Wildwood Doo Wop.com

Designed and built by Will Morey in 1956, the Fantasy is considered by many to be the first 'Doo Wop' motel in the Wildwoods. With it's upswept, 'hovering' roof design, oversized rooftop neon signage and other flamboyant architectural elements, this classic on the Rio Grande entrance boulevard was unlike any structure previously seen on the island. Unfortuantely, the Fantasy was demolished in 2005. Still, it's legacy as a trend-setting icon lives on.

• The Fantasy officially opened on April 29, 1956.
• Other 'Doo Wop' entities that debuted in 1956 include: The Packard Motel in North Wildwood, the Skylark Motel and Wildwood Diner in Wildwood proper, and the Beach Waves Motel, Carousel Motel and Schumann's Restaurant in the Crest.
• Consisting of 21 units, the Fantasy cost $125,000 to build. This was an almost unheard-of figure for such a business at the time, especially considering the rather modest motel structures that preceded it on the island.
• Will Morey and his wife, Jacqueline, occupied the living quarters above the office for the first two summers of the Fantasy's existence. They moved their seasonal residence to the Satellite Motel in the Crest, after Will completed the latter establishment in 1958.
• An ad taken out by the Bethlehem Steel Company (Bethlehem, PA) in the August, 1958 issue of Architectural Record noted that 1,700 feet of Beth-Co-Weld steel pipe was used in the construction of the Fantasy. By comparison, 1,835 feet of pipe was used to build the 24th Street Motel in North Wildwood, and 1,625 feet was used for the Carousel Motel in the Crest.
• The Fantasy's most striking visual element was its large sign, which sat atop the inclined roof above the second floor lounge area, facing west. A creation of the original Allied Sign Co., it featured the motel's name spelled out horizontally in flashing bulbs and neon, a marquee for changeable advertising and colored backlit twinkling planet, star and moon designs, all within the frame of an unconventional geometric shape. The sign spanned the entire width of the roofline.
• During the motel's early years, a long horizontal sign (likely hand-painted, but possibly neon) hung above the first floor lobby that read: "We're not expensive, we just look that way."
• The Fantasy fell into a state of recession, along with much of Wildwood, during the 80s and 90s. The magnificent rooftop sign, having incurred some damage over the years, was scrapped in 1997. A local sign-saving program was instituted just a few months later.
• The original sign was replaced by a much smaller, plastic backlit version, framed with white bulb lights. It occupied the southern end of the same area on the upswept roofline, approximately just one-third the size of its predecessor.
• Other unfortunate changes sanitized the Fantasy's appearance in later years. The motel's eye-catching color scheme was abandoned, in favor of a simple, predominantly white coating (room doors, trim and support beams were painted blue). The motel's intricate railing panels were also replaced by a wooden lattice-style design.
• Legendary tenor and movie star Mario Lanza (1921-1959) spent all of his summers as a youth at his grandparents' home in Wildwood, which was located on Rio Grande Ave., right next to where the Fantasy was eventually built.
• The Fantasy was demolished in 2005, 49 years after making its grand debut. Very few motels in the Wildwoods have made it to the 50-year mark.
• There was initially some talk of the 'Neo-Doo Wop' Harley Davidson dealership next door building an expansion on the property. To this point, however, the land formerly occupied by the motel has been used as a secondary parking lot for the store.

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