This week’s Vanishing Ocean City column is sponsored by Ørsted, the world leader in clean energy. Learn more at orsted.com/md-deOcean City looked much different in this aerial photo taken in 1946 between 14thand 15th streets.The large building in the center was the original Commander Hotel before its second wing was added and the vacant space to… Read more »
Author Archives: Bunk Mann
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – October 1, 2021
This week’s Vanishing Ocean City column is sponsored by Ørsted, the world leader in clean energy. Learn more at orsted.com/md-deThe first bridge to carry automobile traffic into Ocean City was approved by the Maryland General Assembly in 1916 but did not officially open until July 4, 1919.Known to locals as the “State Roads Bridge,” it… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – September 24, 2021
The original “Boardwalk Train” was five cars long plus an engine that actually looked like a train. Each car carried a maximum of six people and had just two wheels with the axle in the middle. It cost 25 cents for a one-way trip down the Boardwalk and it was a bumpy ride.On June 23,… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – September 17, 2021
Phillips Crab House began in 1956 when Brice and Shirley Phillips opened a small carryout shop near 20th Street and Philadelphia A venue. The Dorchester County natives thought it was a way to sell surplus crabs from the family processing plant on Hoopers Island. By 1960 it had turned into one of Ocean City’s most… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – September 10, 2021
A permanent Boardwalk was constructed in 1885 and extended for eight blocks along the oceanfront. Styles were more formal in the 1880s and 1890s — men in suits and ties and ladies in long dresses and big hats were normal attire for strolling Ocean City’s early Boardwalk.Both the Boardwalk and beach were narrow in those… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – September 3, 2021
Ocean City was a seasonal small town in 1946. The season ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It was said you could fire a cannon down Baltimore Avenue after Labor Day and not hit a single soul.The Boardwalk ended at 15th Street and Coastal Highway and was only one lane north and one lane south…. Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – August 27, 2021
Jackson’s Casino was Ocean City’s most popular nightclub in the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s. Music, drinks and slot machines were the main attraction at the big wooden building on the Boardwalk between 9th and 10th streets.Jackson’s was where the locals hung out and many still recall the special façade built to meet blackout requirements during… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – August 13, 2021
Prior to the mid-1970s, Ocean City was a seasonal resort. The tourist season ran from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day and it was said, “you could fire a cannon down Baltimore Avenue the day after Labor Day and not hit a soul.” Less than 900 people lived in town year-round.This aerial photo from the… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – July 30, 2021
The Ocean City Boat Parade was once a popular event that celebrated the start of the marlin fishing season. Usually held on the third Sunday in June, it attracted thousands of spectators.Originating in 1938, the parade was suspended during World War II and not resumed until 1947. Charter boats, commercial fishing vessels, and even privately-owned… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – July 23, 2021
The 64th Street Super Market was the first strip shopping mall in what was in those days the lightly populated northern section of Ocean City.This photo, circa 1967, is from a postcard. The shopping center still exists but, thanks in part to the opening of the Route 90 Bridge in 1971, the surrounding area has experienced… Read more »