By RAY REBMANN
Name that taproom: once a favorite winter trivia game for local barflies who could trace the lineage of their favorite island watering holes back to the days when the Lenape Indians used to paddle across Grassy Sound to throw weekend clambakes on the beach.
With all the reconstruction in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of which places are still serving highballs and which have given way to the condo builder’s wrecking balls.
You start the game with a cold Perroni beer at Woody’s Place in North Wildwood. That’s an easy one since there have been only three names on the front door since the bar first took over the corner of 18th and New Jersey avenues from the local fire company: Morrow’s, Woody’s and the current Woody’s Place.
From there, you slip around the corner to Owen’s Pub for a pint of Harp. In the middle of what once was North Wildwood’s 17th Avenue business district, Owen’s has had several names and a chorus at the bar is able to help with several starting with Benny’s Café from the 1960’s.
Before it was Owen’s, the bar was called Michalene O’Flynn’s. And there, you’re stumped because, for a number of years some folks from Maple Shade operated the bar and you can’t seem to place the name.
A couple of long neck Buds and some “atmosphere” don’t help. (Readers: email me that name, and I’ll give you a credit in what will surely require a follow-up).
After an invigorating stroll north on New Jersey Avenue, it’s good to find that the Anglesea Pub is still on the corner at First, under new owners (the folks who formerly owned the Thunderbird).
The pub has gone through a few names since its days as a hotel where the Philly train once stopped.
For the longest time it was Bishop’s High Steps. Then for a brief period it was the SA Wade Tavern before North Wildwood’s mini Irish-American cultural revolution influenced the creation of the “pub.”
The Shamrock is still the Shamrock, although the famous seven-for-a-buck sardine can for summer people now serves Guinness on tap.
Some have recently changed names, a reflection of efforts to bring a more “upscale” (whatever that means) style to the island’s watering holes. Henry’s is now Juan Pablo’s, the Rainbow is Kahuna’s.
Somehow, tomorrow night’s 8 p.m. “Rainbow Club Reunion” at the Lou Booth Amphitheater in North Wildwood sounds better than a “Kahuna’s Reunion” but who knows. Someday?
Speaking of Lou Booth, I’m sure plenty of you remember when the same named club at 18th and Surf featured Mickey Shaughnessey and in the lounge a popular local entertainer, Steve “Milky” Lawlor.
In any event, the reunion brings together musicians who played the club during its heyday in the 50’s and 60’s, known as the Roc’n Bocs. I’ll bet some of those guys could win this trivia game easily….
In the heart of Wildwood, it’s hard to tell with many of the Pacific Avenue spots what the future holds.
The “Block that Rocks” is on the block. Legendary local names like the Penalty Box and Hof Brau could disappear.
North Wildwood’s entertainment district has also changed a lot in recent years
Cozy’s place is gone. His statue is on the premises and so is a bigger, better Westy’s.
The Red Garter and Moore’s have given way to condos, although I’m told the new bar at Moore’s could open before the end of the season.
Elsewhere, quite a few are gone without a trace: Garden State, Penn Wood Hotel, Sundance, Mary Marlow’s, Little Club, Thunderbird, Old Philadelphia House, Lucky Club, London Ale House, Grande’s, Johnnie’s, Martinique, Anchor Inn, Manor, Quo Vadis, Hotel Lincoln, the Mansion, Rio Café, Pegleg Parrot (Jones Boys before that), Noah’s Barefoot Bar and Play Pen (down in Diamond Beach).
No need to play taps for those lost taps. There are still plenty of spots left on the island to relax and enjoy a drink.
The names mentioned here are hardly exhaustive and we leave it to readers to fill us in on how and where to fill in the blanks.
You gotta love the Jersey shore. Where else could a wayward boy grow up and make his living writing about trying to remember the names of places many of which flagged him when he was working hard to be that wayward boy?
(My hard working research assistant stayed at Owen’s for an extra round of long necks and having fortified himself with an order of hot wings, unearthed the informational nugget) The name of the bar before Michaelene’s was “Antlers”.)
