The Wildwoods, not your average Jersey Beach town

There are a handful of Jersey Shore towns with boardwalks and kitschy, seasonal motels up and down the coastline. There are other towns with boardwalks without all of the pizza shops, t-shirt and novelty stores and amusement rides. They just have quiet boardwalks for people looking to exercise or just enjoy the view of the Atlantic Ocean.

If your thing is crazy, loud, crowded boardwalks with wall-to-wall stores and jam packed with amusement piers, rides and waterslides, then Wildwood is your nirvana.

There's North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest. Each has its own character and appeal. The towns have stayed pretty stable and pretty much the same, with lots of favorable rebuilding over the last couple of decades.

Some things about Wildwood have not changed much since my parents started going there in the 1960's. Some of the boardwalk stores and restaurants have been there for over fifty years.

If you drive down Surf Avenue in North Wildwood onto Ocean Avenue in Wildwood and into Wildwood Crest, you see some of the same motels you would see sixty years ago. The towns have taken advantage of that fact and turned it into a "doo-wop" niche marketing machine.

Some of the old motels and old rooming house hotels have been replaced by modern multi-family dwellings from throughout the entire island. And, what used to be marshland at the southern tip of Wildwood Crest is crowded with houses, townhouses and giant condo complexes.

There is something in all three Wildwoods for just about anyone who wants a slice of life at the Jersey Shore.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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