The Ship Café Restaurant and Marina was an Ocean City landmark for over 30 years. Constructed in the late 1930s as the Ocean City Yacht Club, it became the town’s premier restaurant in the years following World War II under the ownership of William and Ethel Ahtes.The Ship Café was also famous for its marina… 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… 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 »
Ocean Playland Amusement Park was developed by Jim Caine and opened on June 11, 1965 on the bay at 65th Street. The park was built on a section of filled land that measured 860 feet long and 375 feet wide.At its peak, it featured 42 rides including a monorail, a skyride, electric boats and a… Read more »
The March Storm of 1962 was not a hurricane but a Nor’easter that lasted over two days and throughout five high tide cycles. It caused the death of two local citizens and was responsible for millions of dollars in property damage. Flood waters covered downtown Ocean City for over 24 hours while hundreds of people… Read more »
The sculpture known locally as the “Inlet Indian” was presented to the state of Maryland in 1976 by artist Peter Wolf Toth.Depicting a member of the Assateague tribe (which had left this area by the mid-1700s), the 20-foot tall statue stands as a silent sentinel on S. 2nd Street overlooking the Inlet. The Ocean City… Read more »
The Colonial was one of two cottages on N. 1st Street (the other was called “The Maryland”) built by William J. Warrington in the 1890s. In 1897, he attached the two into one hotel and named it “The Colonial.” The hotel fronted on the Boardwalk and was able to host as many as 100 guests…. Read more »
Some visitors to Ocean City wonder why Philadelphia Avenue is much wider than Baltimore Avenue in the “old downtown” near the Route 50 Bridge. The reason for this difference is that beginning in 1903 Philadelphia Avenue was the site of railroad tracks extending from today’s North 2nd Street to what was once South 7th Street… 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 »
Boxing was once one of America’s most popular sports and Ocean City offered both amateur and professional fights in the late 1920s and 1930s. Captain W.B.S Powell — prominent businessman and former Ocean City mayor — was the local boxing promoter. Bouts were held in an outdoor arena between South Division Street and S. 1st… Read more »