The Delmarva Hotel was located on the west side of Baltimore Avenue between North Division and 1st streets. Originally known as The New Avalon, the hotel had been pieced together by its owner, Josephine Hastings, by combining cottages on either side of her boarding house in the early 1900s.The Delmarva, like most Ocean City hotels… Read more »
Author Archives: Bunk Mann
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – December 9, 2016
The Stephen Decatur Hotel was built on the north corner of 12th Street and the Boardwalk in 1930.One of Ocean City’s most upscale hotels, its clientele included many business and political figures from Baltimore. The lobby featured two large fireplaces and the four tall columns supporting the porch roof were one of the most recognizable… Read more »
Old Pro Golf’s Start In Ocean City
The first miniature golf course in Ocean City opened in the 1930s, but the sport really became popular after Herb Schoellkopf designed and built two courses on the Pier in 1963. They were prefabricated and featured the themes of Western (cowboys) and Space (little green men and rocket ships, pictured). The cost to play was… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – November 17, 2016
From 1896 to 1933, the pound fishing industry was second only to tourism in Ocean City’s economy. The fishing season ran from the end of March to mid-November. Women ran the hotels and boarding houses and their husbands fished.The fish pounds were huge traps made of nets located half of a mile offshore. They featured… Read more »
Hurricane Sandy-Four Years Later
The Ocean City Mayor and Council implemented the evacuation of Ocean City for the second time in two years when Hurricane Sandy roared up the Atlantic coast on Oct. 29, 2012 (Hurricane Irene was the other on Aug. 25, 2011). Fortunately, for Ocean City the storm passed several miles offshore but it gave the town… Read more »
How The Oceanfront Used To Look
Motel Row developed in the mid-1950s and early 1960s in part because of the post-World War II “baby boom” and the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Easier travel to the beach and the desire of young families for casual accommodations with easy parking spurred the development of the vacant land between 15 and 33rd… Read more »
Portion Of ‘Boardwalk’ Rebuilt As Concrete
Eight blocks of Boardwalk from North Division to 1st streets were rebuilt in concrete and widened by 10 feet between January and April in 1955.The Mayor and Council had decided to replace the wood with concrete due to maintenance costs. The George Bert Cropper Company did the work for $43,819 and used some of the… Read more »
Eunice Sorin — Well-Known Philanthropist
Eunice Q. Sorin (1924-2011) was a fun loving free spirit whose generosity and zest for life will long be remembered in Ocean City. A resident of Berlin and an award-winning hair stylist, Eunice and her husband, Herman Sorin, built the Nassau Motel on 61st Street (now the site of the Meridian Condominium) in 1966. The… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann – September 30, 2016
This postcard image (circa 1909) shows an Ocean City in the time before paved streets and traffic jams. Photographed from the old water tower on Somerset Street the view looks east across Baltimore Avenue toward the ocean.The tall brick chimney in the foreground was part of the town’s electric power plant while the original Atlantic… Read more »
The Boardwalk Of Yesteryear Much Different Than Today
Ocean City’s beach and Boardwalk had a different appearance in the years prior to World War II. This photo looks north from Talbot Street. The Boardwalk in those days was narrow and raised about four feet above the beach. On a hot day bathers would sit under it in the shade and enjoy a picnic… Read more »