Talk’in Music – Oh, Them Wildwood Clubs

Talk‘in Music

OH, Them Wildwood Clubs

They Provided A Smorgasbord of Music

I Can’t Help Looking Back

By Jack Coll

7-3-24

     As a long time, resident of Conshohocken, (50 years) there’s two things I think about on July Fourth, Conshohocken’s Soap Box Derby and Wildwood New Jersey.  If you’ve been a long time reader/follower of Conshystuff.com, you’ll know I reminisced many times over the yeas about Conshohocken’s Soap Box Derby rich history going back to 1934 when the race was held on Spring Mill Avenue.  And, every once in a while, I love writing about my other favorite July fourth hot-spot that would be Wildwood, New Jersey.

     Perhaps if you grew-up visiting Wildwood during the 1960’s and 1970’s you’ll enjoy this brief, but enjoyable walk down Wildwood’s memory lane.

     A couple of times a year Donna and I travel to Wildwood New Jersey mainly to have lunch at the “Hot Spot” Restaurant located on the Boardwalk where it meets East Oak Street.  We dine in the back of the restaurant sitting on a back deck overlooking the Wildwood Beach where the ocean looks to be about a mile and a half away from the Boardwalk.  Donna typically enjoys a gyro of some sort while I prefer to chew on a chicken cheesesteak and both of us enjoy the view for about an hour.

     The “Hot Spot” has been on the Boardwalk since 1962 but started down around Cedar Avenue, I think it’s still there called “The Original Hot Spot.”  Donna and I have  enjoyed our Wildwood New Jersey vacations and day-trips since we were teenagers.  We’ve enjoyed eating at the  Oak Street Hot Spot new location for about 35 years, before that Mack’s Pizza was a favorite stop for us and our children for a lot of years.  Mack’s Pizza has been on the Boardwalk for about 65 years.

     When we exit the New Jersey Parkway at exit 6, heading into Wildwood there’s two things I enjoy seeing on our way to the Hot Spot.  I jump on Pacific Avenue as soon as we enter Wildwood and very much enjoy that ride down the split roadway enjoying the general view with the beautiful houses and delightful gardens in the center of the road.

     The split highway ends at 26^th Street but I continue on Pacific Avenue for one reason.  Back in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 1980’s Pacific Avenue was a major seashore shopping hub and I fondly recall night-clubs being on every corner along the Street.

     Now, back in the day, Donna and I spent time at the Brittany Motel, still located on Atlantic Avenue where it meets Garfield Avenue, about a block off the boardwalk.  During the day I would walk Pacific Avenue checking out the shopping holes.  Pacific Avenue’s shopping District reminded me of Lower Conshy back in the day, stores of every-kind and lots of them.

     By night, it was a different story walking Pacific Avenue, I remember long lines outside of the clubs and there were plenty of them.  On the club marquee’s were the evenings performers and I remember seeing everyone from Chubby Checker to Eddie Rabbit on the marquee’s.

     So, feeling a little nostalgic when we visited Wildwood a few weeks ago I stopped in at the Wildwood Historical Museum located on, you guessed it, Pacific Avenue, 3907 Pacific Avenue.  While I recalled one or two of the clubs names from over the years, I remember seeing dozens of clubs in the late 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s always with large crowds outside and loud music inside.  I wanted to stop at the museum and see if I could poke around their files and pick up a few of the club names for memory’s sake from years gone by.

     So, here’s what I found, along with the club names, performers at the time and the club’s addresses.  It’s a little choppy with some side notes.  So, if you’re one of the many who have ever spent time visiting the Wildwood club scene during the middle of last century, ENJOY!

     “In the 1950’s Wildwood was known as “Little Las Vegas” and “Playground of the Stars” for the wide variety of entertainment offered.  Many of the performers have said they launched their careers playing the Wildwoods.”

(Taken from the internet “Welcome to Funchase by Ralph Grassi)

     Chubby Checker introduced “The Twist” in Wildwood’s Rainbow Club in 1960 igniting a dance craze that took the world by storm.

     The hit song “Rock Around The Clock” was first performed by Bill Haley and his Comets at the Brau Hotel in Wildwood in 1954.

Wildwood was known as the Night Life Capitol of the World 

     Keep in mind that many of these clubs are no longer in existence, Wildwood clubs have had a history of coming and going over the years.

Rainbow Club—Pacific & Spicer Avenues

Performers over the years

Dick Dale—Pioneer of Surf Music, “Let’s Go Trippin”

Danny and The Juniors—”At The Hop”

The Duprees ”You Belong To Me”—“Have You Heard”

The Dovells—“Bristol Stomp”—“You Can’t Sit Down”

The Flamingos—“I Only Have Eyes For You”—”I’ll Be Home”

Billy Harner, known as “The Human Percolator—“Sally Saying Something”

Tony Orlando—”Knock Three Times”—“Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree”—Candida”

On a side note:  Tony Orlando’s 1961 hit song “Bless You” was the first hit written by Cynthia Weil and her husband Barry Mann, who went on to write many hit songs throughout their song-writing careers including “On Broadway,” “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” “You’re My Soul and Inspiration,” and “We Gotta Get Out of This place,” for the  Righteous Brothers but “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” ended up with Eric Burdon and the Animals, and she also wrote a little ditty for Dolly Parton  in 1977 called “Here You Come Again.”  I mention all of this because Cynthia Weil Mann passed away a little more than a year ago on June 1, 2023.

Wilson Pickett—“In The Midnight Hour”—Funky Broadway”—”Mustang Sally”

Ruby and The Romantics—“Our Day Will Come”—“My Summer Love”

Dee Dee Sharp—“It’s Mashed Potato Time”

The Skyliners—From Pittsburg Pa, “Since I Don’t Have You”—“Pennies From Heaven”

Chubby Checker—For more than a half a century has performed all of his more than two dozen Top-40 Hits including “The Twist,” “The Hucklebuck,” “ Pony Time,” “The Fly,” Slow Twistin,” “Limbo Rock,” “Let’s Do The Freddie” and Let’s Twist Again” along with all the rest of his hits.  Records show that throughout the 1960’s Chubby would perform five nights a week for months on end playing to the sold-out Wildwood crowds.  On a side note, Chubby still performs to this day and has a special bond with Wildwood.  He’s also been a businessman with his office in Conshohocken for more than 30 years.

Gary U S Bonds—“Quarter To Three,” “School is Out” and “Dear Lady Twist”

Len Barry—performed with the Dovells and had a solo career, you might remember “1-2-3,” “Like A Baby” and “Somewhere”

The Detergents—The Detergents were an interesting group; I got a kick out of them back in the day.  The Detergents were an early parody band, singing other people’s songs but with a twist, much like Weird Al Yankovic did in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  The Shangri-Las was a girl group out of Queens New York who were well known in the mid 1960’s with hits like, “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand),” “Leader of the Pack” and “I Can Never Go Home Anymore.”  “Leader of the Pack” was a huge hit for the Shangri-las and in the fall of 1964, it went to #1 on the charts.

Well, a few months later in January of 1965, The Detergents released “Leader of the Laundromat” that became a top 20 song on the pop charts.

(From Wikipedia)  “After “Leader of the Laundromat” was released, the composers of “Leader of the Pack,” Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and George “Shadow” Morton, filed a lawsuit against the group.  The suit was ultimately settled out of court.  Coincidentally just three years later, in 1968. Ron Dante, a member of the Detergents began working alongside songwriter-producer Jeff Barry as the lead vocalist for the briefly, hugely successful cartoon group, “The Archies.” (Sugar Sugar)  Thus in 1969, Dante was the lead(though publicly unacknowledged) vocalist of two Billboard Top 10 singles in the same week, as lead vocalist for two different but equally non-existent studio groups:  the aforementioned Archies with the number 1 hit “Sugar, Sugar” and The Cufflinks, with the number 9 hit “Tracy,” which was written and produced by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, who also penned and produced “Leader of the Laundromat” by The Detergents.”

The Detergents had a later hit with “I Can Never Eat Home Any More” a parody of the Shangri-La’s “I Can Never Go Home Anymore.”

A few final notes on Ron Dante, from 1973-1981 Donte was the record producer of Barry Manilow’s first nine albums and sang back-up on his 1974 No 1 single “Mandy.”  In 1982, Dante sang the theme song for the NBC sitcom “Silver Spoons, “Together.”  Today, on and off Dante can be found on tour with the ”Happy Together Tour,”  (I think playing at the Keswick Theatre later this year.)

The above acts all performed at the Rainbow Club over a period of a few years.

Starlight Ballroom—Oak Ave and the Boardwalk—Later Hunts Starland Ballroom

Bill Haley & The Comets—1955—Jerry Lewis—Liberace—Eddie Fisher and many, many more.

Also, one of the biggest attractions at the Hunts Starlight Ballroom was first when Bob Horn hosted the local American Bandstand broadcast on WFIL-TV.  But then Dick Clark took over the American Bandstand Dance Show  program that went National while at the Hunts Starlight Ballroom

Rip Tide Club—Oak & The Boardwalk—247 East Oak Avenue

The Supremes—1964 Fats Domino—King Curtis—1965—Hy Lit, best known for his time on WIBG radio—Isley Brothers—The Supremes—The Platters—The Shirelles—Little Anthony and the Imperials—Fats Domino

Beach Comber Club—Schellenger Ave

Duane Eddy    1962

The Surf Club—Located in the Bittmore Hotel from 1947-1961—Destroyed by fire in 1961

It reopened as Phil and Eddies Surf Club—owned by Phil Bonelli, (died in 1999)  and Eddie Rossi,  (died in 2010) later at 3500 Atlantic Ave/corner of Schellenger and Cedar Avenues—Later the Surf Tavern

Performers at the Surf Club over the years included—Bobby Rydell——1965 Chubby Checker, Bobby Vinton, Righteous Brothers, 5^th Dimension, Frankie Avalon, Lionel Hamton, David Ruffin, Jerry Bale, Four Tops, Ricky Nelson, Four Seasons, Frank Sintra, The 3 Degrees, The Platters, The Bogues, Tiny Tim, Brook Benton, Al Martino and many, many more.

Club Bolero—Oak and Atlantic Ave

1957 Cab Calloway—Fats Domino—Chuck Berry

Fox Park—Ocean Avenue 

Chubby Checker

Mardi Gras Club—New Jersey Ave & Oak Avenue

Jerry Lewis—1959

The Martinique—325 East Oak Avenue—1950’s & 1960’s

Jimmy’s—Spruce and Old New Jersey Avenue—1970’ & 80’s

Mocambo Bar—Spruce and Old New Jersey Avenue—1950’s & 1960’s

Red Garter Saloon—1970’s & 1980’s

Shady O’s Nightclub—was originally owned by Ludy Bishop, and after that it was “Wally’s,” “Miss Kitty’s,” “Bull Feathers,” and finally “Shady O’s.”

Hurricane East Club –Shellenger Avenue

Hurricane Club—3800 Pacific Avenue at the corner of Garfield—it burned down in 1964—it later moved to 218 E. Shellenger Avenue

Oasis Club—Pacific & Shellenger Ave—1984

Quart Room—Garfield and Pacific—1984

London Ale House—Pine and Pacific Avenue—1984

Quo Vadis—Pacific and Roberts—1984  Billed as Wildwood’s Hottest New Disco

Fairview Club—Lincoln and Pacific—1984

Shamrock Café—3700 Pacific Ave—1984

The Ripe Tide—245 East Oak Street—1960’s—Kit Kats—The Kit Kats was one of my favorite 60’s bands.  They were from Philadelphia and became known as one of the area’s greatest garage bands and made a good living playing the Wildwood Club circuit for quite a few years.  Some of you might remember “Let’s Get Lost On A Country Road,” “Sea of Love,” “That’s The Way,” and “Won’t Find Better Than Me.” 

The Beach Club—1960’s—Later The Playpen 1970 until it burned down in June 18, 1987

The Oak Club—1950’s and 1960’s—219 East Oak Avenue—Later became “Tata’s” by 1966

The Club Hof Brau—Oak and Atlantic Avenue—demolished in the 1960’s—but not before Bill Haley introduced “Rock Around The Clock” in 1954.

Club Avalon—Spruce and New Jersey Avenue—1970’s

The Supper Club—24^th and Surf Avenues—1958—Peggy Lee—The Cordettes—Liberace—Red Buttons—Danny and The Juniors

Club Casba—3810 Atlantic Avenue

Fairview Night Club—Lincoln and Pacific Avenues—Bab Pantano

Balero—Oak and Atlantic Avenues—1958—Sam Cooke—Connie Francis—Buddy Hackett

Delaney’s Café—Atlantic & Baker Avenues—The Skyliners

     Well, a few of these club names certainly brought back a memory or two from my teenage strolls along Pacific Avenue and other area’s of Wildwood.  I hope you enjoyed looking back and perhaps you recalled spending a night or two in a few of these clubs or perhaps one or two I didn’t mention, feel free to share your Seashore club memory, or at least what you can remember about it.  “Oh, Those Wildwood Days.”

     Chubby Checker has been a mainstay in the Wildwoods for more than half a century.  Flipping back through the old records at the Wildwood George F. Boyer Museum Chubby would often perform for five or six consecutive nights at these clubs throughout the summer, sometimes two shows a night and he has kept Wildwood in the limelight as a pioneer and leader in the music industry. 

     In honor of his first hit song, “The Twist” which he debuted at the Rainbow Club back in 1960, Wildwood selected Chubby to commemorate the 55^th anniversary of his hit song and dance by having a large mural of Chubby depicting him twisting in six different “Twist” moves on a wall along Pacific Avenue in Wildwood about a block from where the old Rainbow club was located.  

  Happy Fourth of July!!