Talk:Wildwood Crest, New Jersey

Improvement suggestions

I don't have time to do it now, but I think the following changes and additions would improve the article:

• Start a new section titled "Architecture". In this section, explain the concept of the "Doo Wop" style of architecture, along with the history of the Wildwoods (and especially the Crest) as being built up starting in the 1950s, following WWII and the baby boom. For research, look up the Carribean Motel, which seems to be the premier motel in the area of Doo-Wop preservation; it's current owners are very interested in maintaining and improving it authentically and in supporting the preservation movement for historic Wildwood Crest motels generally.
• I believe The Grand was renovated to convert it to condos, while other motels were torn down (such as all four on the block which the Kona Kai, the Hi Lily (or "Hi Lili"?), and two other motels on the west side of the block [was one the Casa Bahama?] used to occupy) and siding-clad rectangular box condo buildings of about 5 or 6 stories replaced them. (I think the adjacent block to the north, where the Pink Orchid was, may have suffered the same fate.) I note that the article does not distinguish between motels or whole blocks leveled (which significantly changes the look and feel of the town) to build new condo buildings and buildings merely converted to condos.
• I am not sure how the condos have sold. With so many players starting this game at the same time, the demand might not have been what the suppliers anticipated. This would be worth researching—how successful from a business perspective the condo enterprises have been.
• Move the paragraph under "Geography" about the replacement of motels condominiums to the demographics section, or better.
• The one paragraph under the "Local History" section title is about a wildlife reserve area; this would be better put into a section about environmental preservation or even local law (government.) Note that for decades there has been an ordinance forbidding beachgoers to walk on the dunes, which were once going extinct from the trampling of dune grass; today there are lush and healthy dunes at the back of the beach thanks to these prohibitions which carry a fine, amounting to around $100-$300 if I recall correctly. (There are warning signs posted, just like "No Parking--Tow Away Zone" signs.)
• Compared to all other beaches further north on the NJ coast, the beach in the Wildwoods is extremely deep (from ocean to the nearest street) and flat and the sand is very fine and smooth. This is probably noteworthy. I think even Cape May Point's beach is a lot shallower and coarser.
• In the 1980s, many motels sported artificial palm trees around their pools and/or on their verandas, to evoke an exotic Carribean environment. In the 1990's, they went away, but in the early 2000s they made a comeback and were seen popularly again.
• In general, the article makes no mention (does it?) of the pervasiveness of themes, mostly exotic island or nautical theme, among most of the motels and some other establishments. Obviously, a coastal resort town is going to have seafood restaurants, but there are also the many motels with names like Waikiki, Singapore, Royal Hawaiian, Tangiers, Port Royal, Jolly Roger, Cape Cod Inn, Cara Mara, etc. Others, like the Carousel motel and the Nomad motel, have been torn down to build more boxy condos. (That's not bias, the buildings are box-shaped! Anyway, a little bias showing on a talk page would be OK.) Other themed motels include the Olympic (now the Olympic Island Beach Resort), the Crusader (featuring a huge mosaic mural), and the Gondolier (featuring a huge painted mural).
• I don't think the word neon appears once in this article. That's a crime. Only the big gambling cities like Las Vegas and Reno have more neon and lights. Well, OK, not only them, but the Wildwoods definitely have more neon than Atlantic City or probably anywhere else in New Jersey of the Philadelphia metro area. Almost every building has a neon sign bearing its name and many have multi-colored neon decorations or other colored lights as well. Even the Acme and the Wawa stores have neon-stylized versions of their logos. Neon "VACANCY"/"NO VACANCY" are also ubiquitous, and neon or fluorescent backlit signs are not uncommon. Those with colorful neon decorations include the recently built Wildwood Convention Center (which is in Wildwood proper, i.e. the City of Wildwood, not the Crest, but is close enough that most visitors to the Crest will see it.)
• There's another point. The City of Wildwood puts "City of Wildwood" on its beach patrol lifeboats, ordinance-posting signs, etc., but in common speech it is called just "Wildwood" or "Wildwood proper" or "the proper" and Wildwood Crest is called "the Crest". For example, A: "I'm going on vacation." B: "Oh, that's nice. Where are you going?" A: "Wildwood." B: "The proper or the Crest?" A: "The Crest." B: "Ah, I always liked the Crest better."
• Zaberer's restaurant (owned by Ed Zaberer), which burned down years ago, as an iconic piece of Wildwood history and bears historical mention in some article on the Wildwoods (or a link to its own article), though I'm not sure precisely where it was or what borough it was located within.
• In the later 1990s, insurance cost concerns caused some (many) motels to remove pool slides and diving boards from their pools. Also in the 1990s, pool lifeguards at many motels gave way to "Swim at your own risk - This pool is not required by law to have a lifeguard on duty" signs posted prominently on or near the pool gates. (Ah, progress. --Now THAT's bias! Hey, a guy has to have some fun! Otherwise, what is life? Ok, I've gotten off topic...)
• The Wildwoods are located on a barrier island off the New Jersey coast (just slightly.) Is this mentioned? I don't think so. The drawbridge on Rte. 47 is the only route directly on or off the island near the Crest, and the only other ways off the island are the Ocean Drive drawbridge at the south end (past Diamond Beach and the Coast Guard Reservation, where Pacific Ave. becomes Ocean Drive) and the Beach Creek Bridge (a causeway bridge) on route 147 at the northern tip of the island, past North Wildwood in Anglesea, or by boat or helicopter. So in an emergency you have a choice of three roads for evacuation: middle (west), bottom (south) or top (north), or you can boat, get a rich friend to send a helicopter, or swim. (You really could swim; the sound is less than 500ft across at some points, though much of the western shore of the island is tidal marshland. So make the trek at low tide. :) )
• I'm sure there are more things I forgot.

Obviously, this could be a pretty big edit/overhaul, so I'll leave it to someone else to implement some or all of these improvements. I've already spent more time than I should have just writing this, but I hope to be back to see if there's any response in a few weeks (or months.) 71.242.43.9 (talk) 00:31, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Assessment comments

These have been moved here from a subpage as part of a cleanup process. See Wikipedia:Discontinuation of comments subpages.

I have assessed this article as C-class and identified the following areas for improvement:

• The article needs inline citations

shirulashem (talk) 17:12, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Wildwood Crest, New Jersey's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Committee":

• From Mendham Township, New Jersey: Mendham Township Committee, Mendham Township. Accessed January 20, 2015.
• From Dennis Township, New Jersey: 2013 Dennis Township Mayor & Committee Members, Township of Dennis. Accessed December 17, 2014.

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 03:27, 15 March 2015 (UTC)