So, when we last left you, Susie and I had a house built in Las Vegas, had been the first ones to sleep in the house, and had then rented it out on a yearly lease.We had a local property manager who collected the rent, took a percentage, and sent the balance to us monthly.The money we got, covered the majority of the expenses of the house, we got a pretty nice tax benefit from owning and renting the house, and we had an excuse to travel to Las Vegas, which we did several times. The only thing missing was that we never got to use the house.
Sometime in the Spring of 2004, Susie and I went for a weekend trip to Atlantic City.Since it’s only 12 miles away from Ocean City, on Sunday, after checking out of the hotel, we took a drive to Ocean City.I don’t remember if we hit the boardwalk or not, but we did drive around town, and when we drove by an Open House on Asbury Avenue, we decided to stop in and take a look.The town was empty, and the realtor had been alone for most of the day, so he was more than happy to spend some time talking to us after we viewed the house.
His name was Ray, and that day was the beginning of a relationship that changed our lives!We got down to the nitty gritty, started talking costs, hearing about how much property values in Ocean City had been increasing, talking about what we could rent out a house for during the summer season, and really had our eyes opened that day!In the car, on the way home, we talked a lot about our future and about our real estate portfolio.The more we thought about it, although we’d enjoyed Las Vegas a lot, we both knew that we’d miss the ocean if we retired to the South West, plus having a house 3 hours away by car rather than a 6 hour plane ride seemed to make a lot of sense!It appeared we’d made a decision!
The next call was to our friend and realtor Sharon Malloy in Las Vegas.We laid out what we were thinking of doing, and she agreed it made sense.We loved what she told us about the Vegas real estate market, and were ecstatic when she told us what we could probably get for the Vegas house!We gave her the okay to put the house on the market, and to have the Property Manager let the tenant (who was now renting month to month since the 1 year lease had expired) know that we were putting the house on the market.Everything sounded like it was on track!
Well, not quite!First wrinkle in our plan was that for some reason, the Property Manager had sent the tenant a signed lease for a 6 month extension of her rental.Although she’d had the lease for several months, and had never signed it and returned it to the Property Manager, she was right that she had a signed 6 month extension.Okay, that pushed the potential return of the house to us back by a couple of months.We thought we could deal with that.Then, the second wrinkle hit…..as we were about to put the house on the market, the bottom fell out of the Las Vegas market!
Remember the US Housing Bubble in the late part of the first decade of the 21st Century?Well, Las Vegas had it’s own housing bubble burst, but a bit earlier. Turns out that they had overbuilt the housing stock in response to a population increase that leveled off.Because many folks had bought multiple properties without enough capital to carry them if they didn’t have renters, they were in trouble, because the rental market was over saturated. In reaction to what was happening, housing prices were dropping as landlords attempted to unload their unrented houses, rather than lose them to the bank.It appeared we’d missed the house price peak.Trust me, this only increased how pissed off we were at the Property Manager for screwing up the lease extension with our tenant!
We were very lucky, because our real estate agent Sharon was well versed in what was happening in the market, and had great advice for us.She knew what was going on regarding sales in the development our house was located in, and came up with the perfect asking price and marketing plan for the house.Although there were a couple of weeks of nail biting on our part, in the end it worked out.Even though we’d missed the market peak because we couldn’t get rid of the tenant when we wanted, thanks to Sharon’s good guidance, we were able to sell our house for a very good price. We’d owned the house a bit more than a year and a half, and we’d sold it for about $140,000 more than we paid for it!A pretty good profit in our minds for a 19 month investment!
Doing some research, I discovered that there was a tax legal way to transfer the profit gained on an investment property to another investment property, and not pay any Capital Gains tax.Called a 1031 Like Kind Exchange, in essence it allowed us to “trade” one house for another, and if we met certain requirements, not to have a taxable event.We found a company in Nevada that acted as the intermediary for this, and they handled all the paperwork and banked the funds until we bought the next property. One of the requirements, however, was that we had 45 days to identify that next investment property and then had 180 days to complete the purchase.
The clock was ticking!
Next time…finding that property, which turned into a home!
I firmly believe that you can’t live in the past, but in a sense, it’s sad that so much from both my childhood and even our kids’ childhoods are gone now.The house I stayed in way back in the 50s, the beach stand on the 32nd Street beach, and even Campbell’s Seafood have given way to new construction and the 3200 block of Asbury Avenue looks totally different.In the same way, both “John’s House” and the beachfront house across the street from our last summer rental on Central Avenue have been razed for new construction.Change is inevitable, and so change did come to Ocean City, as it did to our family.The kids grew, vacations went in different directions, prices went up, and our expectations went down.
The summer of 1988 the D’Elia’s did Florida, including a week in Disney World.If you think bringing two babies to the beach had been something, you should have seen this Florida trip with two 18 month olds and a 6 year old!Boy did we have “stuff” loaded in that Ford van!Even though that was our big trip, there still was a couple of days stop in Ocean City, and that’s the way we continued our Ocean City connection for many summers.Wherever we went, whatever else we did, there was at least a weekend in Ocean City.In fact, for a number of years, Ocean City was a part of the D’Elia Family’s Memorial Day weekend!It was fireworks on the beach on Long Island on Friday night, then Saturday morning it was off to Ocean City, where we’d walk the boardwalk, play mini golf, visit the arcades, and eat Hose Pizza.
[Okay…time for a little side bar here.Our favorite boardwalk pizza in Ocean City was from Mack and Manco.It turns out that rather than using a ladle to put the sauce on the pizza, the sauce came out of a hose when they stepped on a peddle.When Billy was small, he started calling it Hose Pizza, which incidentally we still do!Back to our story]
That was the way we got our Ocean City fix, but then in the summer of 1996, things changed.We discovered camping!That summer, we rented a small pop-up camping trailer from Tent City in Hempstead, and also had them put a hitch on our Ford van.We made reservations to rent it for a week in July, and then set out to look for a campground on the shore.Back in the 50s, when I was a kid, a ride along Route 9 in Cape May County was a trip down a totally desolate stretch of road, bordered by forests.In the 90s, it was more populated, and the home to many campgrounds.After looking at a number of them, we picked out Pine Haven in Ocean View, NJ, just off Garden State Parkway Exit 17.It was close to Ocean City (just about 13 miles up Route 9), but our “rent” for the week was more like what we’d have paid for one night in an Ocean City motel!
Billy was 10, Krissi and Kenny were 6, and we got to spend several nights on the Ocean City Boardwalk and even had a day on the beach!There was a pool, a lake, mini golf, and even bingo at the campground, and a good time was had by all!We thought that this could work!
Attending a camping show the next winter, we came across the Tent City booth and told them we loved the last summer and were going to rent one again next summer, but for two weeks.One thing led to another, and the next thing we knew, we owned a pop-up camper!Two weeks the next summer at Pine Haven worked great, except for the 3 days in a row of rain we had.The camper turned smaller and smaller each day it rained, but we were doing Ocean City on the cheap, and that was great!
Crabbing and Fishing at Ludlums Landing!
The next year, when I took the pop-up in to be serviced, I made the mistake of dropping Susie at the showroom, while I went across the street and dropped off the trailer.By the time I got back, she’d found this incredible new and big camper on the display floor.Two king sized beds, an additional single bed, a large storage cabinet, sink and stove, place for the porta potty, and a table that sat 6.Yes, soon we were the owners of two pop-ups, but we quickly sold our original one at a price that the dealer said qualified Susie for a job selling atTent City!
And that’s how we did Ocean City for the next 3 or 4 summers.We’d stay at Pine Haven (the kids had made friends there that they saw every summer), travel down route 9 to spend time in Ocean City, and do the two weeks for less than what a couple of nights in Ocean City would cost us!That is, until a 12 year old Krissi told us she was tired of going to the bathroom with bugs, and the D’Elia’s camping days were over!
Our kids celebrating Christmas in July with their Pine Haven friends Kim and Tracy
Then for a couple of summers, we rented Denise’s house on 50th Street and Asbury.This was a great 3 bedroom 2 bath home that had more than enough room for us and everybody could invite friends to drop in, and they did!About the same time, Susie and I got the idea that we might like to retire to Las Vegas one day.We had family friends out there who were in the real estate business, and in 2003 we went out for a visit and decided to have a house built.We had no intention of using it, but thought if we could rent it and pay for the costs of the house, it would be a great way to get our foot in the Vegas Real Estate market!
I know, you are asking, “What does you building a house in Vegas have to do with Ocean City, NJ?”…just hold on, and you’ll see!
Our friend Sharon Malloy showed us many areas, and knew what to look for and keyed us in on what was right for us.Eventually we decided on the Maryland Heights development, in the South East part of Las Vegas.We picked out the lot, decided on which of the 4 models we wanted built on the lot, went to the design center and picked out finishes, appliances, cabinets, and the like, and that was that.In 3 months we were the owners of a beautiful new 1800 square foot 4 bedroom, 3 and a 1/2 bath home.We were close to Henderson and about 6 miles from the strip, and as the surrounding property was not yet developed, had a view of the Strip from the master bedroom.It was a beautiful house and thanks to a king-sized Aero Bed we’d shipped to Sharon, we were the first people to sleep in the house.We even had company, because oldest son Billy was doing a semester in Los Angeles, and he came for a couple of days too.
10423 Gwynns Falls Street, Las Vegas, Nevada
In very short order, the house was rented, for a price that allowed us to pay our mortgage and all costs associated with the house.It was a reason to make 3 or 4 trips to Vegas, gave us a nice tax deduction, and the house was increasing in value.What could be better?Well, perhaps had the house been less than a 6 hour plane ride away, and something we might be able to use, but that’s a story for part 4!
Our little family on the 40th Street beach in Ocean City in 1983
It’s hard to believe, but it took Susie and me 20 years before we rediscovered Ocean City.It was during a trip to the Jersey Shore, the spring just after we got married. At the age of 30, I walked the boardwalk I’d first walked when I was 5, and discovered that so much was familiar.Some of the stores were different, but the rides, and the smells, and the sights, and the atmosphere was exactly what I’d remembered!It was an incredible reconnection with my past, and the best thing was that the girl who had just become my wife felt the connection too!Who says you can’t go home again?
John’s House
So, although the connection was there, the early years of a young couples lives are full.For us, these were the years we bought our first house, and started our family. The next time the D’Elia Family traveled to Ocean City was the summer of 1983, when son Billy was 7 months old.We rented an old house in the 3900 Block on the west side of Central Avenue, and it reminded me a lot of the house we’d stayed in when I was a kid.First, no air conditioning.Okay, we’re at the shore and we’re in our 30s…of course we can live without AC!The bathroom was painted purple and had a huge claw tub, but no shower.The
The purple bath
shower was located outside, at the bottom of the back stairs.Billy was, of course, in a crib, and Susie and I got to share a double bed!The rest of the house was furnished as if some old lady had just locked the door in 1957 and never came back…which was fine!The one thing that cinched it for me, was that just like the house we stayed in when I was a kid, our rental house had a big front porch, full of more overstuffed furniture and surrounded by almost floor to ceiling windows. There was no TV in the rental, so just like when I was a kid, our afternoon and evening entertainment was sitting on the porch watching the world go by!We didn’t have Campbell’s Seafood Take-out to watch, but the comings and goings of Central Avenue, and the neighbors across the street kept us plenty occupied
We rented from a young guy named John who stayed in a small first floor apartment, while we had the whole second floor. We always wondered if this was indeed an old family home, because the decorating style was definitely not in keeping with a young guy who drove a black Pontiac Trans Am! (think Smokey and the Bandit) One of the downsides of the place was that the outdoor shower, at the bottom of the stairs, was just outside John’s kitchen door.We never saw what the downstairs looked like, but John and his friends always seemed to be in the kitchen, making the taking of a shower a little strange, because it kind of felt like you were showering in their kitchen!
But we were in Ocean City, half a block from the beach, and we loved it!So did the rest of the family who came and visited us that first year!My Mom and Dad came down, and relived those 6 summers long ago that Ocean City was our summer home.Susie’s folks came too, as did her sister and husband and her brother and his girlfriend, and everyone enjoyed our summer rental…even if it was only for one week!Traveling with a little baby is never easy, and we had “stuff” loaded in and on the car for our week in Ocean City.By the time we were packed, our little Toyota Tercel was full…trunk, trunk top luggage carrier, back seat, and even a portable roof rack!Porta crib, high chair, stroller, and all the other necessities made packing and unpacking a big job….thank God we have kids when we are young!That first week as a family in Ocean City sold us, and with the exception of extending our rental to two weeks, for the next 3 summers we called “John’s House” our summer home!
Billy and Daddy on John’s Front Porch
Our “summers at the shore” were filled with days at the beach and in the water, meals cooked at home most nights, walks on the beach in the evening looking for shells and beach glass, and trips to the Ocean City Boardwalk. It had been 22 years since I’d been a little kid in Ocean City, but there were still so many things from my childhood that remained.Stores and rides that were still on the boardwalk.A trip on the merry-go-round on Gillian’s Fun Deck, or some salt water taffy from Schrivers. A pizza “cut” from Mack and Mancos which I think was my Dad’s favorite place for pizza on the boardwalk when I was a kid. Sounds of the Ocean City Pops coming from the Music Pier, and the movie theaters I remembered.The Surf, the Moorlyn, the Strand, and even the old Village Theater, that had started on the ocean side of the boardwalk, but when they moved the boardwalk towards the ocean, found itself on the shore side!Just like when I was a kid, Ocean City was still a dry town, and even in the early 80s had Blue Laws in effect, making a Sunday night walk on the boardwalk very different than it was any other night of the week. Amusements and theaters were closed, as were most stores.The few stores that were open had large areas closed off containing objects that you couldn’t buy on a Sunday.On a Sunday night, the OceanCity boardwalk was about walking and looking at the ocean…much the same as it had been when I was a kid.
Gillian’s Fun Deck…now the Water Park
Dinner from Campbells with Susie’s Mom and Dad and sister and husband
It wasn’t just the boardwalk that held memories of my childhood at the shore, downtown Ocean City still looked much as it had when I was a kid.Stores like Stainton’s on Asbury or the Chatterbox and Bookers restaurants on 9th Street. So many of the big old houses through town were now B and Bs, catering to a new generation of tourists.Every summer we had to have at least one meal from Campbell’s Seafood, my old neighbor on Asbury.When we’d go down to pick it up, I’d look across the street at the old house we use to stay in, and be that 5 year old again. The new Campbell’s was built on the parking lot and the parking lot was where the old building was, but the menu and food was much the same. We’d get the meals in the white boxes and be fascinated when they’d run them through the string tying machine, giving you a neat stack of boxes, all trussed up and ready to take home. Unfortunately, something else was the same and that was when we got home, there always seemed to be something wrong or missing from the order.
Wonder who took this picture?
Another thing that was the same as when I was a kid in the 50s was communication with home.Now, this may be hard to believe in the times we live in, when virtually everyone is walking around with a phone in their pocket, but the only way we had to check in with what was doing at home and to assure everyone that we were good, was via a pay phone.Looking back in my mind, I recall there being blocks of pay phones on the Oceanside of the boardwalk, and lots of folks using them.That’s what we’d do on nights we were at the boardwalk, calling either Susie’s or my folks to check in. On nights that we didn’t go to the boardwalk, we’d walk the two blocks to the corner of 40th Street and West where there was a pay phone outside of a restaurant.This was the way it was in the 50s, and still the way it was in the early 80s.
Something else that our kids have a really hard time understanding is the fact that when we first started going back to Ocean City in the early 80s, there were no such thing as ATMs!Frankly, it’s even hard for me to remember what the world was like when you couldn’t access your bank accounts from almost every corner anyplace in the world, but that’s exactly what you dealt with when you went on vacation way back then!It really impacted us one summer vacation when oldest son Billy must have been 3.It was early in our Ocean City stay, and one morning we decided to go downtown and rent a surrey for a ride along the boardwalk.A surrey is basically a cross between a bike and a car, in fact it’s like having two bikes side by side…..four wheels, 2 sets of pedals, and instead of having two handlebars to steer with, there’s a steering wheel.So we rent a surrey, and since Billy is so small at that point, he gets to sit in a basket on the front of the vehicle. We have a nice hour or so ride, and as we get back to the rental place, I pull down the break lever on the steering column just as Billy turns and sticks his little hand in the wrong place! He screams, I scream, he starts gushing blood, and Susie grabs him up. We run down the street to the car, jump in, and speed off to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point!Well, long story short, the X-rays showed a break and after an appointment with a local orthopedic doctor the next day, all was well…but for one thing.Billy couldn’t get the finger wet for the next couple of days!
So there we were, at the beach for 2 weeks with a three year old, planning that most of our days would be taken up by hours and hours on the beach, and suddenly we had to put that plan on hold.So what else could we do?Trips to the boardwalk, visits to Cape May, and just about everything else we could think of to occupy him cost more money than spending the whole day at the beach.Our cash that we had with us that was budgeted for our two week stay was going fast, and I really worried if we would be able to stay the whole time.Luckily I discovered a way that an American Express card and a personal check could buy you AmEx Travelers Checks, but I look back on that time and really wonder how we got along without our modern conveniences like ATMs and Cell Phones!
So we spent 4 great summers at “John’s House” as a family of three, but by the next summer, everything would change.You see, upon getting back from Ocean City in the summer of 1986, pregnant Susie’s scheduled appointment with the doctor revealed not one little baby growing inside her but two!With just a scant few months to wait, we needed to wrap our minds around the fact that our family of three was about to turn into a family of five!Our twins, Krissi and Kenny joined the family on November 20th and suddenly we were parents of 3 kids under the age of five!Of course, with changes in family size, other things have to change, and our plans for the D’Elia Family’s Summer of 1987’s Vacation did too!
One thing that didn’t change however, was our destination.Where better to introduce our new babies to the beach, than Ocean City, NJ? So, come June of their first year, Susie and I loaded up the van with a 4 year old and two 7 months olds, two cribs, two high chairs, two walkers, and about everything else we could think of, and headed to Ocean City.Two changes though, this year we decided that 3 weeks would be better for our expanded family and our destination was not “John’s House”.
Billy and Mom at 3917 Central Ave
For the summer of 1987 we upgraded our residence by moving from the west side of Central Avenue to the east side.That summer, we spent our time on the second floor of a beach front house just across the street from John’s house.We were now living side by side with the folks we’d been watching for the last 4 summers!3 bedrooms meant that the twins had their own room as did Billy and two bathrooms plus a real indoor shower meant that life was much more comfortable for us.Just being able to take the path over the dunes to the beach also meant that it was a lot easier for us to bring all the junk that three little kids need from the house to the beach.It also meant that when we had to travel back to retrieve the one or two items that we always seemed to have forgotten, that wasn’t such a big deal anymore either.It was an idilic 3 weeks at the beach and all the kids loved it.
Krissi and Kenny on the OC Beach their first summer
As usual our days were spent at the beach and most meals were home cooked.There were occasional nights along the boardwalk pushing twins and sometimes carrying Billy.There was a lot of Dad standing outside stores on the boardwalk, because getting 3 little kids in a store was not easy.There also was the night we felt sorry for ourselves as we waited in line, trying to get into Mack and Manco’s pizza with the twins in a double stroller.Our attitude was changed greatly through when a woman came out pushing triplets in a Triple stroller!
The first taste all three of our kids had of beach life happened in Ocean City, NJ.It was a great introduction, and it was a continuation of my summers in Ocean City to the next generation.While Ocean City would be a part of these three kids’ lives every summer growing up, sadly, after the summer of 1987, our visits would change and it would be a number of years before we’d get back to this kind of an Ocean City visit, so the summer of 1987 is really the end of part two of our saga of the D’Elia Family and our love of Ocean City, NJ!
My Mom and Dad on the 32nd Street Beach in Ocean City in the 50s
Are you lucky enough to have a special place, a sanctuary, where you can go to recharge your batteries, or to hide from the world? A place that’s populated with family or friends that feel like family?A happy place that just getting to, no matter what your mood, makes you feel happy?Well, Susie and I do, and it’s Ocean City, New Jersey!Ocean City is located on a barrier island, accessible from the New Jersey mainland by 4 bridges.It is the largest and northern most city in Cape May County, deep in the heart of the southern Jersey Shore.But never confuse our Jersey Shore, for the Jersey Shore you see on television.What we love about the place is that in the summer it’s a thriving summer resort, when the population swells to 150,000, but in the winter time is a lovely little town with a resident population of just under 12,000. What we really love is the friends and the life we have there, and the feeling of happiness that washes over us every time we drive across the 9th Street Bridge!Ocean City is now our forever home, and here’s how we got here!
Our family’s association with Ocean City started the summer of 1955, when I was 5 years old.My Mom and Dad sang in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, and although the job of a singer in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus may seem glamorous, in the early 50s the Met’s season was less than 30 weeks long.That meant that my Mom and Dad only got paid for 30 weeks of work a year, and we survived the rest of the year courtesy of New York State Unemployment Insurance. Not exactly the kind of financial background that led to summers in the Hamptons, but when I was 5 years old, a financial background that allowed us to spend most of that summer and the next 5 at the shore!
Another married couple who sang at the Met were from Philadelphia, and as such knew the Jersey Shore very well.So well that their family had a home in Ocean City. Founded in the late 1800s by 4 Methodist ministers as a Christian seaside resort, Ocean City in the mid 50s was still a dry town and a place where businesses closed because of Sunday Blue Laws.They called it, America’s Greatest Family Resort and did all they could to prove that it was true.A great family friendly boardwalk, two and a half miles of white sandy beaches, and a small town attitude were what they were selling, and we were buying!Of course, based on my folk’s finances, we weren’t buying too much, but I sure enjoyed those summers!
3220 Asbury Avenue
Their friends Walter and Kathy’s family had an old summer cottage in the 3200 block of Asbury Avenue, and Dorothy, their next door neighbor, rented rooms.Well, we spent those wonderful summers in Ocean City in a rented room and as so many folks say when they look to save money on a resort room, all we did was sleep in it!Two different days of each week my Mom and Dad would need to head back to Queens to sign up for that week’s unemployment benefit.On Tuesday my Dad would take an early bus from the Public Service Bus Terminal on 9th Street, be at the Unemployment office for his 1 PM appointment, and then head back to Ocean City late in the day.Every Wednesday afternoon we’d drop my Mom off at the bus terminal and she’d do the same thing, but since her appointment time was first thing Thursday morning, she’d spend the night at our apartment in Jackson Heights, and then sign for her check the next morning and be back in Ocean City just after lunch. They did that every week we were in Ocean City and netted a combined amount that was under $80.
The Public Service Bus Station on 9th Street in Ocean City
Looking back on it now, I’m sure that as a family we were on the lowest rung financially of folks who were summering at the beach, but we were summering at the beach, and frankly, we may have been doing it on the cheap, but I never knew it!Our days were spent at the beach in the sun and the waves.An inflatable raft that was bought at Hoys was my prize possession, and it entertained me every day better than the most expensive video game!A sandwich wrapped in wax paper and as a real treat, a 2 cent pretzel from the beach stand at the 32nd Street Beach schmeered with mustard, and I was happy.My only concern was how long after eating did I have to stay out of my beloved Atlantic Ocean!
By the time night came, I was exhausted from a day in the waves, and I’m sure more interested in sleeping than eating, so simple fare for our evening meal was fine with me.It could be pizza or a hot dog during an occasional outing on the boardwalk, or a quick meal cooked in our communal kitchen.What I do remember was nights sitting on the big front porch of the house watching the world go by on Asbury Avenue.Dorothy’s house was just across Asbury from Campbell’s Seafood take-out, an Ocean City landmark for many years, and I’d amuse myself watching the customers head in and out of the parking lot.This really became a sport on Fridays, as this was back in the days of meatless Fridays for Catholics and Campbell’s business would double!Even the adults watched those nights!
Occasionally there were special nights when dinner was a night out at Watson’s on 9th Street, or Chris’ Seafood Restaurant and Fish Market on the bay at the foot of the 9th Street Bridge, or perhaps Sim’s on the boardwalk.Honestly, I do not remember much about the food at Watson’s, but I do remember that anytime you went there for dinner, you had a long wait, and I’ll always be able to picture in my mind people sitting in white Adirondack chairs waiting to be called for dinner.I remember Sim’s as the typical seafood restaurant of the 50s, where I only ate fried flounder! The one I do remember is Chris’, not so much for the seafood which was caught on their own boats and sent all over the country, but for what happened after dinner.Everyone who ate there got a ticket for a free sightseeing ride on on of their boats, and the one you always wanted to be on was the Flying Saucer!A 75 foot wooden converted PT boat from World War II, the Flying Saucer would take up to 125 passengers on a ride out of the inlet and then for a wild wave jumping trip into the ocean.Now that was the way to end a meal!!
After six glorious summers spent in Ocean City, my folks started working at the Cincinnati Summer Opera, and our summers went in another direction.After that, there were occasional trips to Ocean City, but just for a day or two. We never again spent the summer at the beach.
To be continued….don’t you hate when they do that!
As we get older, we lose many things that hold importance to us.It may be a favorite restaurant, a store we loved, a house we lived in, or even a car.In the same way, as we get older, we lose people that have places of importance in our lives.I’ve lost my Mom and Dad, my Father-in-Law, Aunts and Uncles, Friends, and people I’ve worked with.Today, another person joins those ranks, as last night in Florida, Dan Ingram died at the age of 83. If that name means nothing to you, then you didn’t grow up in and around NYC, or you’re not one of my radio friends.You see, Dan was the afternoon DJ on America’s Most Listened to Radio Station, Musicradio 77 WABC, and is counted by most as one of a handful of the best DJs in America during the era of Top 40 Radio.
I was fortunate that my first 6 years at WABC were the last 6 years of Musicradio.Most afternoons of those 6 years, I could be found on the board in WABC’s Studio 8A, working on Dan’s Show. Those 6 years were the best of the 40 I spent at WABC, in no small part because of my experiences during those afternoons I spent with Dan. The lessons I learned, the laughs we had, and being accepted as a part of Dan’s life, are memories I will treasure forever!
Four years ago, when I started my Radio Stories blog, one of the first stories I wrote was about Dan.Copied below is that edition of, It’s Better Than Working For A Living:
“Radio Stories….Dan Ingram – August 18, 2014
I have been very fortunate in the 42 years that I have been an Engineer in New York Radio to work with some of the very best people in the business. In fact, if I started a list of the DJs, talk hosts, and programmers I’ve been lucky enough to work with, and for, it would be a “Who’s Who” list of the best in New York Radio over the past 40 years. While I’m telling stories here, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some of these great pros. So here goes…… Might as well start with someone who most folks would have at the top of their Top 10 lists of all time great DJs, and that would be Dan Ingram.
Like most kids who grew up in the New York area, I had listened to Dan a lot since he started at WABC in July of 1961. The first time I met Dan as a WABC employee, was probably the second week I worked at WABC, in August of 1976. Like most new hires in the Engineering Department back then, I started on the overnight. It was slower and easier to get your feet wet in the middle of the night, and since you were still working on the air at WABC and WPLJ and doing news production, you got exposed to everything that a Group 2 NABET engineer would do on the 8th floor. Working on the overnight was also a way to size up the new hires, and to make sure they were solid enough to work the rest of the day parts. After a couple of days on the overnight, I started slowly moving around the day parts until about 7 or 8 days into my time at WABC, I found myself working with my training engineer on Dan’s show. On the day I started at WABC (Sunday, August 8, 1976), they started destructing Studio 8A, the main air studio to build a new studio, and we were working out of Studio 8B which Dan and others called “the trailer”. That’s because it was the same length as 8A, but was only about one quarter of the width. So anyway, I had just finished up working an hour or so with Ron Lundy with good results, so it’s decided I’m going to stay on the board. In the last record of the hour, Ron packs up his gear and Dan comes in, and just before he sits, he extends his right hand across the over bridge and says, “Hi, I’m Dan Ingram” to which I reply, “I know”. Snappy come back, huh?
One of my Dan Ingram stories happened 4 years before that fateful day, when I first met him in 1976. In the spring of 1972, I got hired in my first NY Radio job as an audio engineer at WHN radio, and after initial training, most days I worked the afternoon shift, which started at 4 PM. As I wasn’t that far out of college yet, a lot of days I would spend the morning and early afternoons out at WCWP, the CW Post radio station. A little before 2, I’d hop into the car and drive into Queens to take the subway to WHN at 400 Park Avenue. Well of course, even though I worked at WHN, my car radio was set to WABC and I’d get to listen to 30 or 40 minutes of Dan’s show before I got to the subway in Forest Hills. As always, Dan had some funny comment about the titles of the songs he played, often times a change of meaning from what the song writer had in mind. So I’d listen to Dan on the way to work, and then later that same day, I’d be on the air with Jack Spector at WHN. During the first 6 months or so I worked at WHN, we played a kind of middle of the road soft WNEW type format, and some of the new records we played were the exact same records that were being played on WABC. Many times Jack Spector would schedule a record that I’d just heard Dan talk up on my way into the city. Unconsciously, I’d hit Jack with the comment that Dan had made in his intro, and on many occasions what I’d just said would come out of Jack’s mouth as he introed the song! I realized that I was the unintentional vehicle through which Jack Spector was stealing from Dan Ingram, which caused me to stop listening to Dan on my way to work! Luckily, less than 6 months after I started at WHN, we flipped to a country format, so that issue no longer existed, and I was back to listening to Dan on my way to work! As far as I know, no one but me ever realized what was happening….
On July 3rd, 1981 Dan Ingram celebrated his 20th Anniversary on WABC, and I, along with George Musgrave, were the two guys scheduled to engineer the show, and I even got a shout out when he was on the air with Cuzin Brucie! WABC News Man Rick James had done a lot of prep on things that had happened in the world during the 20 years, plus we had audio clips of highlights of his past 20 years at WABC, lots of phone guests scheduled, and a big selection of the music that Dan had played during the 20 years. We had a great time that afternoon, enhanced I’m sure because that July 3rd was a Friday, and a company holiday because July 4th fell on a Saturday that year, and WABC was empty! (Yes….remember back to the days that even big stars like Dan Ingram worked 6 day weeks and holidays?). The show was a wonderful look back at Dan’s career at WABC and how he got there, but it was also a great look back at the history of one of the world’s greatest radio stations, Musicradio 77 WABC! There was the British Invasion, the W A Beatle C period, the great DJs like Cuzin Brucie and Scott Muni, transit strikes, snow storms, black outs, old jingles and the music. We had a great afternoon, and really, a party on the air. and in 8A, as the only people on the floor, were the operations folks that day. Little did we know that by the next July, WABC Musicradio would be replaced by WABC Talkradio, and our time working with the likes of Dan Ingram would be over!
20 years later, on July 3rd, 2001, on the 40th Anniversary of his debut on WABC, Dan was a guest on WABC’s John Gambling Show, which I was also the engineer for. I talked to Dan on the phone that day just before he went on the air, and it was fun to let him know about that little bit of trivia that I’d engineered both his 20th anniversary AND his 40th anniversary on WABC!
Of course, what everybody remembers about Dan was the Ingram wit. Even if you didn’t get to listen to his whole show, catching the show open and the show close became the first instance of appointment radio for many in the New York Metropolitan area! He was a fast thinker and a funny thinker, and much of what came out of his mouth was not planned, and certainly not scripted. Take his closes for instance. During the 6 years I worked with him, often times I’d be on the board as his close approached. A lot of days he’d be looking for a topic to have fun with over this closing music, and I was lucky enough to have a suggestion that he liked, and was the beneficiary of several Ingram closes. Like in 1977, when I was still a VR and got a letter in mid December that I was to be laid off on Christmas Eve…that became an Ingram close. Or the day after Thanksgiving one year, when driving into the ABC Building, I hit a pot hole on the LIE and lost a wheel cover…that became an Ingram close. Or on September 29th, 1980, when I told him that a year ago we’d both been at my wedding….Susie and my first anniversary became an Ingram close that day!
Funny things just came out of Dan’s mouth and they did it with very little effort, and once they were out, they were forgotten…like his intro from Neil Diamond’s Holly Holy, which I remember him subtitling on the radio, as “The story of a religious carburetor”. Anytime I hear that record I remember that phrase, and so in 1980 I’m sitting on the board in 8A, and Dan puts Holly Holy on the overbridge as the next record to play, and I say, “Oh, the story of a religious carburetor”. Dan says to me, “Hey, I like that. Can I use it on the air?” To which I replied, “Why not…I stole it from you a long time ago!” Dan didn’t have a set of cue cards, or a reference library that he’d go back to, or a Rolodex loaded with his best lines. He was funny, and once he said something that many of us will always remember, it was out of his head! I will remember this line for the rest of my life, but on that day in 1980 when I said it back to him, he had no clue that it had originated with him!
The last time I saw Dan was on a dinner cruise WABC sponsored to mark the 25th Anniversary of switching from music to talk in 2007. It had been a long time since we sat across the board from each other in Studio 8A at the ABC Building and I went up to him and said, “Mr. Ingram, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Frank D’Elia and I used to be your Engineer at WABC.” Not only did he remember, me but said something that I will always treasure. “Frank”, he said, “you were one of the smartest engineers I ever worked with. I had no idea why you were doing the job, but I know that every time you walked through the door into 8A, I was happy you were.” Yea, nice to know that the best DJ most of us will ever get to hear, thought I was one of the best engineers he’d ever worked with. I’ll take that!
Listen to a couple of classic Dan Ingram show closes that I was involved in:
After this was posted 4 years ago, my friend Dan Taylor from WCBS-FM made sure that Dan saw the blog.I got a lovely email back from Dan, telling me he loved the post, and still had fond memories of our time together at WABC.Thanks Dan, for facilitating one more Dan Ingram thrill!
If you’ll indulge me a little more, I’d like to share a couple of other stories.
One afternoon, working the 4-Midnight shift, I was assigned to 8A from 4:15 to the end of Dan’s Show.Being blessed with the ability to sense the vibes of a room when I walked in, I knew something was not right.After I relieved the other Engineer, I asked Dan what was up.“The damn transmitter keeps dumping”, he replied.I knew that having the WABC Transmitter repeatedly dump during the Dan Ingram Show was definitely not something that ABC wanted, and I understood Dan’s pissed off attitude.We played a couple of songs, and the transmitter continued to dump and come back.As we approached a spot break I asked him, “do you want to not play the commercials?”Figuring that if the transmitter dumped during a spot, we’d owe that client a make good.Dan’s reply…”Fuck Em…Play the spots.Nobody gives a damn, till you start costing them money”.I can not tell you how many times in my 40 years at WABC I repeated that sage advice to younger members of the staff, courtesy of Dan Ingram!
During the time I worked with Dan, I was pleased to have him share several personal moments with us. Dan was at our wedding when Susie and I got married, and at several parties we had at our home. At one of our parties, he came with his then current wife, who was somewhat younger than Dan.Another guest at that party, was my friend Louie Perianno, who I worked with at WHN, who was a HUGE Dan Ingram fan!He made me promise to introduce him to Dan, and I assured him I would.One problem when you are a radio person and go to a party with other radio folks, is your significant other ends up having nobody to talk to.Lou’s wife Susie was in that situation, and hooked up with another woman about her age, who said that her husband worked with me at WABC, and found herself in a similar situation. After talking for sometime, the woman’s husband returned and his wife introduced him to Susie, and the three of them continued their conversation.When Louie returned, it was Susie Perianno and not me, who introduced Louie to his idol, Dan Ingram!Dan was a regular guy, who liked to have a good time!
Like the Christmas Eve a couple of years ago, when George Michael died, I am torn today between being sad, and being happy for the memories I have of working with someone who wasacknowledged as one of the best DJs of all time, and who thought I was pretty special too!I’ve often said that everybody in radio has an ego, and to be Dan Ingram, you had to have a huge one. But his was not a destructive ego, it was an ego that embraced those of us who worked with him, and who were accepted into his group of favorite folks to work with.The six years I was lucky enough to work at Musicradio 77 WABC were the best of my 40 at WABC, and I will never forget them.
As I said on Facebook someplace today, the great thing about memories is that nobody in them gets old.For me, I will always remember my friend Dan Ingram, during the late 70s and early 80s at WABC…The Most Listened to Station in the Nation!!Thank you Dan for all you did for radio, for all the folks you influenced to have a career in the business, and for being my friend!I will always love you!God Speed my friend!Heaven’s radio station, just got a whole lot better today!!
Well, it is Disney World, but more about that later!
This was our last day in Walt Disney World, as tomorrow morning we will get back into the Sonata, and journey up north to Ocean City. Today is our 19th day in Florida, and with the exception of the day it rained in Key West, the weather has been incredible. We have eaten out, sat at a tiki bar along the Intracoastal Waterway, and relaxed at the pool! Thank you Florida for giving us these gifts during February, of 2018!
So, today we decided was going to be a relaxing day. We started with breakfast in the Innkeepers Club, and as we walked in, one of the gentlemen who works there said, “Oh, here are the love birds”. We figured that was a good omen. Susie had her favorite…crostini with prosciutto and a slice of melon. Today they had grits, and I made them cheese grits! As usual, a nice breakfast, and a great perk for staying in a club level room.
Then it was back to the room to change and go to the pool. Several relaxing hours poolside, under a beautiful blue sky, reading, sleeping, and visiting with folks. Oh, this is where the Small World theme first comes back. We are sitting next to these two ladies, and Susie talks about the storm that is coming tomorrow and Saturday to Ocean City. One of the ladies hears Susie say “Ocean City”, and she starts talking to us. Turns out that they are Nancy and Roz, and they own Sun Rose Books, on Asbury and 8th Streets in OC. We had a nice discussion with them about life in Ocean City, including favorite restaurants. Nice ladies, and how about the likelihood that we run into someone who lives and works in the same small Jersey Shore town as us?
Then it was back to the cottage for a couple of GDDs in our English Garden, before we showered and got dressed for dinner. We had a 7:15 reservation in the Flying Fish restaurant, right here at the Boardwalk.
Our GDD view, and one of Susie’s little friends!
The Flying Fish was elegant, the food was super, and our waiter JR made us feel special! All that and a 40% Cast Member discount made for a wonderful meal! A great last night!
We never seem to remember to take food pics BEFORE we eat it!!
A little shopping (got to get the last of the Cast Member discounts), and then we headed to the Belle Vue Bar, for our last nightcap with Allen, and guess what…we met up with someone else from our past!
Kevin Plumb was 20 years old when he started at WABC, and over the years I worked with Kevin on a lot of remotes, I worked for him when he became the Director of Engineering, and now he’s a Vice President with ESPN, who happened to be down in WDW on business, and emailed me. It was good seeing someone I first met back in the 90s, and reminiscing about so much of our shared history!
Kevin has always been tall…I am not shrinking!
So, this is it for WDW and for Florida. We leave tomorrow morning, and sometime tomorrow, we will bid goodbye to the state of Florida. From Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast, to our nights in Key West, to our stay in Hollywood Beach, to the time we spent with our cousins Jeanne and Walt, to these last 5 glorious days in WDW, it’s been a great trip! Thanks Florida for our preview of Summer, 2018! We WILL be back!
Back when Disney bought CapCities/ABC, my contention was that what they really wanted was ESPN, but to get it, they had to buy all of ABC. Not only were they already in the Cable TV business, but there was a lot of synergy they could get out of a Disney/ESPN match up. Just look around Walt Disney World, and you see ESPN everywhere! From the ESPN Club at our resort, to various ESPN themed areas, all the way to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex. (Oh, by the way, there is an ABC Commissary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but the cafeteria on the 2nd floor of 1330 was a better place!)
ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex contains what they call a Baseball Quadraplex (4 professional sized baseball fields) that host several tournaments and training programs, Marathon Sports Fields (17 manicured fields) that can host soccer, football, or lacrosse, the HP Field House (4 different basketball courts under one roof), The Softball Diamondplex (6 softball fields, all equipped with lights), a Tennis Complex (featuring 10 clay courts), the Visa Athletic Center (a multi sport facility that houses cheerleading and dance, basketball and volleyball courts, and more), and then, a world class Track and Field complex! It’s also the home of Champion Stadium, which at present is the Spring Training home of the Atlanta Braves.
After I retired at the end of January, 2016, we came down for a couple of Spring Training games, and one of them was the Mets vs the Braves at Champion Stadium. More because of Disney than the Braves, it’s a very well run stadium, and your experience is closer to a major league park than we experienced when we saw the Mets later that same week, in Port St. Lucie. When we were planning this trip, I discovered that the Mets were once again playing the Braves during our stay, and I got tickets. Today was our ballgame day at Walt Disney World!
As we walked into the complex from the parking lot, we were treated to a concert by the Atlanta Braves Philharmonic Saxophone Quartet just outside the main gate. We’d see them again in the field before the game, and during the 7th Inning Stretch!
As the game started, we realized that these were the Unknown Mets playing today. With the exception of Matt Harvey, who pitched the first two innings and Zack Wheeler who pitched one inning, we’d never heard of any of the players. Well, that’s not quite true…Tim Tebow did take 2 at bats, but did nothing really. It was a beautiful day for a ballgame (well it was, once the sun went behind the building and we were in shade…before then, it was HOT), and the seats were great. Although the score went back and forth a couple of times, in the end the Mets came out on top, by adding 3 runs in the top of the 9th, after getting 2 outs, to beat the Braves 6 to 4. Oh, and yes, if you’re interested, they still do the f**king chop, which is perhaps the most annoying thing that happens when you watch the Mets and Braves play!
Matt Harvey, Tim Tebow and the rest of the “Mets”
After a short drive back to the Boardwalk, we dried off and came back to life in the air conditioning of our room. It was a good day, and honestly may be the one and only time we get to watch the Mets play baseball live this year.
Late in the day, after we felt alive again, we took the boat to Epcot and walked the World.
Dinner was Fish and Chips from the Great Britain pavilion.
And then there was some shopping! Susie got a hat and a Minnie windbreaker, and I got a Mickey hat…got to use that 35% Cast Member discount!
Then there was a boat ride back to the Boardwalk, where we watched one of the nightly boardwalk shows….
Before heading home, we stopped to see Allen at the Bellevue Bar for our nightcaps, where we discovered tonight he is involved with Boy Scouts, so we had plenty to talk about!
So, just about exactly 2 years ago, on our first visit to WDW after I retired, I said the following in our blog:
“So, as we say good-bye to our second full day at Walt Disney World, I have to admit that I am conflicted. On one hand, I have a strong hatred towards Disney/ABC, because 8 years ago, CEO Bob Iger (himself a product of the American Broadcasting Company), decided that ABC Radio was not a core business of the Disney Company. That started a chain of events that saw WABC and all the ABC O&O radio stations, as well as the ABC Radio Network, being sold to Citadel Broadcasting. After spending 2.7 Billion Dollars for us, Citadel ultimately went bankrupt, which then saw Cumulus Media “merging” with the bankrupt Citadel. That meant we now worked for Cumulus, a company run by two brothers who ultimately burdened Cumulus with so much debt, that the stock dropped to pennies, and is now in jeopardy of being delisted by the stock exchange. Can you say history being repeated? So, the last 8 years have not been kind to WABC, many of the people who were a part of our work family, and my personal sanity.
Now on the other hand, 8 years ago, when Disney decided to send the ABC Radio stations into oblivion, I had worked for the company long enough that I was able to “retire”. That meant that although I would continue to work for WABC for 8 more years, I was able to start collecting my ABC/NABET pension, and was considered on the books as an official Disney Retiree.
And what does that mean, you may ask. Well, it means that as a Disney Retiree, Susie and I have a lifetime Main Gate Pass.. That means that we can get 4 people into any of the parks around the world for free! Yes, I said for free! It also means that we can reserve a room at a Disney property for half off the going rate. But wait, I’m not done yet…as they like to say on infomercials. Then there are the discounts. At present, we get 35% off merchandise, which makes ridiculously priced Disney items reasonable (like a $49.99 sweat shirt really being $35) and 20% off food items at many restaurants. Sweet deal, huh?”
So, now with 2 years of reflection, you know what? I just tell everybody that I retired after 40 years at ABC! Citadel, who? Cumulus? You mean the cloud?
Well here we are again in WDW, for the third year in a row. Five nights in a Boardwalk garden room, with Club Level access, at a 50% Castmember discount!
????????????????????????????????????
Club Level means that we have access to the Innkeepers Club, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, and snacks, plus access to the concierge staff for anything we need.
Innkeepers Club Lounge
Had a great dinner tonight in Trattoria al Forno, with a great waitress Andrea!
Walked the Boardwalk a bit….
And ended the night at the Belle Vue Lounge with a couple of drinks!
Isn’t that a wonderful name, for a town in Florida? Well, in case you’ve wondered where we’ve been for the past couple of days, we have been in the aforementioned town, visiting with our cousins Jeanne and Walt. My Mom was the oldest of three kids, and grew up with 2 younger brothers. Jeanne’s Dad was middle brother Bill, and she’s slightly older than me, and the person who has known me longer than anybody else in the world.
Susie and I got here Wednesday afternoon, and have been having a great time with our family. We’ve sat around the dining room table, or on the screen porch, talking, and talking, and talking the night away. In fact, that first night were were here, we all looked at our watches and discovered it was almost 3 AM! That’s just the kind of relationship we have, and we love that too!! Oh, and by the way, it’s not just what we do in Florida, we did exactly the same thing when they came to spend time with us in Ocean City last year!
Today, Jeanne made plans to get us off our asses and out of the house, and thanks to her, it was a wonderful day! We started this morning with an Air Boat ride. These were always things that fascinated me when I was a kid and we’d visit Florida, or when watching old TV shows like Flipper or The Everglades. The last time we’d been on one, was way back when the kids were little, and we took a ride on a big one out of Homestead. This was a great sized one, piloted by Bob, who was a snowbird from point Pleasant, New Jersey. We each had wireless headphones, and Bob gave us a great tour and narration.
We saw lots of Florida wildlife, beautiful plants, and trees, and even some alligators!! I was enamored of the beautiful colors, especially the blues of the sky and water! Ah, Florida in February!!
After saying goodbye to Bob, we headed out of the Blue Cypress Conservation Area, and Jeanne and Walt said they had the perfect place for us to go for lunch! Yee Haw Junction was where we were going, and since Jeanne was driving, and Susie and I were in the back seat, off we went! As we traveled, Walt started to explain to us that Yee Haw Junction was not it’s original name. That was Jackass Junction. But as Florida’s population started to grow, and the Florida Turnpike was being built, the powers that be decided that Jackass Junction wouldn’t look great on an Exit Sign, so the name was changed to Yee Haw Junction!
And where did we have lunch? Well, it was called Desert Inn Bar and Restaurant and let’s just say that had Jeanne and Walt not been our hosts, we would have driven right by. Had we driven right by, we would have missed an incredible experience! It was fun, the drinks were cold, the food was good, and the atmosphere was…..well, look at the pictures below, and you decide!
So we’re back at the house now, sitting around the dining room table, looking at the pictures we took today, laughing about the folks we saw in the restaurant, and enjoying just being together.
Neither Susie nor I are lucky enough to come from families with hundreds of cousins, and relatives everywhere. It’s something I kind of imagine is missing from our life, but I’m sure that some folks who do have huge families, may be telling me to be careful what I wish for. We’re lucky enough to have Jeanne and Walt as our cousins, and I know that because of that, we’re lucky enough!
So, they all can’t be perfect, and today it was the weather that threw us a curve! When we got up about 8:00 this morning, the temperature was in the 70s, but the weather forecast said that it was a cloudy 70 degrees. It also called for sporadic rain, but as we were sitting around getting ourselves collected this morning, the sun came out, so we hoped that was a good omen!
We were very relaxed this morning, as both of us had a good night’s sleep, and were in no hurry to start our day. Then I re-read the check in information, and realized that breakfast didn’t stop at 11, but rather 10, and it was about 9:30 already. Not wanting to get there for the last dregs of breakfast, we decided to get into the car, and drive around a bit, and see what we could see, and then look for a place for a late breakfast/early lunch, so that’s what we did.
We started out with the windows and sun roof open, but soon we were getting rained on. It was not real rain, more of a heavy mist (what we call “misting”), but enough that we had to use the windshield wipers. Our first task was to find the local Wells Fargo bank to take some money out of the ATM. That task completed, our plan was to look for parking somewhere around Mallory Square, and spend a couple of hours wandering the streets and taking the Conch Tour Train through town. The rain was on and off, but we still figured we’d be able to get through the day. Guess where we ended up parking? At Mr. Buffett’s Margaritaville Resort and Marina. Having just recently opened, we considered staying there, till we did a dummy booking, and saw what the price was going to be. Let’s just say, that only the most well off Parrot Heads will be partaking from it’s hospitality. We went in the lobby, and figured we’d look around, but the lobby really just consisted of a check-in desk. Oh well, we had a place for the car, and now we were on foot.
Right next door is the Museum of Art and History at the Custom House, with some interesting and large works of art in the courtyard.
We checked out a couple of tourist shops, but as we all know, we already own too much stuff, so no purchases were made. It was about 11:15, and the rain was still falling, so we thought we’d look for someplace to get a little something to eat. We spotted the Red Fish, Blue Fish restaurant, and decided to see if they were open. There were people inside, and indeed they were serving lunch, so in we went. We had an order of incredible Conch Fritters, then Susie had a Chicken Sandwich, and I had a Shrimp Po-Boy Sandwich. We both agreed we should have stopped with the fritters! Oh well, we were out of the rain, and had something in our stomachs!
We pulled out our phones, and looked at the weather forecast, and even the radar, and it looked like the weather was going to improve. The radar showed the storm pulling out of the area by 1 PM. We had hopes for better weather as we walked over to the office for the Conch Train. The train in the station was full, but the signboard said the next one would leave at about 12:15. It was getting brighter by the minute, and we both decided to give it a try. I bought us a couple of tickets, and when the next train pulled in, we jumped on board.
Launched in 1958, the train is about an hour plus tour in and around the old and new city of Key West. It passes lots of sights, and there is a narration conducted by the “Engineer” as you go around town, which brings up a question….why the hell do people take a tour that costs this much (our two Senior tickets me almost $60), and then proceed to talk through the entire tour! Here is a picture of the three loudmouths that talked, laughed, and even took phone calls through the tour!
These three couldn’t shut up till they got off the tram!!
So we were about a third of the way through the tour, when the weather forecast proved wrong, and the heavens opened! Did we get wet? Yes, but it’s warm and wet, so not the end of the world. We enjoyed the sights we saw, and at one point, the 3 talkers got off, so we could hear the narration better!
One of the sights you pass on the tour is the Southernmost Point Buoy that you always see in pictures. Hard to believe that there was a block long line of folks (maybe 75?) waiting to be able to take their picture by the buoy. I don’t know if this is an out growth of the “selfie craze” or what, but it’s a trend we’ve noticed happening more and more lately. People will wait in line for anything!
One thing that was obvious during the tour, is that the city is crazy! As quiet as the city was when we started out this morning, it was hopping now. Every bar was overflowing, and the sidewalks and shops were full of people! Bad planning on our part, in that this is President’s Day Weekend, but also there are 3 cruise ships in town. Key West is apparently a big cruise port, and with 3 ships in today, thousands more tourists were eating, drinking, shopping, and spending money. Key West is, after all, a tourist town!
So after getting off the train, and still being a little wet, we decided to get the car, and go back to the hotel for a bit. A drink, a shower, and getting ready for our 6 PM dinner reservation at One Duval at the Pier House Resort and Spa.
After getting ready for dinner, we took an Uber for $9.00 to the Pier House. We had a 6 o’clock reservation for dinner at One Duval, but first stopped at the Beach Bar for a Martini. After enjoying that, with a wonderful view, it was time for dinner.
Then we moved up to One Duval, and what can we say, other than the fact that it was the absolute best dinner we have had on this trip!!! A great setting, wonderful food, and a great server!!! Take a look at these pictures of the setting, the sunset, and our meal, and see if you can raise a doubt! It was awesome!!!
After a great dinner with our server Linda, (from Latvia) we moved back to the Beach Bar with bartender Merri! Some great conversation with other patrons (one of which had gone to high school with Merri in Massachusetts, and just wandered into the bar), a couple of more Martinis, and then Susie got Key Lime Colada to go! It was the perfect end to a perfect night!
Honestly, we are not folks to hang at Sloppy Joes, and drink out of plastic cups, and hope that the guy next to us doesn’t puke on us! The Beach Bar at the Pier House was the perfect venue to end our night!!!
Then a $10 Uber trip home with Jorge, ended a perfect night!!! This is our version of Key West, and honestly, we loved it! It was one of our best nights of this trip. We’ve had several great nights, and this was in the top 5!! Thanks Key West!!!!
See you tomorrow when we head north again!! Hope your Sunday night was half as good as ours!!!
The next call was to our friend and realtor Sharon Malloy in Las Vegas. We laid out what we were thinking of doing, and she agreed it made sense. We loved what she told us about the Vegas real estate market, and were ecstatic when she told us what we could probably get for the Vegas house! We gave her the okay to put the house on the market, and to have the Property Manager let the tenant (who was now renting month to month since the 1 year lease had expired) know that we were putting the house on the market. Everything sounded like it was on track!
Remember the US Housing Bubble in the late part of the first decade of the 21st Century? Well, Las Vegas had it’s own housing bubble burst, but a bit earlier. Turns out that they had overbuilt the housing stock in response to a population increase that leveled off. Because many folks had bought multiple properties without enough capital to carry them if they didn’t have renters, they were in trouble, because the rental market was over saturated. In reaction to what was happening, housing prices were dropping as landlords attempted to unload their unrented houses, rather than lose them to the bank. It appeared we’d missed the house price peak. Trust me, this only increased how pissed off we were at the Property Manager for screwing up the lease extension with our tenant!
Doing some research, I discovered that there was a tax legal way to transfer the profit gained on an investment property to another investment property, and not pay any Capital Gains tax. Called a 1031 Like Kind Exchange, in essence it allowed us to “trade” one house for another, and if we met certain requirements, not to have a taxable event. We found a company in Nevada that acted as the intermediary for this, and they handled all the paperwork and banked the funds until we bought the next property. One of the requirements, however, was that we had 45 days to identify that next investment property and then had 180 days to complete the purchase.
The summer of 1988 the D’Elia’s did Florida, including a week in Disney World.
else we did, there was at least a weekend in Ocean City.
That was the way we got our Ocean City fix, but then in the summer of 1996, things changed.
trip down a totally desolate stretch of road, bordered by forests.
Then for a couple of summers, we rented Denise’s house on 50th Street and Asbury.
It’s hard to believe, but it took Susie and me 20 years before we rediscovered Ocean City.
But we were in Ocean City, half a block from the beach, and we loved it!
little kid in Ocean City, but there were still so many things from my childhood that remained.
dry town, and even in the early 80s had Blue Laws in effect, making a Sunday night walk on the boardwalk very different than it was any other night of the week. Amusements and theaters were closed, as were most stores.
Another thing that was the same as when I was a kid in the 50s was communication with home.
lots of folks using them.
in our Ocean City stay, and one morning we decided to go downtown and rent a surrey for a ride along the boardwalk.
interested in sleeping than eating, so simple fare for our evening meal was fine with me.
As we get older, we lose many things that hold importance to us.
One afternoon, working the 4-Midnight shift, I was assigned to 8A from 4:15 to the end of Dan’s Show.
R New Adventures 