Located between flashy Atlantic City and Victorian Cape May, the towns collectively called the Wildwoods are known for their open beaches, great rides, and flamboyant motels. Beginning in the 1950s, the Wildwoods saw a decade of unprecedented growth, with motels adapting the style of the time now referred to as Populuxe, Googie, or Doo-Wop.
SCA’s conference balanced the fun of the resort with thoughtful analysis.
Conference Presentations
| The Search for a Usable Past: Retrieving, Re-using and Re-creating History Gail Hayman Cohen, Manager Main Street WildwoodThe Wildwoods Then and Now: An American Original Elan Zingman-Leith, co-author with his wife of The Secret Life of Victorian Houses and Creating Authentic Victorian Living RoomsPopuluxe Thomas Hine, author of Populuxe Commercialuxe: The Doo-Wop Style in Wildwood Disney’s Boardwalk: The Wisdom of Wildwood? |
The SCA Tourist: In Search of an Automobile Resort’s Golden Age Daniel Vieyra, Kent State UniversityMain Street: The Changing Face of Downtown Barbara Swanda, Director, Main Street New JerseyLearning from the Wildwoods: Looking Back to Move Forward Steven Izenour, partner, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates, co-author of Learning from Las Vegas and White Towers Googie Preserved: Restoring the Past’s Future Dialing for Doo-Wop Dollars: Cultural and Heritage Tourism as an Economic Development Tool |