If you think Doo Wop Architecture sounds funny, try the likes of Googie and Populuxe Architecture, as the style is more popularly known on the West Coast.  This mid-century modern movement found its way to Wildwood New Jersey, where bands like the Ink Spots and The Turbans sang music known as Doo Wop.  According to the Wildwood Crest Historical Society, The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, so named it in the 1990’s.

Meet George Jetson….

It’s fun, fantastical, optimistic, bold, and at times boastful.  It is so new age that it is reminiscent of The Jetsons produced by cartoon studio Hannah-Barbera, and aired for the first time in 1962.  Pluck the hotels, casinos, and apartment complexes out of the clouds and allow them to hover over Newark before their final gentle trajectory into Wildwood – et Voila, you’ve got Doo Wop!

Quarterdeck Motel . Wildwood NJ

Marked by 5 distinct styles:  Modern Blast-off, Vroom, Tiki/Polynesian, Chinatown Revival, and Phony Colonee these post-war expressions of our countries fascination with the South Pacific, and with Space Travel – thank you John Glenn, are iconic architectural wonders.

Starlux Motel . Wildwood . NJ

Lou Morey and Will Morey are responsible for much of the design and construction of these star studded, plastic palm adorned, sloped roof, curved wall, concoctions of a wild imagination.  Today there is a push to have them designated as historic, and to prevent their destruction by finding sympathetic ways to preserve and adapt the properties, for use as condominiums, diners, dormitories, and the like.

I am rather fond of Mid-Century Architecture and Interior Design, and find the graphic patterns, diamonds and stars to be rather to my liking.