Saying Farewell to the Golden Nugget

WILDWOOD — Thomas James, 45, and his wife Ellie, 40, were more excited than their 15-year old son about getting in line to sit in the mine car of the Golden Nugget one last time on Saturday Jan. 31.
For the older member of the James family it was “just like those summers” on Hunt’s Pier all over again. That is, if you don’t count the temperatures that hit as low as 23 degrees and felt as low as 11.
The Golden Nugget, built in 1960 at the end of the former Hunt’s Pier, has been out of commission since the 1990s, the Morey Organization held a public ceremony to mark the ride’s end. It is slated to be taken down during a phased demolition.
“I remember riding the Nugget with my older brother. It was one of a kind,” said Thomas James. “It’s a shame my kids never got the chance to really experience it.”
Although they never drove past the cowboy skeleton on Boot Hill or jumped as the beams almost “crashed down,” a younger generation got an up close look at the famous ride and some of the memorabilia before it becomes a part of their parent’s memory.
With yellow novelty construction helmets perched on top of winter hats, hundreds of visitors explored the hollow structure that has become a dark ride legend and part of the landscape of the Wildwoods.
Some snapped pictures with the black wolf, the prospectors, and the remaining mine cars. Others watched a film of the ride’s glory days in the 1970s. Most were able to take home a part of the ride as a souvenir.
Jack Morey, of the Morey Organization, jokingly told the crowd that they had only expected a few hundred, but the outpouring of support for the Golden Nugget easily trumped those estimates.
“We’re going run out of clam chowder,” he said.
Morey said that the crowd had braved the cold to say goodbye to a ride and pay tribute to Hunt’s Pier.
Morey said that while he and his brother Will wanted to keep innovation and history balanced.
The Moreys purchased the pier in 2000 with hopes of reviving the Golden Nugget, but the costs would be substantial. They estimated it would cost from $3 million to $5 million to bring the wooden structure, lined with asbestos, up to today’s building codes.
Noting that some are probably upset about the loss of the ride that represents their Wildwood memories, Morey asked for their forgiveness and understanding that it was time Others to move on and build something new, noting the Moreys are planning a new attraction in the future.
“All good things must come to an end,” said John Allen IV, whose father John C. Allen, designed the Golden Nugget and the Flyer, which also sat on Hunt’s Pier.
Allen said the Golden Nugget might have been his father’s favorite ride, because it gave the chance for a family to experience something together.
However, Jack said the ride would be “reincarnated” in for another generation of dark ride and coaster enthusiast. Fans of Wildwood’s famed Golden Nugget will only have to travel to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pa. to see the ride’s colorful mine cars in action once again. The crowd reacted to that news with cheers.
Visitors to Morey’s Piers shouldn’t be surprised if they see some of the memorabilia make its way into some of the operating dark rides. Wildwood Historical Society’s museum is also slated to receive some pieces of the Nugget.
Kristen Steindl, granddaughter of William “Bud” Hunt told the crowd she remembered when the ride was the “Talk of the Walk” and how she would always be a little scared to enter the mine car.
The car she said, would sharply twist away from the familiar Wildwood landscape into the darkness of the mine.
“I’d always want my eyes to adjust to the dark quickly, because I’d be afraid that I was missing something,” she said.
Steindl said the sights and sounds are firmly ingrained in her memory, but what she remembers strongly was the rides unique smell.
“It smelled like grease and sea salt and probably mold,” she said to a laughing audience.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com