By Madison Russ
Neon signs from bygone motels and restaurants, sleek mid-century furniture and harmonies drifting from an oversized jukebox greet visitors as they step into Wildwood’s Doo Wop Experience Museum and Neon Sign Garden.
Even the building itself — once the Surfside Restaurant in Wildwood Crest before it was moved to its current location and rebuilt in 2007 — reflects the era, with its pinwheel-shaped roof.
The Wildwoods boasts one of the largest concentrations of mid-century commercial architecture in the country. Hotels, motels and businesses from the 1950s and ’60s still dot the five-mile island, offering visitors a glimpse into a colorful past.
Now, the museum is helping guests delve deeper into history with its Back to the ‘50s Neon Night and Mid-Century Architecture Tour, a guided trolley ride that offers insight into the unique designs and pop culture moments that happened at the height of the doo-wop era.
Karen Samuels, a local resident who grew up visiting Wildwood every summer and later brought her own children, serves as the tour’s guide. Samuels said most of the museum’s memorabilia was donated, including some of the neon signs that were rescued.
“When we would lose a motel, we would at least try to save something from it,” she said.
The tour begins at the museum and winds around the island, highlighting the whimsical and sometimes Jetsonian, space-aged flair of the island’s buildings.
Along the way, tourgoers can spot glowing neon signs, plastic palm trees and funky-shaped pools. The era’s distinct angular style, flashing signs and unique design elements, like cheese-hole patterns, also get a closer look.
“That’s what the doo-wop style is all about,” Samuels said. “It’s all about the unusual angles on the buildings and the signs.”
Some sites include mid-1950s motels like the Caribbean Motel — listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one of the most photographed motels in all the Wildwoods — the Bel Air Motel, named after the 1950s Chevrolet car, and the Sea Gull Motel, with its wavy, angular roof shaped like a seagull’s wings. Tourgoers can also glimpse some 1970s-era buildings, like the Pink Champagne Motel, with its bright pink doors and champagne glasses painted on each one.
The tour also highlights significant spots in music history, like the location where singer Chubby Checker first did the twist or former sites like the Manor’s Supper Club where singers like Liberace and Jerry Lewis performed.
Though these properties help give the Wildwoods its unique flair, some may face an uncertain future. The Chateau Bleu Motel in North Wildwood, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was recently demolished, even after the Doo Wop Preservation League attended a meeting in hopes of saving it.
Unfortunately, someone took the Chateau Bleu’s signage in the middle of the night, but Samuels was able to recover some memorabilia.
“It was the only heart-shaped pool that we had on the island, and it was beautiful,” she said.
Samuels said there’s “always a risk” to other properties, noting on the tour that between 2003 and 2006 about 50 motels were lost. In the last 20 years, the island has lost more than 200.
“They can join us on our tours. They can donate. If we lose this, it never comes back,” she said. “We have the most concentrated mid-century architecture in all of the country, and we want to keep it that way — and it’s so special.”
At the end of the tour, Samuels said most tourgoers are “blown away.”
“All I want is for everybody to come on and have a good time and learn a little bit more about Wildwood. That’s all I want — it means so much to me,” Samuels said.
The Doo Wop Museum is open every day except Monday and Wednesday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
Tours are held Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. and depart from the museum at 4500 Ocean Ave. in Wildwood. The tour lasts about an hour and a half. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children ages 3 to 12. For more information, visit doowopusa.org or call 609-551-2289.
