WILDWOOD — No Uncle Lou’s for breakfast.
No Shamrock Bar for fun and libations.
But thank goodness the Premiere Motel is still here.
And that salty Atlantic Ocean and that awful sand remain. I always tell people that I love the beach, except for the sand and salt water. Yet I go.
And the Boardwalk is there in all its glory — the shops, the games, the rides. Saltwater taffy and fudge will make the return trip.
Yeah, this is my “Back to the Future” trip. Back to where my pals and I set out on exploring life in a way we hardly had any experience in, but we managed, and we had fun.
I was anxious to see what the old town looked like. It was quite different than it was back in 1969-70-71. That’s when we were young lions, or at least we thought we were.
We would arrive in town, head to the pool or ocean and soak up the rays, man. We had to get some sun before we dared to get social.
I really couldn’t wait to embark on this sentimental journey. Life sure has changed in the last five decades. And I wanted to remember those times when we were so unaware of where we were, much less where we would end up.
I recently wrote about this trip and what I hoped to find or remember. I took a lot of pictures, but I sadly believe that most of the pics I wanted will have to be formed in my mind’s memory bank.
But they are there — forever.
My pals and I found our slice of paradise in Wildwood at a family-owned place called the Premiere Motel and its rooftop pool. It’s still there and thriving, although I recently learned that the owner operator, a lovely woman named Dotty, passed away late last year. Her daughter and son and their spouses run the place now.
But I didn’t have breakfast at Uncle Lou’s — it’s gone, demolished. I will have to find another breakfast place to enjoy in Wildwood. Also gone is the Shamrock Bar, a popular spot back in the day.
Life as we knew it sure has changed. But it didn’t stop me from revisiting those days when I headed down the shore.
I peered off my little balcony of my room and looked down to Wildwood Avenue between Pacific Avenue and Atlantic Avenue and I tried to remember all those glory days and nights of the ’60s and ’70s.
I just have this sentimental gene, I guess, that drives me to return to those days when life was so much simpler and so much fun.
I hoped some of the old haunts are still there. I wanted to look at a building and try to remember what I was doing when I was there, who I talked to, and what happened next.
Our friends from our high school and college days were in our lives for a short time, yet we seem to want to remember as much as we can from those formative years. We all went different ways, taking different paths to very different destinations.
But back then, we were pretty much all the same — we had a common goal and that was to enjoy life while we could before the realities of life came calling.
And they sure arrived at our doorsteps. There have been good times in the decades since. And there have been not so good times. We like to get together and talk about where we all have traveled in life, but the stories are not nearly as exciting and funny to tell.
That’s why heading back to the shore to the Premiere and to all those memories was so important to me. I wanted to revisit the places, but more than that, I wanted to go back to those days and those memories.
Yeah, I wish I had kids or grandkids to accompany me — heck, I even wish I had a significant other to tag along with me. But I went it alone and I completed this trip.
It’s hard to believe it was so long ago. I can still see the places. I can taste the pancakes at Uncle Lou’s. I can see the crowds at The Shamrock. I can see the lights of the Boardwalk and I can hear the driver of the tramcar on the Boardwalk say, “Watch the tramcar, please.”
I did drive down through Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood Crest and Cape May just to walk around and revisit those memories as well.
So the trip is over — now back to my future.