Alante Motel (plus Cozy Morley)

The Alante is one of our island’s Motels that is not operating under its original name.  It was once called “Cozy Morley’s Motel”.  Cozy Morley was much more famous in the area for his comedic talents, and also for a bit of singing.  He owned the Club Avalon, which has been gone for about 20 years.  It was located in the Angelsea area of North Wildwood, in the parking lot of the current Westy’s Irish Pub.  Cozy is a beloved local icon, with his statue located near where Club Avalon once stood.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3714198954_deb4428930.jpg


I have not been able to trace the origins of Cozy’s Motel (not to be confused with the Cozy Inn on Burk Ave. in Wildwood proper).  Per Al Alven, it became the Alante in the ‘80’s, and was named after the Cadillac Allante, with a change in spelling for use here.  This seems to fit in time-wise with the closing of the Club Avalon in 1988, as the Cadillac was new for model year 1987.  Given this, I’d guess Cozy sold the Motel around the same time.  The choice for its then new name is interesting in that was the first car related one for a Wildwood Motel for quite a while.  I believe the Daytona has used the only car related new name since this.  Accommodations Directory listings seem to be non-existent in my collection, as do vintage images online under either guise.  Like many of our Motels, it was likely built on then vacant land.  It is located on the Northeast corner of 8th Avenue & JFK Beach Drive.  It is not located directly on the beach like many Motels in the Crest, but very few Motels in North Wildwood are.  With only JFK dividing the Alante from the beach, it’s in a great beach oriented location that’s as close to it as the area will allow.

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The Alante is a two floor reverse J-shaped, masonry structure.  Units are located on both levels along the long section of the “J”, and the bend in it.  The office is here as well, with a sundeck above and continuing thru to form the short end of the “J”.  An awning covered walkway leads to the office.  Parking is available along part of the 8th Ave. border, with more located in a small lot towards the eastern portion of the property.  The Alante’s basic structure is white, with magenta/plum colored solid doors.  Each unit has a fairly large area of glass, though not floor to ceiling, with wall mounted lights between the units.  Light blue vinyl strap chairs with white trim coordinate well outside each room, with matching lounge chairs in the rectangular pool area located in the central part of the property.  Similarly colored canvas loungers are on the sundeck.  The pool itself is also rectangular, is of good size for the complex, and features a simple waterfall spray.  Simple, but neat and effective white vertical railings are used along the 2nd floor common balcony in front of the units there, along the sundeck, and surrounding the pool area.  A handful of masonry posts, in matching colors, each with a light atop, break up the railings here and there along the ground level and sundeck.  A large mural is painted across the long 2nd level southern facing wall on the eastern end, where oceanfront units are located.  ALANTE is mostly in blue, with a magenta/plum swish going through it, with a seagull and starfish at 10 & 4 o’clock, respectively.  A small, somewhat shell shaped, sign is at the corner of the roof near the mural.  It has “Alante” with a star above it, both in aqua, with a white background.  The bottom portion of the sign is plainer looking, with MOTOR INN written (without neon) in aqua, and also has a white background.  A relatively small area of grass (not commonly seen by motels in Wildwood) and a few plants sectioned through the middle, separates the property from the JFK sidewalk.  Per Al Alven, “The Alante also has a two-story annex, located "behind" the main building (on 8th Ave., with all rooms facing east). If I had to guess, I'd say that the annex was likely built first, as the building directly faces the back of the motel.”  Overall, the Alante has a very clean, bright, cheery look, appropriate for the style of the Motel.

To see past discussion on the Alante (and Cozy Morley), and if you wish to contribute further to it, please visit the thread linked below from the Doo Wop Preservation League's Message Board.:


http://www.doowopusa.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1269398318

Biscayne Motel

Like other Motels on the island, the Biscayne officially refers to itself as resort instead of motel.  While this term has been used for many years for our lodging facilities, it has become more commonly found in replacing  the use of the word 'motel' in recent years, than just supplanting it, as it did in the further past.

Thankfully, referring to the Biscayne as a resort instead of a motel hasn't gone far beyond just that as far as it's  Mid-Century/Doo Wop style and character goes.  It still maintains an attractive, authentic look.  The Biscayne is located at Atlantic and Louisville Avenues, and is located steps from the beach/ocean, with no streets to cross.  It is a 3 floor masonry structure, with tan brick trim, lots of floor to ceiling glass for fine views, and solid aqua green doors.  Units stretch across its 2nd & 3rd floors. The ground floor is home to the lobby/office and more units.  Level two has two sundecks.  Distinctive, original looking, flaired railings stretch  across the top two levels, decks included.  The rectangular pool area featuring a slide is shielded from the parking spaces along Louisville Ave. with more tan brick and relatively plainer railings, with vintage lamps interspersed.  A canopy coordinated with the door color stretches around the lobby and entrance.  While a newer backlit sign was installed on its western wall, the original style neon still beams from its roof to Atlantic Avenue.

The former Bali-Hi Motel was incorporated into the Biscayne earlier this decade.  It is relatively plainer looking, though interesting in that it is made up of two sections.  The portion that once was the Bali Hi is two stories, with its own pool area.  It is located relatively closer to the beach/ocean.  For some time, a solid, red "Bali Hi" rooftop sign which faced Nashville Ave. remained after it became absorbed into the Biscayne.

To see past discussion of the Biscayne (and Bali Hi) online, and if you wish to contribute further to it, please visit the thread linked below from the Doo Wop Preservation League's Message Board.:


http://www.doowopusa.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1261954419

Flamingo Terrace Motel

The Flamingo Terrace, to the best of my knowledge, was one of the earliest Motels built on the island, supposedly circa 1950.  It wasn’t constructed all at once, as it had two distinct buildings containing the units, and a house.  The older, original building’s style suggests that this date is correct, as it’s a bit of a precursor to the more fully developed Mid Century Modern design that was to flourish in a few years.  Like other Motels, it had open corridors/balcony and parking close to the rooms, it had a relatively plainer and less streamlined look.  It used less glass than would soon by typical. The 2nd level balcony and roof supports were external posts mounted in line with the railings.  That breaks up the building’s lines, especially in comparison to the cleaner looking “hidden” supports that were to come on Modern buildings.  It was two floor an L-shaped building, with (I’m estimating) about 18 units across both levels.  A staircase was located in the shorter section of the L, near the corner.  Later on, shutters were added to the windows, though they may have been fixed/decorative only.  A mural faced out from the end of the longer part of the L, with plants at ground level, surrounded by Flagcrete.

The house may have been built at the same time as the original Motel building, as it seems to have housed the office on its ground level, and what looks like an apartment, possibly the owner’s quarters.  Two levels above this contained apartments, with a balcony on the 2nd floor.  There may have been an attic at the top, above the 3rd level of living space.  Exterior stairs along its side go up to the 2nd level only, so it seems the 3rd level was accessible from the inside.

The newer building at the Flamingo was a very nice example of Mid Century Modern/Doo Wop Motel architecture.  It was a two level T-shaped building that seems to have had about the same amount of units as the older building.  The portion housing the units was rectangular, with center section that jutted out for the sundeck on the 2nd floor.  It was accessible from the balcony, or from stairs connecting it to the pool area, which was off to the right side of the T.  Additional stairs were on the side of the building to reach the 2nd level units.  Curved railings that bowed out were used throughout – across the 2nd floor balcony and the surrounding the pool area.

A beautiful neon sign sat roadside between the two main buildings.  The sign seems to have predated the newer Motel building, as it’s seen in images of the Flamingo where the new building is nowhere to be found.  Its style also seems to be from a bit older time.  Flamingo was written in shrimp color in all lowercase, curvy, slanted style letters, and had the F larger than the other letters without actually being in uppercase style.  Terrace was written in blue in relatively plainer print, all uppercase style letters, but the T was larger than the rest.  A flamingo was off to the side of the name in pink, with a painted palm in its shadow.  MOTEL EFF UNITS was below, all uppercase, plain print, in pink, and a (NO) VACANCY indicator was at the bottom of all this.  At the top, all in pink, was AIR CONDITIONED printed, and (slanted somewhat) TV POOL just below.  I don’t know whether or not the pool was rebuilt to fit the grounds better once the newer section of the Motel was constructed.  At the sign’s base was a pentagon shaped, Flagcrete planter.

The newer Motel building seems to have maintained its basic color scheme throughout its life – white base, pink doors and trim, and blue backing on the drapes visible through the ample floor to ceiling glass.  The original Motel building in its earlier days had its masonry painted white, with trim and doors in light green.  Eventually the green was replaced by pink, to match the paint on the newer building, with the white walls remaining as is.  The pink complimented the name/theme, and the blue backing on the newer building’s drapes matched the white/pink well, and also picked up on the blue used on part of the sign.

The property was located between Atlantic and Pacific Avenues on Pine Ave., closer to the Pacific border.  It was somewhat secluded, considering the locations of most Motels on the island.  The original building had units facing south and west.  The newer building’s units all faced south, as did the house.

The Flamingo’s last season seems to have been in 2003, after which it was demolished.  Wildwood proper suffered relatively few demolitions of Motels, compared to North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.  That shouldn’t diminish the loss of the Flamingo, or its worth.


For past discussion of The Flamingo Terrace online, and if you wish to contribute further to it, please visit the thread linked below from the Doo Wop Preservation League's Message Board.:

http://www.doowopusa.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1271003423