🛋️ Wildwood’s first Black motel, remembered | Down the Shore

Even into the 1970s, Bruce Harris remembers working at the front desk of Wildwood’s Elfra Court Motel in the early hours, waiting for the inevitable appearance of Black travelers who had been turned away at other places in the Jersey Shore resort.

“Black families would make reservation at white motels, and they would show up and find out they didn’t have reservations,” said Harris, the grandson of Elfra Court owners Ella and Frank Foster. “The white motels would send them to us, sometimes late at night. I would have to clean out a room.”

The Elfra Court was Wildwood’s first Black motel, its name a blend of Ella and Frank’s names. Harris is in Wildwood this week for the official dedication of the historical marker at 119 W. Roberts Ave., where the motel building still stands.

In its heyday, the Elfra Court hosted many famous Black entertainers who performed in Wildwood but were not welcome in its motels. Stars like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Fats Domino, Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton, the Drifters, the Platters, the doo-wop group the Chords, the Four Tunes, pianist and organist Bill Doggett, drummer Cozy Cole, and the Drinkard Ensemble, including Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother, all stayed there.

Today, it is a rooming house for international student workers, who fill the courtyard with their bicycles and chatter.

And while it might seem like an unremarkable place in the middle of Wildwood now, the history of the Elfra Court is anything but.

Read my full story on Ella and Frank Foster, who built the Elfra Court, Wildwood’s first Black motel.

📮 Do you own a bungalow or cottage on the Jersey Shore? Reporters Erin McCarthy and Ariana Perez-Castells are reporting on smaller, original-construction homes and would love to hear from you. Please reach out at EMcCarthy@inquirer.com or aperezcastells@inquirer.com.

😎 It’s truly been cooler down the Shore, and water has warmed up a bit.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (🐦 Tweet me at @amysrosenberg. 📷 Follow me on Insta at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

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🚒 An enormous fire destroyed a large rooming house on the beach block of Georgia Avenue in Atlantic City, injuring eight and displacing 40 international students here on work visas.

🌩️ Cape May’s City Hall was closed July 12 after a lightning strike.

🙄 A hearing on whether Bart Blatstein’s Island Waterpark should be placed in receivership has been postponed to Aug. 2, after Blatstein’s attorney said a settlement may be reached soon.

🗣️ U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents Atlantic and Cape May Counties, spoke at the Republican National Convention about his journey from a conservative Democrat to a Trump loyalist. .

⚖️ New Jersey’s U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted on federal bribery charges. Both candidates running to replace him, Democrat U.S. Rep. Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw, the Cape May hotel owner and developer, called it a sad day.

⚾ Local Phillies phenom Tyler Phillips, who grew up in South Jersey, is spending the All-Star break at the Shore.

😔 A horse named Ice died while pulling a carriage in Cape May.

🍸 My colleague Michael Klein dives into the new Angeloni’s.

🛥️ Former Philadelphia Eagle Brandon Graham will be a guest of honor at Ocean City’s Night in Venice boat parade July 20.

💃🏽 Zouk y Salsa free dance lessons July 21 in Atlantic City’s McClintock Park.

🚪 The Pond of Hope mansion in Linwood is the Show House at the Shore.

🦞 Get a lobster roll at Son of a Sailor in Avalon.

😋 Try the Meatloaf Toast at Wildwood’s Jersey Girl Kitchen: Toasted sourdough, avocado spread, arugula, meatloaf, fried egg sunny side up, pickled onions, and scallions.

🐘 Celebrate Lucy the Elephant’s 143rd birthday.

🤠 Baby’s First Rodeo, Philly’s monthly cosmic country party, comes to the Anchor Rock Club on Sunday.

Which American R&B and jump blues group recorded the 1955 song, “Everything’s Wild in Wildwood.”

A. The Treniers

B. The Platters

C. The Chords

D. The Four Tunes

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out.

Or take a chance and email us the answer.

Earlier, I made several predictions for this summer’s Shore season. Here’s an update on how I did.

Well, you had a lot of them. Here’s a sampling.

Jean D wrote: It seems that the Jersey Shore will never be affordable again, unless you and your family want to stay at a campground. The other option is to have several generations stay in one rental. The other factor is meals. More coolers will be filled with food from home and there will be more business at local shore Acmes.

I remember my mother packing all of our condiments, kitchen supplies, and sheets and towels. Then washing and drying the linens when we got home, while restocking the kitchen with everything we brought back. It was more affordable to rent a house sight unseen then. But, mom sure was tired.

Renée Gushurst of West Chester wrote: My parents took us to Sea Isle for one week every summer growing up, and our aunts and uncles brought their families as well. It used to be an affordable family trip. Since my three siblings and I are grown and have our own families, we have tried to have a similar tradition, aiming for every other year since annually was too much. When we looked at rentals for this summer, I *literally* said “I can take my whole family to Aruba for less, and I don’t have to bring my own [expletive] toilet paper and sheets.” We skipped this year again. I hope that the property owners trying to charge $5000 or $10,000 weekly have as many empty weeks as it takes to realize their place is worth half that.

Ray Gump of Southampton: The die is cast. Although there may be a small bubble burst for those who foolishly thought that they could buy at any price and gobs of money would fall from the sky, there is just so much wealth in the New York-Pennsylvania-Delaware region along with New Jersey itself that house prices will remain stratospheric and middle-class peons like me will be reduced to budget stretching one week vacation rentals. The only thing that will stop the price spiral is the eventual realization that in the foreseeable future climate change will make Cherry Hill beachfront property.

The poet g emil reutter has published a book of poems called Glint: Down the Shore Poems by Moonstone Press. In the Surf captures this moment in Loveladies, N.J.:

The waves crest and fall upon the shore, their roar diminished to a slight howl. Cool June wind whisks sand, pelting umbrellas, kites/sunbathers like a farmer shooting buckshot at intruders, when there is a lull the sun bakes the naked skin of the worshippers splayed out upon blankets and chairs.

Your eyes tranquil, as you read aloud from a book, words soften sounds of ocean as unseen grains of sand blend with pulp of page. A young boy digs a/hole in the sand, sits in it, his brother pushes the sand around him. He listens until you finish, climbs out.

Kite rises a few feet, descends into the sand. Teenagers watch as you persist reinforce string around the brittle supports. Kite rises a few feet, catches in winds swirl, twirls, string breaks, drops into the sand. Blows down beach into unknown hands.

Send us your Shore memory: In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

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