No, that’s not a scene from an early Cruisin weekend — it’s the original “State Roads Bridge,” a narrow two-lane span built to handle Ocean City’s automotive traffic in 1916.The bridge entered town at Worcester Street and was just a block north of the railroad’s trestle bridge that spanned the Sinepuxent Bay from the mainland… Read more »
Category: Vanishing Ocean City
Vanishing Ocean City
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
In 1922, a whale washed up on the beach near Caroline Street in Ocean City. It was towed out to sea by the U.S. Coast Guard but floated ashore again just north of the fishing pier on Wicomico Street.The City Council ordered the whale carcass dynamited and several pieces landed on the Pier Building –… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
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 »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
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 and was a hard and often dangerous way for men to make a living.The fish pounds were traps made of nets located half a mile to a… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
Legendary developer James B. Caine built his summer home — known as “Crystal House” directly on the beach just north of the Carousel Hotel in 1968. The cottage featured a living room with a fountain in the middle, three bedrooms and three bathrooms with sunken tubs and square toilets. Built on pilings, the Crystal House… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
Visitors to Ocean City were offered a unique display of public art when the “Beach Birds” arrived in the spring of 2003.Designed by local artists and sponsored by various Ocean City businesses, the five-foot tall fiberglass birds could be found all over town. In hotel lobbies, at City Hall and the airport, on the Boardwalk,… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
During World War II, Ocean City’s nightclub scene was centered on 9th Street. Within a short block, Jackson’s Casino, the Blue Dahlia and the Beach Club provided music, dancing and a lively bar scene. Slot machines were everywhere and there was hardly a hotel, bar or restaurant that didn’t have several.Ocean City was still a… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
The Log House was one of the most unique buildings in Ocean City for nearly 40 years. Constructed on the southwest corner of 5th Street and Philadelphia Avenue in the late 1930s, the rooming house resembled a large cottage built of “Lincoln Logs.”The Log House went through several changes of ownership and was known as… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
Everett Fisher and Edmund Pusey opened a popcorn stand on the Boardwalk at Talbot Street in the summer of 1937. Known as Pixton’s Popcorn (Pixton was the maiden name of Mr. Pusey’s wife) they used a secret recipe developed by Mr. Fisher and sold hot buttered popcorn for 5 cents a bag.When Pusey left the… Read more »
Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann
Ocean City’s first hotel was built by the Atlantic Hotel Company on the beach between Wicomico and Somerset streets. There was no bridge from the mainland at that time so all construction materials were floated across the Sinepuxent Bay on flat bottom scows and small boats. The grand opening of the Atlantic Hotel on July… Read more »