{"id":1519,"date":"2021-07-09T15:43:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T15:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2023-06-12T21:30:37","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T21:30:37","slug":"wallys-cafe-historic-bar-district-of-north-wildwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wallys-cafe-historic-bar-district-of-north-wildwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Wally’s Cafe ~ Historic Bar District of North Wildwood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wally clattered the last two empty mugs and wiped down the bar with a soapy wet cloth.\u00a0 He held the glasses, clear, smooth and familiar, and placed them by the sink with mounted brushes where his young daughter Debby loved to wash the dishes.\u00a0 Dressed in an old army jacket and sporting a fake mustache, he hummed the tune of \u201cWhen the Saints Go Marching in\u201d while he finished straightening up.\u00a0 In his mind, he was reliving yesterday when he entered the bar wearing his suit, waving a small American flag and singing the song, leading a marching crowd of fun loving partiers through the bar.\u00a0 Outside, the streetlights flickered on the humid southeast corner of Walnut and Olde New Jersey Avenue as the sun\u2019s glimmering morning light began beaming across the mighty Atlantic just a few blocks away.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle, 5, and Wally Jr., 13, barreled through the side door from their upstairs apartment home, their bare feet scampering across the spotless sanded floors, past the phone booth in the lobby and into the main bar area. Michelle swung in a circle around the giant metal pole that stood as a support beam, one in which Wally\u2019s youngest, Lori, would climb telling customers it was her birthday so they would sing to her and give her money during her \u201cmany birthdays\u201d throughout the summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man who was liked by everyone smiled and made his way over to his kids who had rummaged into the back room with the seven pool tables, couches, and the television.\u00a0 Wally\u2019s was one of the only bars to have one at the time.\u00a0 He was meticulous about the building, it was his kingdom, but he was too humble to be a king.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say his name or mention his bar and anyone who lived, worked or visited Wildwood during that time will stop and tell their stories of him.\u00a0 Wally was a real character, a genuine, honest community man who worked diligently, living to take care of his family and make people laugh. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was the nicest guy, he\u2019d give you the shirt right off his back,\u201d said his daughter Michelle, after years of observing her dad and learning from his fun loving sacrificial lifestyle. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he passed away in 1978, just five years after selling the bar he originally purchased in 1950, Michelle and her siblings discovered her father\u2019s safety deposit box which contained countless IOU\u2019s from people.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s just the way he was,\u201d said Wally Jr., \u201cHe wasn\u2019t tight with his money at all.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, he was always buying people drinks, even in his own bar and half of the time didn\u2019t even charge the $18 weekly room renters above the bar.\u00a0 Wally would walk in every day wearing black pants and a white shirt with the top button undone.\u00a0 During his 18 hour work days, when he wasn\u2019t playing dress up and acting silly, this outfit defined his appearance. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wally was a popular man to be around. \u201cPeople would always say, \u2018oh you\u2019re Wally\u2019s daughter\u2019 when I was younger.\u00a0 It made me feel like my dad was a celebrity,\u201d said Michelle.\u00a0 In a sense, Wally himself was an icon on the island, and his bar that stood in the midst of the bustling Angelsea bar district was no exception to the notoriety. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musical entertainment played a key role at Wally\u2019s, especially during Saturday night jam sessions.\u00a0 Bands like The Cellar Doors, a pop group from Glassboro would play from 9pm to 3am with only a 40 minute break at 1:40.\u00a0 Singers like Nan Jones, Georgie Shaw and Jimmy MiGinny would frequent the bar with impromptu performances.\u00a0 Back then, it was an age of genuine laid back relationships, where all bar owners were friends and would buy rounds for each other\u2019s customers.\u00a0 Food was shared and rather than competing, various companies and bars helped each other out. Between the loyal bartenders like Jimmy Bright, Dave Smith and Buddy Kelly, and the regulars at Wally\u2019s, were the people who became a huge extended family.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 30\u00a2, customers enjoyed an ice cold mug of beer, a glass for 15\u00a2 and a shot for 40\u00a2.\u00a0 The bar was famous for its delicious crabs that were served already cleaned out.\u00a0 Wally\u2019s was a barefoot bar with people in bathing suits who came up from the beach for lunch or a drink, the original \u201cNo Shower Happy Hour!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the bar\u2019s last call came on January 1, 1973, Wally sold his place.\u00a0 Wally made his family an incredible livelihood filled with priceless memories, He was a sincere and loyal man of integrity that stayed true to his word. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gazing into his father\u2019s safety deposit box and sifting his hands through the dozens of IOU\u2019s, Wally Jr. wiped away a tear.\u00a0 \u201cDad was such a hard worker,\u201d he said, \u201cHe gave us kids everything we wanted.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wally & Doris Carty inside the cafe. Wally was a real character, a genuine, honest community man who worked diligently, living to take care of his family and make people laugh. \u00a0

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wally clattered the last two empty mugs and wiped down the bar with a soapy wet cloth.\u00a0 He held the glasses, clear, smooth and familiar, and placed them by the sink with mounted brushes where his young daughter Debby loved to wash the dishes.\u00a0 Dressed in an old army jacket and sporting a fake mustache, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}