The Nordica was a Victorian-style hotel on the Boardwalk between Dorchester and Talbot streets. Built circa 1905, it was originally on the American Plan (meals included with the cost of the room) for the first half century of its existence.Pictured above during the World War II era, the Nordica featured a front porch with rocking… Read more »
Sept. 22, 1994 will long be remembered as the date of the “Sunfest Disaster,” a day which taxed Ocean City’s emergency services to the limit. As vendors were setting up for the opening of Sunfest, the annual end of summer arts, crafts and music celebration, a windstorm hit the Inlet Parking Lot with 50 mph… Read more »
Surfing became popular in Ocean City in the mid-1960s. George Pittman and Bill Wise opened Ocean City’s first surf shop (called the Eastern Surfer) in 1964 in the basement of the Sandy Hill Motel.The less crowded beaches of north Ocean City quickly became the favorite surfing areas in the days before the high-rise condominiums.This 1965… Read more »
Assateague reached its peak as a sportsman’s paradise in the years immediately following World War II.During this period, the only access to the isolated barrier island was by boat with duck hunters and surf fishermen as the most frequent visitors. Local kids often accompanied their fathers to Assateague and collected shells that had washed ashore… Read more »
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 »
The Stowaway Motel was built by Bill Carrier in 1956 and occupied the entire ocean block between 21st and 22nd streets. It was the largest motel in Ocean City in the 1960s with 120 units spread throughout three sections. Home to the biggest pool on Motel Row (local kids would sneak in to swim in the summer)… Read more »
Dr. Nathanael “Nat” Thomas came to Ocean City from Scranton, Pa. in 1945 with the thought that he would serve as a temporary doctor until the end of the summer. He made many friends, built a good practice and stayed in Ocean City the rest of his life.His first office was in the alley between… Read more »
In the 1900s and up through the mid-1980s, most of Ocean City’s beaches were narrow and in some places nearly non-existent on high tide. There were areas (14th to 16th streets and the blocks between 21st and 25th streets) where breakers rolled almost to the Boardwalk and there was barely room to set up an… Read more »
Easter was a big holiday for Ocean City in the late 1950s and throughout much of the 1960s. Easter parades were held on the Boardwalk near the old bandstand with prizes for the best dressed family, prettiest Easter bonnet and other categories.One of the highlights of the weekend was the “animal hunt” sponsored by the… Read more »
The English Diner opened in 1939 on the corner of Wicomico Street and Baltimore Avenue. Moved to 21st Street and Philadelphia Avenue in the last 1950s, it was one of Ocean City’s most popular family restaurants.It was known as “Little City Hall” for the daily breakfast gatherings of Ocean City’s political elite during the years that… Read more »
