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Dig that Doo Wop

April 23, 2009

This Friday kicks off the fourth annual Sensational Sixties Weekend in Wildwood, New Jersey. Visitors and Chamber of Commerce officials alike celebrate a formidable decade sans dirty hippies and social unrest (don’t be misled by the trippy peacenik van in the event’s logo).

Instead, there’s a classic car show, a concert by The Turtles, Herman’s Hermits, and other bands forced to play the same songs over and over for the rest of their working lives; a Doo Wop bus tour; and a “Record Hop” featuring the inevitable gang of grandmas in tie dye. If you can’t vroom on down in your antique gas guzzler you can take your own self-guided tour at any time of year, using the tools to be found at the Doo Wop Preservation League website.

Explore the nation’s largest concentration of transient funkiness by downloading The Guide to Doo Wop Architecture. It includes a map and comprehensive list of 133 structures including lots of motels with evocative names like Shalimar, Hi Lili, and Le Boot (?) Do not miss what may be the greatest motel sign ever…the starry-eyed kids of the Lollipop Motel. And be sure to check out the message board, where you can keep up with the latest Wildwood developments, real estate and otherwise.

In fact, the one discouraging area of the website is the Neo-Doo Wop section. Although development pressures have slowed with the current economic downturn, there’s a page of rather monstrous mock 50s high-rise developments that have been given the Doo Wop Preservation League Design Review Board stamp of approval. That’s a twist!

(For additional information on what’s in Wildwood today and what’s gone for good, also see wildwooddoowop.com) [Post by Anne D. Bernstein]

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