Ocean City was a small town in the years immediately following World War II.
Both the Boardwalk and the city limits ended at 15th Street and there was little beyond with the exception of a few small cottages. The business district was about six blocks long and stretched from Worcester Street to North Division Street. There was no Inlet parking lot, rides on the Pier or the Boardwalk Tram. No metered parking existed anywhere in Ocean City and the Coast Guard Station was on the Boardwalk at Caroline Street.
The town was dead in the winter; almost everything closed the day after Labor Day. The few places that remained open included Rayne’s on Dorchester Street, WP Laws’ grocery store and Edwards 5 and 10 on the Boardwalk. Locals did most of their shopping in Berlin or Salisbury in the late 1940s.
To purchase one of Bunk Mann’s books, click over to www.vanishingoc.com.
Photo courtesy the Ocean City Life Saving Station Museum