy business, or at least that particular operation at 9th and the Boardwalk, at that point. And the Mr. Shriver I'm referring to was most likely the son based on the great information you've given us, Jim-L, although up till now I always assumed he was the original Mr. Shriver. For the man I met was elderly, yet nonetheless he just had that air about him. Like someone who had done it all, and with honesty and integrity -- plus humility -- every step of the way. And you suuuure don't find businessmen like that anymore! Meantime, at that time I was very young and naive, and I actually turned the job he offered me down, my not feeling confident I could possibly live up to his high expectations. For just a day or so before I had a terrible run-in with another Ocean City businessman who was the polar opposite of Mr. Shriver -- Phil Turner of Phil Turner Displays -- who to this very day I continue to regard as the lowliest lowlife I ever met. And I imagine the list is verrrrry long of others who can claim the same! For one sombering thing I can remember about Phil Turner was how he was using these job applications that asked, "Are you now, or were you ever a member of the Communist Party," which by then was long illegal. Yet Turner was somehow getting away with it for some reason.....along with everything else that could readily be described as crooked.

As for Ocean City and how it changed, what was definitely not grasped or appreciated by the sudden influx of newcomers at the time was that this seaside town had been a longstanding legacy. For a hundred years straight it had been such. And to me legacies are such that standard principles of business as you describe, Jim-L, do not apply. Or should not. But the changes that overswept Ocean City -- primarily brought on when Atlantic City went the way of casinoization -- were so massive, so swift, so sudden, that there wasn't even a chance to put protective measures in place to preserve that town in the ways it clearly needed to be. When it came that all of us were totally naive at the time. While we did all expect Atlantic City to change in some fashion -- though none of us accurately foresaw how -- Ocean City was not supposed to be swept up in that. That was not part of the deal, for Ocean City had been great prior to then. In that, I can't recall a single person (er, aside from perhaps Phil Turner and maybe one or two really shallow-minded realtors at that time -- what we called "idiots") who looked upon Ocean City as a "problem" that needed to be "corrected." For to me and countless others it had been the standard-setter that all the other New Jersey resorts needed to catch up to. For it was everything that a seaside resort should be.

And as for the Strand Theatre, the way I remember it, prior to when Ocean City changed it was such a popular boardwalk attraction that I didn't go to it very often because I was actually fearful that I wouldn't get a seat! Rather, I always made a special point to go to it during the off times, such as after the season was over, or the last show of the evening during mid-week. And even then it had goodly crowds as I recall.

In 1981, the almanac lists the Moorlyn Twin, Strand and Village as Shriver theaters. General manager was Arthur W. Oehlschlager, as noted above.

With THE UNTOUCHABLES being the last movie I saw at the Strand Theatre, which was at the end of the 1987 summer, I can attest that it was still being managed very well even as late as that. For so much else about Ocean City, NJ by that point, at least so far as legacies go, was clearly over by then, done in and then followed up by silence as it were -- a silence which for the most part has held firmly ever since. And it's a silence, one backed up by a great deal of hostility, not to mention big money and highly corrupt government, that makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to glean good ideas from Ocean City at this very late point in time. Not only is every possible mechanism in place to prevent Ocean City from ever being a great legacy again, but also to prevent the truth of what actually happened there from ever being fully told, and even to prevent what once existed there from being replicated anywhere else.

Shy of a massive miracle, Ocean City never can be great again, and that much is clearly understood. But that's far from saying that Ocean City is completely irrelevant at this point in time. From the historic accounts of Jim_L and others, my own memories and that of others, a great deal of that which is very valuable with regards to the future can still be acquired from there. But acquiring this information is very much like walking through a mine field. For instance, you obviously cannot approach the Frank Company and say you'd like to learn as much as you can about the Strand Theatre before they ruined it and expect them to be in any way helpful, as those currently trying to restore Cape May, NJ's historic Beach 4 Theatre know firsthand. It's like trying to get a straight answer from Cain about what became of his brother Abel. Not only does the Frank Company not want this information known, but it will use every ruse at its disposal to prevent this information from being acquired and built upon anew, whether in Ocean City, Cape May, or anywhere else it can prevent such from happening. That's not to say acquiring such information is impossible in light of the formidable obstacles the Frank Company imposes. Rather, it's just to point out what's entailed. In brief, when walking through the mine field, if getting to the other side in one piece is the goal, it helps to know where the mines are planted and where and where not to step enroute.

Here is a photo, circa 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/36z8c2

As much as I feel that looks like a great theater -- and my gosh, will you look at that crowd! -- if I'm not mistaken, it's a DIFFERENT Strand. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing it with us though!

That's a great (1932) picture of the original Strand which was located between Moorlyn Terrace and 9th. It burned down in the fall of 1937 (70 years ago this month). The new Strand was built on the corner of 9th and Boardwalk in '38.
http://photobook.smugmug.com/gallery/2269030


Thanks to Ken for posting that picture!

Perhaps the old Strand should be added as a separate theater.

Thanks for clearing that up, Jim-L, as it just didn't match up with the Strand I've always known. It's positioning on the boardwalk was clearly all wrong.

Here are additional photos:
http://tinyurl.com/27vtue
http://tinyurl.com/23upps

Thanks for the additional great photos, Ken MC! In looking at them, though, I'm amazed how people interpreted how they should "appropriately" dress when at the Shore back in those days. For it just seems so out of sync with what the environmental conditions demand. It must've gotten awfully hot and uncomfortable for them at times! Quite seriously, they must've gone through clothes like crazy! For how many times can you sweat in a three-piece suit and it still remain wearable? For there wasn't any air-conditioning back then, nor were there even any washing machines yet, were there? And no deodorants yet or whatever. It's hard to picture what it must've been like from today's perspective!

This is another close-up view of the Strand.

There used to be a restaurant called Zaberer's, out on the Black Horse Pike, that would loan you a suit jacket if you didn't bring one to wear. The days when people would dress up to eat out or walk on the boardwalk are long gone.

I remember Zaberer's! Sadly, one of the first casualties when casinos quickly took hold in Atlantic City. I never went to eat there -- regretfully -- because I just assumed it was a thing of permanence and would still be around when I got older. I think we all felt that way. But when that time came, there was just this big huge empty void so to speak. At least I got to see it from the outside on many occasions passing by, it being one of the most eccentric buildings I think I'd ever seen in my life. I assume, though, that the food served inside was not quite as eccentric. When I vacationed regularly each year in Ocean City, I had an older friend I'd meet up with each summer who went there regularly. And upon his return from Zaberer's he always boasted of the lobster Neuburg and blueberry cheesecake he had. So much so that I got to wondering if they ever served anything else!

And only in South Jersey at that time could they pull off having a restaurant look so whacky and outlandish yet be so extremely formal when you went in. Nonetheless, what a crazy but wonderful era it was!

What's there in place of Zaberer's today I wonder?

Zaberer's has been an empty lot for many years. The last time I drove by the site was 2005.

I remember Zaberer's from when I was in high school. We had a few banquets there. It was pretty interesting. I seem to remember a few different dining areas, a gift shop, photo booth, and lots of decorations.


I don't know if this link will work, but here is an aerial shot of the Zaberers location.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=qk6d6n8sf8kg&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=14857770&encType=1

Don't forget the polar bear on the roof.

As I recall, there was a "Zabererville" when you traveled from Ocean City down to Wildwood -- not the name of an actual town, mind you, but simply another Zaberer's Restaurant located down that way. I assume the two restaurants were linked somehow. In trying to Google more info on the one located on the Black Horse Pike, and perhaps bring up a photo or two, all the links seemed to have to do with the one enroute to Wildwood, which I'm guessing was not wiped out by the casino tsunami, or at least not as immediately. Looking back now, that was really weird how all these things of such seeming permanence were wiped out so quickly. Zaberer's. Tony Mart's. Watson's Restaurant in Ocean City. The Smuggler's Shop on the Ocean City boardwalk.

As for the polar bear on the roof of Zaberer's, I honestly don't remember it. But I'm sure that detail will come back to me the moment I see a photo of it...if there's any around. And just out of curiosity, what was the story behind Zaberer's anyway? Surely there had to be an interesting story behind all that outlandish exterior decor it had. In looking back now, it reminds me of that scene in EDDIE & THE CRUISERS when Eddie goes to that special private place he has set up in that junkyard.

You may also recall the restaurant across the street from the McKee City Zaberer's. It was called Charlie Pumpernickel's. Also gone now.

That sounds familiar. But again, no specific recollections as to why. And again if I saw a photo it would probably all come rushing nack to me.

Mesntime, just to go way back (though given how fondly I remember it it doesn't seem all that long ago to me), does everybody remember Chris' Restaurant in Ocean City? It was right there on the bay south of 9th Street Bridge, and of all the restaurants I ever ate at while at the Jersey Shore, it was by far my favorite! At that restaurant they had tables and chairs set up outside on the back deck overlooking the bay, and seriously, if you're going to eat seafood and really want it to be meaningful, nothing short of that will do. In that sense Chris's really spoiled me. If I recall correctly, it shut down immediately following the summer of 1972, and I could never quite understand why. For EVERYBODY loved Chris's it seems! But alas, it left us too soon.

Thinking about Zaberers and Charlie Pumpernickels makes me remember the little amusement park we used to visit as kids. It was Adventure Village. It was also on the Black Horse Pike. It was a little town and old west style buildings that resembled a town square with a theater, bank, general store, etc. You would walk around the little town and check out all the buildings. On a regular interval, the Keystone Cops would chase a bad guy around town. So there were amusements and performances.

It wasn't open long, only a few seasons before it closed. But the buildings have been there ever since, slowly decaying behind a stand of trees. I read now that they are finally going to tear it all down to make way for something new.

Just thought I would mention it.

And back to the STRAND. Those backlit movie star portraits have survived:

http://photobook.smugmug.com/gallery/2515328_hsDD4

Jim

You're lucky they let you scavenge those backlit celebrity photos, Jim L, because here in Pennsylvania of late, or at least here in Philadelphia where I'm currently residing, when an historic building gets condemned for demolition, no one, not even the historic societies, is permitted to scavenge anything of important historic significance or value beforehand first. It seems to be some sort of a new policy. Several weeks ago I went down to Center City Philadelphia to see those two historic buildings on north Broad Street that were getting torn down to make way for the Pennsylvania Convention Center's expansion. When I took note of several architectural features on the buildings' front facades that I believed could be removed and made use of elsewhere, I walked over and asked a hardhat if there was any way they could be scavenged before the wrecking ball had its final say. "Nope, everything goes!" he told me flat outright, and that was it. End of conversation. It was straight to the point and very cold. But, as I say, it appears to be the new policy. At least here. Out with the old, in with the new.

As for Adventure Village, I don't know if it was the same thing, but I rembember when commuting between Pennsylvania and Ocean City seeing an array of small Disneyland-like buildings comprising what either was a miniature golf course or small amusement park for kids, so I'm now wondering if that's what you're referring to. It looked really interesting, and I'm now kicking myself for never stopping there to check it out firsthand. If it was the same thing you're referring to, perhaps my memory distorts, for what I remember looked like a tiny medieval village straight out of the Brothers Grimm. As I recall, though, the last few times I saw it it looked like it was no longer open -- one of several tried-and-failed enterprises along the Black Horse Pike route. In fact, it looked that way to me as far back as I can remember, as if it was something left over from the 1950s.

Anyway, getting back to the here and now, I hear that Ocean City today is in the process of getting an all-new 9th Street causeway and that some of the movers and shakers there are predicting it will become the next big new attraction in their ever ongoing effort to displace the Ocean City seashore environment as being the main one. As in, "Forget coming to Ocean City for the beach; come see this all-new bridge we're building!"

One thing I always loved about the STRAND is that it never tried to override the main reason why people came to Ocean City. Rather, it was always tastefully run in a way that was complementary to the shoregoing experience. On many a rainy night when we couldn't do anything else we were always grateful for the STRAND. And looking at those images you posted, Jim L, I'm amazed how the beauty of Ocean City's own Grace Kelly is so ongoingly timeless! Even to this day we can look at that photo of her and just say "Wow!" As for the other celebrities in the backlit photos, did they all have ties to Ocean City as well? From what I've heard, many used to come stay at the Flanders. If so, what a truly classy era it must've been!

The Strand Theater will be 70 years old.

Jim, you mentioned Adventure Village back in February. The old buildings were being demolished when I drove by there last month.

Looking at the picture, is that still the box office in the front? I know the enterence is now on the side like the Moorlyn. It's amazing how the Frank's ruin every theatre they get their hands on.

Ken,

Yes I think they have torn down all the Adventure Village buildings now. I stopped by there not-too-long-ago and snapped a few pictures of what remained:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/4965167_VGtDq

It was funny because the demolition guys there didn't look very friendly at first and probably didn't want someone poking around their project. But when I said Hi and showed them the old postcards of the place, they really took an interest and let me take all the pictures I wanted.

Lost Memory,

Yep. 70 years old. I almost forgot this is a big birthday year. It opened on August 11, 1938.
http://www.moorlyn.com/Strand.htm

Mike,

Technically, that is the same boxoffice out in front, but it isn't used. They had promised the Planning Board and Historic Commission years ago that they would keep it. They covered the surfaces with stucco and it has been rotting for a while now (unless someone recently repaired it).

I believe tickets are sold at the side entrance (which was originally the rear auditorium exit).

Jim

Jim, thanks for the photos. Brings back many fond memories.

Jim,

Thank you for identifying "Adventure Village". Until recently, I never knew that it was back there with all of the trees and undergrowth obscuring it. Driving past there for so many years, to and from Ocean City, I would have thought that I would have known it was there.
Thanks also for all of your hard work in creating and maintaing the Ocean City theater website. I loved all four of the theaters on the Boardwalk and truly miss that none are as I remember them. I had a special fondness for the interior decoration of the Village. I saw the movie "Rollercoaster" in "sensesurround" I believe it was called, and how it shook the building.
My favorite theater, though was always the Strand. It was so beautiful! I believe it was you that allowed me to photograph the interior one evening after the show. I still treasure those pictures. Looking at them I can almost smell the inside of the Strand and feel the fabric of the seats against my bare legs as I stared up at the screen.
Thanks again for keeping wonderful memories alive.

Rahn

Here is another 2008 photo.

Rahn,

Thank you very much for your comments. I am thrilled there is someone else who appreciated those old movie houses. I often think that I would do that boardwalk job as a career, if I could eat off that salary--and if the theaters were still intact.

I remember Rollercoaster. That might have been my first or second year there. The general manager had me help remove a bunch of seats so that the sound guys could install the giant speaker boxes that made the "Sensurround" rumbling. A lot of us wondered if the old building would survive that movie, but it did, of course.

And thanks for your comments on the Strand. I also remember the seaside, musty smell of the Strand. Each theatre was a little different. The Strand was the nicest and cleanest. And that, of course, was my favorite too. And although my memory isn't real clear, if it was the projectionist who let you take pictures, then it was probably me, or I was probably there. I'd love to see them.
And those seats were pretty cool. I was able to snag one before the sale and it is in my basement.
Anyway, thanks for your comments.
Jim

They just ran a report on ABC's World News Tonight earlier tonight (today being July 18, 2008) about how business is really booming at the box office this year. Check out the following link:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=5387182&page=1

So if Ocean City, New Jersey's Strand is in a slump this year in the face of this smashing movie theater success going on everywhere else, it makes a very loud and clear statement about the klutzes now running Ocean City. I also caught on the local news in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania tonight (WPVI Channel 6) a piece about how this weekend, while there's a heatwave going on all throughout the tri-state region, there's a ban on swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean City in the vicinity of 8th and 9th street (where the Strand is located) due to a sewer malfunction or whatever. See the following link:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6273543

On the news report they showed the lifeguard stands there with signs attached to them saying swimming is prohibited, and police in uniforms patrolling the water line on ATVs to make sure the ban is upheld -- as in, is this a scene straight out of THE PLANET OF THE APES or what?!

But that said, Jim-L, if Ocean City was being run right, and of course it hasn't been for many many years now, you'd have absolutely no problem eating off the salary you'd make working at the Strand. For you'd be making that and then some right now, believe me. Most people who go to Ocean City nowadays, as well as many well-meaning people who try to operate businesses there, are not aware that as seashore resorts go Ocean City has been being run illegally for many many years now, and unquestioned at that. I stopped going there years ago in response to how it was illegally changed around, but was astonished how those who continued to go didn't riot at some point. If it could be possible to round up the current Ocean City movers & shakers and lock them up in prison where they belong -- and there certainly is the legal basis for doing this -- Ocean City could be brought back to being a really beautiful seaside resort once more, complete with movie theaters galore. Right now all Ocean City is is a testament to how gullible and obsequious some American vacationers can be, apparently a sociological experiment of some sort in the eyes of those who refuse to intervene. I told the authors of THE SOPRANO STATE: NEW JERSEY'S CULTURE OF CORRUPTION not long ago that if they plan to write a sequel, Ocean City should be made a major chapter.

Anyhow, thanks to the Frank's mismanagement, or whoever it is that's mis-running it now, it can't be enjoying the box office boom that other movie theaters throughout the U.S. are enjoying right now.

The name should be Strand 5 Theatre which is the name given on their website.

This is a 2008 b/w photo.

Here is a clip of me doing a changeover at the Strand in 1988...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbknFBC0IsI


Those were still the original Peerless arc lamps, with 1950's Simplex XL's. Arcs were powered by a Hertner Transverter (generator) in an adjacent room. Rewinding was still done by hand.

1981 Photo

Wow. That is a great photo. I had taken one around the same time, but this one is much better. And that site has the Moorlyn and Village theaters too.

Thanks for the link!

Closed for the season. Here is a recent photo.

Photo of the Strand Theatre courtesy Nick's Classic American Theatres.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s254/Pavy1/Strand5TheatreOceanCityNJ.jpg