Saluting those who preserve N.J.'s past
By VINCENT JACKSON
Staff Writer, 609-272-7202
Published: Monday, May 12, 2008
Southern New Jersey is famous for many things: its beaches, its pinelands - and it's dedication to preserving its unique past.From Cape May's Victorian inns to Lucy the Elephant's newly restored howdah in Margate, the southern end of the state does a better job than most other parts of New Jersey at preserving its unique historic structures.That's apparent when viewing "Our Vanishing Past," a documentary premiering tonight on NJN Public Television.The documentary takes viewers to more than 30 historic places throughout the state. Among the people interviewed for the project are Dan MacElrevey of the Wildwood's Doo Wop Preservation League; Michael Zuckerman of Cape May's Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts; and Richard Helfant of Save Lucy Inc.The appreciation for the 1950s doo-wop style used in the past in the Wildwoods grew from the mid-1990s to the early part of this decade with the formation of the Doo Wop Preservation League and academic studies that said the Wildwoods have the largest collection of mid-20th century architecture in the nation - motels, diners, restaurants and vintage neon signs.
"Honorary board member Steve Izenour, he came here in 1996. He was here to design a pier. He told Jack (Morey of Morey's Piers), you have something here, and you should do something to preserve it," said MacElrevey, Doo Wop Preservation League president.The Wildwoods manage to celebrate 1950s imagery while not remaining freeze dried in the past by keeping the flavor of the motels and maintaining the footprint of the buildings along their setbacks, exterior designs and roof lines, MacElrevey said. In exchange, incentives are provided for property owners, who want to make exterior design changes in the buildings."We took the approach, let's give incentives to keep the footprints. It's different than a lot of other areas," MacElrevey said.At most, one-third of the structures from the Doo Wop era have been lost, but that still leaves 92 motels among Wildwood, North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, and that's not including other buildings in that style, MacElrevey said."In my personal opinion, we are doing as well or better than any other area in the state with preservation," MacElrevey said.The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the country's public television network, came down for three days and did a 30-minute feature on the Wildwoods and Doo Wop. MacElrevey believes the TV special and the favorable exchange rate brought more Canadians last year to the Wildwoods.Cape May has been working at preservation for a longer period of time.The city went through the doldrums in the middle part of the last century, but through historic preservation and emphasis on its Victorian past, it achieved rebirth as a community, said Zuckerman, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts."Cape May had a 10- or 12-week summer season, like any beach resort. Historic preservation and cultural tourist, all of that created the shoulder season," said Zuckerman, who added 60 percent of the income of some businesses and hotels comes from the shoulder season. "I have seen more properties and projects work here that wouldn't have survived in normal communities."Early recognition of the 19th century character of the Cape May led to replacing street lights with gas lights in 1959, but one thing that wasn't saved was the original Lafayette Hotel, built in 1885. The original Lafayette suffered fire damage in 1955 and was rebuilt to what is now the Marquis de Lafayette Hotel.While the original Lafayette is gone, the successful effort to save the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate from the wrecking ball led to the creation of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts in 1970. The entire town also managed to make it on the list of the federal government's National Register of Historic Places in 1970, Zuckerman said. The city's Historic Preservation Commission was established during the 1970s, and the National Historic Landmark District designation came in 1976.
To e-mail Vincent Jackson at The Press:
VJackson@pressofac.com"Our Vanishing Past" airs at
9 tonight and
3 p.m. Saturday
on NJN-TV 23.
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