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Cafes and Bars of Wildwood Yesteryear
By Larry Lillo, Secretary
A few days ago, I was recalling some of the cafes and bars that were in Wildwood. It then came to my recollection just how many were near where I lived. Well, the first that came to my mind was right next door, the Pacific House located at Andrews and Pacific avenues. It was destroyed by fire in 1966. The next street up in the middle of the 200 block of Burk Avenue was the old Philadelphia house, now gone, demolished. Going up to the next corner was Charlie Johnson's Cafe: 15 cent drafts and all the shrimp you could eat, Saturday and Sunday jam sessions. Now it is a liquor store.
Heading west to Burk and New Jersey avenues stood the 7 Seas. Great clam chowder and now an empty building, but it was recently renovated and sold. Turning south at Taylor and New Jersey sves. was the Central Inn, now the Dogtooth Grill. Looking east to Taylor and Atlantic was the Lucky Club with all its great entertainment. Now if you want to go an extra block in any direction you would find Grande's, Johnny's and the Anchor Inn which have now all been all demolished.
Kelly's and Delaney's (gone) was just another block away, but nearby was Russo's and Rickey's across from the harbor area. I could keep going on and on just walking a few
more blocks. Most of these places had good food, good crowds, music and the lore of the summer folks. If you went to any of these places you would recall the great times you had eating and drinking and enjoying the wonderful summers in the Wildwoods.
I enjoyed all these places and the best part of it, I did not have to walk far.
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