Nightbeat 2

Besides the street performers and parking lot bands, a few other places will also be featuring their own bands, like Downcaste, a four piece act out of Media who will be playing on the roof of Smith's Pier Breakfast nook and Clam Bar, a local landmark which will open for the season this weekend.

The Anchorage parking lot is where pretty much everybody used to meet, and they have set new records each year with the number of beer kegs sold, which is why Gregs and Charlie's are getting into the act. But this year, unfortunately, as the Bayfest winds down around 5 or 6 p.m., things have been getting unruly and city officials and Bayfest organizers couldn't coordinate a proper roundup, so the Anchorage management has decided to clear the lot and close it's doors all together at 6 p.m. and reopen Sunday at noon in order to avoid all the Shennigans. It's probably the first Saturday night that the Anchorage has been closed in decades.

That being the case, the live music action shifts dramatically from one end of the street to the other, as the bands at the Bubba Mac Shack keep going into the night and the Hurricane Band kicks in late at 5 p.m. at Carolines, rain or shine.

Jacque Major, who has been playing Saturdays at 6 p.m., will be doing a double shift at the Shack, playing an afternoon matinee session before doing her regular gig, which has been developing into a really tight guitar jam session. Jacque will be followed by the Bubba Mac Blues Band, both of whom have added a number of new tunes to their repertoire, so if you've heard them before you'll be surprised to hear some of their new songs. Last week Herb missed a set and his band really kicked in, as Lew London and the other guys picked up the slack, though I'm sure Bubba will be back for the Bayfest show.

Especially if there's a storm, one good gig will certainly be the tail end of the day at Caroline's, home of the twisting tuna, where the Hurricane band will play popular song in a classy way. With Hank Merek on keys and percussion, Frank Doughtery on guitar and Ed Anthony on congas, harp and lead vocals, the Hurricane can whip up a great set that will get people dancing. As a group of local veteran performers who play what they like, they primarily do baby boomer songs that we grew up with, mixed in with some new, catchy tunes they give a unique twist.

Whether it rains or shines, the show will go on, and we'll see what happens, though it's hard to imagine this fest getting any bigger than it already is.

Bay Shores is back, although it's not your mother's Bay Shores. What used to be Brownie's in Bargaintown and for the past few years has been trading as Chuck's Hideaway, has now been rechristened Bayshores by its new proprietors.

Bay Shores was the name of a classic rock and roll nightclub that once stood on the edge of Great Egg Harbor Bay in Somers Point at the site of what is now the Waterfront restaurant. From the big band jazz through World War II and the beginnings of rock & roll, bobby Rydel, Frankie Avalon, Mike Pedicin, Sr., Tedo Mambo, Malcolm and the Bonievilles, Johnny Caswell and the Crystal Mansion and hundreds of other bands played continuous music on two stages while thousands of patrons drank cheap beer and danced on a creaky dance floor.

Now there's Bay Shores II breakfast grill on bay Avenue, Jay Lamont's Bay Shores Alumni Association that owns the Waterfront, Mike Pedicin Jr.'s Bay Shores Music Company and Bayshores bar in Bargaintown, all capitalizing on the name and the nostalgia associated with it. Pat Pierson, of Bayshores II says, "People come in all the time and say they met their husband or wife at Bay Shores, and everyone who was there has fond memories of it."

Brownies Lodge in Bargaintown, dating back to 1869, was a former horse riding academy turned roadhouse that was owned by the Hoffman family for over 60 years. The name Brownies, they say, came from the one brown suit the Hoffman brothers shared and only wore on special occasions. In the last few years as Brownies, there was live bluegrass music on most nights and Sunday afternoon backyard barbeques where the bands played all day long and continued inside after dark.

When Brownies was purchased by Chuck Stanfa and Dave Tyson, the Piney era came to an end, it's rustic log cabin flavor renovated to its current neo-modern look that Tyson gave other bars he's redone - the Anchorage Tavern and Caroline's in Somers Point, Chuck's Hideaway in Bargaintown and Christie's at the airport circle, all with the rectangle bar, two pool tables, nostalgic pictures on the wall and colonial color scheme. Now Tyson is working on a new project, the Islander Bar at Seaview Harbor on Longport Blvd., which he'll have to give a more nautical look than his previous places. Now Bayshores fits his basic, successful motif, though Frank Achuff and Dan Siddons, the new owners, plan on some changes to reflect their personality.

Frank, an Ocean City guy, first went to the original Bay Shores on day after work at Mack & Minco's Pizza on the Ocean City boardwalk, where I too used to work and experienced Bay Shores as a teenager in the 1960s. One rainy Sunday summer afternoon, Dunkin MacRae, an older pie maker, grabbed three pizza pies to go and took me across the causeway to Bay Shores, where he gave one pizza to the doorman to get us in, another pizza went to the bartender, the late Buddy Tweill, and the third went to the band, Johnny Caswell and his band.

Bay Shores was packed for an afternoon jam, the rain had emptied the beaches, people were dancing in their bathing suits, and the place was wild. When one band finished it's last song, another band began playing on another stage, so there was continuous music so nobody left to go across the street to Tony Marts or Steels Ship Bar, though people always did.

Frank Chuff also remembers what it was like, and he's trying to bring back some of the magic and the good feelings of the old place. Frank attended OTIS, owned some Ocean City rooming houses and hotels that he sold to move to Clearwater Beach, Florida, but the events of 9/11 put a damper on those plans, so he's come home and starting a new venture.

Besides the name change, and the nostalgia associated with it, they've made some other changes as well, beginning with the CD jukebox that's now full of classics, and bringing in E.G.. Kenny Wild and Big Howe T. to spin the oldies but goodies. They will also be hosting some live music beginning with Tom Pizza and the Court Jesters on Wednesday night, which is also neighbor's night and those from hood get discounts. The Fabulous Greaseband is also booked for Memorial Day weekend, so the live sounds of the songs will be heard once again.

Dan, a cigar man, also notes that the liquor store and offices will be converted into a new Cigar Bar, which will come in handy for those who want a smoke, as the trend to eliminate smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, will certainly be coming our way soon. Dan also says that Bayshores is the new official home of the Atlantic City Surf baseball team, so you know Wild Thing and his boys will be hanging out there once in awhile.

The signs of the old times are also coming back, as they have a large Dunes neon sign u and have some relics from the old Bay Shores and Tony Marts that will soon grace the walls. While the site of the old Bay Shores is left with an historic marker for the Jersey Shore Music Heritage Trail, to let the new generation know something significant happened, those who were there still recall what it was like, can close there eyes and hear the music and feel the floor shake.

For a small bayside town that’s had taverns for over 300 years, has 22 active liquor licenses with hundreds of active bartenders and thousands over the years, choosing the 25 greatest Somers Point bartenders of all time will not be an easy task.

But that’s what they’re trying to do for the Good Old Days Picnic at Kennedy Park this September, when the Top 25 Somers Point bartenders will be announced. According to Nick Regine, the Community Education and Recreation Director, they were looking for a way to commemorate some of the city’s outstanding citizens, and the bartenders have played a significant role in giving the town some of its character and characters. “It’s a way to recognize those individuals who helped make this town what it is today,” said Regine, who explained that its also a way to help raise money for the Lawrence “Bud” Kern Scholarship Fund.

Every year on the morning of the Good Old Days Picnic, held on the Saturday after Labor Day, they hold a memorial “Bud” Kern run, and this year they wanted to do more, hence the greatest bartender contest, which will be run like the Night In Venice Pageant where each vote is cast with a dollar donation to the charity, with voting boxes set up at the Somers Point Beach during the Friday night concerts and at various bars around town, including Gregorys and Charlies.

The memorial is in memory of “Bud” Kern, who supported youth activities and sports in Somers Point for many years, with a separate group deciding on who gets the scholarships, which are awarded to deserving local students.

Since there have been so many great bartenders at the Point over the years, some parameters have been set up, for instance to be nominated a bartender has to have worked as a bartender in Somers Point for at least five years, though it doesn’t matter if they are living or dead.

Today, most bartenders are college kids working their way through school or those who can’t get a job in the chosen profession, or are of the Generation X, TGIFriday jugglers on the way up the corporate restaurant ladder and not settling in to be professional bartenders the rest of their lives.

There aren’t too many Old School bartenders left, real pros who knew how to make a real drink, wait on customers, befriend visiting tourists and take care of the regular customers, while making money for the house. Guys like Vince Rennich, George McGonigle, Ed Margum, Frank Clements, John O’Byrne, Tom Swain, Buddy Twiel and Hank Snyder have all passed away, but have left a lasting legacy in Somers Point through the customers they served that are still around and the bartenders they broke in and taught the tricks of the trade.

Since I’ve been covering the music scene at the Point since the late 1960s, when Buddy Twiel served me my first beer at Bay Shores (and Malcolm and the Bonnivilles were the band), I’ve come to know a lot of Point bartenders, so I’ve decided to nominate my own Top 25 to get the ball rolling.

Beginning with those who I have known that have passed on, first and foremost in everybody’s mind is Vince Rennich, who started working for John McCann, Sr. at Bay Shores when he got out of the service in the early 1950s, living upstairs in a room above the bar that had a spectacular view of the bay. In the fall, Vince went to Florida, where he worked the summer season at one of the beachfront hotel bars and comeback to work Bay Shores in the spring. Vince once recalled that, “We’d open the doors the week before Memorial Day and there would be still be bottles and glasses on the bar from when we closed the door the previous September.”

When Vince’s son was born, he stopped going to Florida to work winters and took on a full time, year ‘round job bartending at Gregorys, where he worked for the next 43 years, making his job a true profession and developing friendships that didn’t end until his death a few years ago. Tourist still come in every year asking for Vince, who used to turn down the lights when he came on a shift, lit you cig, listened to you’re problems and always give you the best advice.

Second on my list is Vince’s sidekick, the late, great George McGonigle, who worked beside Vince for 18 years and was once voted the “Most Congenial Barten der” by those who knew better, and whose last job at the Buck Tavern was taken over by his wife Riley, who only then learned how much in tips George actually took in. God Bless George McGonigle and many thanks to Bill Morris for sending George to Ireland before got to heaven.

While the others who have also passed on who were truely great - Frank Clements (Daniel's, Point Pub) whose Philly tavern is still named Frank Clements (behind the Academy of Music), Ed Margum (Charlies, Gregs, Anch), Tom ‘Hey Guy!’ Swain (DiOrios), John O’Byrne (O’Byrne’s, Mug, Purple Villa), Jerry Regina, Sr. (Chi Chis, Sullivans), Buddy Twiel and Hank Snyder (who wrote a manuscript called Bars) will probably not get many votes without anyone campaigning for them, I’m just nominating them because they deserve to be there.

An Old School bartender stands out, not only by being totally professional, but in the little ways, as Nick Regine says, “by giving you a water back with you cocktail without having to ask, and lighting your cigarette, and little things,” little things the new wave of bartenders just don’t do anymore. Besides Vince and George, there are a number of Old School bartenders still around, including Charlie Carney, whose retired from practically every bar in Somers Point, Don Dunlevy (Point Pub) and Vince Rennich’s brother Dave Lefco. Among the few Old School guys who are still working, there’s Jim Smartly and John Large at the Anchorage, Tom Major (the Islander on Longport Blvd.), Tom Milburn (Gregs), Fred and Don (Schooners), Wes Moore and Ray Smith (Charlies), whose father built the mahogany bar at Gregorys. Women bartenders have also made their mark, beginning with Ma Dean (Bayshores), Lucille Thompson Carnaglia (Anchorage), Marie Goan who ran the bar at the golf course clubhouse for 20 years, the great Gay Beadman (Attic), and working today there’s Ray’s wife Peggy Smith (Charlies), Lynda DiMeglio (DiOrios), Spike Holmes (Harrys Inn, Pearl), Nancy (Anch), Michelle (Carolines), as well as Kathy Kern (Crab Trap), whose father is honored by the Bud Kern Memorial Run and scholarship.

There’s also a number of Point bartenders who went on to bigger and better things, like Point councilman John Walsh (Daniels), EHT mayor Sonny MacCullough (Tony Marts), Billy Boyd (Anchorage) who owned the legendary Parrot Lounge in Ft. Lauderdale, Donny Bowers (Launch Haven), Doobie (Tony Marts), Brian O’Kenney (Gregs) of Library IV and Berkshire Grill and Scott MacRae (Anchorage) who now owns Yesterdays in Columbia, South Carloina. They took what they learned behind the bar and made something out of it. Now I’m sure I missed a few good ones, but forthe most part my Top 25 All Time Somers Point bartenders are in that mix, though before putting them in order I will have to mull it over a few cold beers to get it down right. To nominate someone you think deserves being on the list, call 927-7161, ext. 256 until July 1, when nominations will end, the voting begins, and a party will be held (at Macs) with live music and all the living nominees in one room at the same time.

Before Bayshores became the Waterfront, it’s last owner was John McCann, Jr., the son of the long time owner, former bootlegger and Philadelphia beer baron John McCann, Sr., who lived in a big historic house on Bay Avenue across from Smith’s Pier.

John McCann, Jr. grew up working at Bayshores and the Dunes, often found sitting on a stool at the front door taking the cover charge to get in. After college he became a successful businessman and was elected mayor of Somers Point while directing a Pittsburgh company with his brother-in-law. On occasion he would fly in by helicopter to attend city council meetings before eventually relinquishing his local post to concentrate on his Pittsburgh business. The Dunes after hours club in Egg Harbor Township was sold to State Senator Pat Dodd, who also flew in by helicopter to oversee the Dunes before that too was eventually sold to the N.J. Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, going from one wildlife to another.

Like his father, John McCann, Jr. became something of a pirate himself, his financial success, it turned out, was based in part on smuggling cocaine from Columbia via Panama, where he refueled and personally brokered a deal with then dictator Manuel Noreaga with a $200,000 bribe. Once when McCann visited Panama, the dictator showed him his CIA file, which also indicated the CIA’s support for Noreaga, both assuming they had the Reagan administration’s support to smuggle the drugs, possibly as part of the CIA’s contra operations in Nicaragua.

After one of McCann’s planes crashed in Mexico however, McCann and his wife and two children disappeared, mystifying his Pittsburgh neighbors. After a federal warrant was issued for him while he was on the lam, a former Somers Point neighbor on vacation in Canada ran into him stocking the shelves of a convenience store. McCann was later arrested while trying to cross the boarder back into the USA, and died at the Federal Penn at Merion, where Noreaga is now living.

A local wake was held for McCann at the site of the old Bayshores, in the loft bar at the Waterfront, and he is remembered locally as a good guy who got involved with some bad people and paid his dues for his mistakes.

And now there’s going to be a wake for the Waterfront in mid-October when settlement is made and the new owners take over. While the Bayshores era lasted more than half a century, and the Waterfront nearly two decades, the next era will have at least a two year lifespan before we know more about how the new bridges, traffic light at the circle and planning decisions are made for that part of town.

The new owners, who develop apartment complexes on military bases and college campuses, are not in the restaurant business, and will farm out the restaurant to a professional, restaurant management group led by Anthony DeMaio and Dominic Falcone, who tentatively plan on calling the place Sails.

DeMaio and Falcone, who entered the local restaurant scene a few years ago with I Love Lucy café at the base of Lucy the Elephant in Margate, then opened Mojo at the other end of Washington Avenue, which was formerly known as Omar’s when Craig Moon ran it, and the Nickelodian before that. Remodeling the place and reopening as an upscale martini bar with fine foods and jazz, Mojo is part of the Manyunking of Margate, where the old rock & roll nightclubs (Grables, Merral’s, Gilhooley’s) and shot and beer bars were replaced by upscale restaurants and cocktail lounges. The same thing happened in Key West and Cape May and has been happening in Somers Point, so now we’ll have Sails taking us to the next level.

If Sails is anything like Mojo [ www.MOJONJ.com ], it’ll be fine food, pena pasta and ostrich dishes, small but tasty portions, $10 exceptionally large martinis, and soft jazz. Gone will be the rock & roll, the reggae and the riff raff, replaced by fine food, cigars, martinis and smooth jazz by the Tim Lekan Trio, Tony do Rosario, Yavonne and Jack and the Budessa Brothers, with Kevin Rivell. They’re the main entertainment at Mojo, and I look forward to get my mojo jazz working.

If you’re looking for me, I’ll be up in the Sails Loft, preparing to sail away, in search of the music, where ever it’s playing.

FRIDAY – Wesley Ochs keeps the music going at the Waterfront (8); Second To None are at the Crab Trap; Patty Blee plays at the Library III; Mike Maggio does Karoake (5) at the Bubba Mac Shack before Danny Eyre and Ernie and friends play at the main bar; “Chef Bluz” with a Texas Twist at the Back Bay Café at the Tuckahoe Inn, where Sam and Jesse play inside.

SATURDAY – 24^th annual Adios Touristos and Welcome back locals at Gregory’s (9); Bob Campanell plays at the Tuckahoe Inn (7); Lou Demeis is at the Deauville Inn; Bubba Mac Blues Band (8:30) play the Bubba Mac Shack deck before Rosehill jams in the Attic (11).

SUNDAY – Eagles Tailgate party at Charlie’s parking lot; Pete Castallano and the Atlantic City Swing Band play the Tuckahoe Inn (5-9); Just Duet are at the Owl Tree in Northfield; Don Ellison goes solo at the Library III; Jerry Blavat plays his favorites while rapping the Geater gab at the Bubba Mac Shack deck (4-7) before the Bubba Mac Blues Band plays into the night.

MONDAY – Night Football – Green Bay vs. Chicago; Yesterday’s wings special; $3 pizza and $1 beer at Gregs; Snow crabs and wings at the Deauville Inn; Dr. Cheeko band at the Hilton Beach Club in A.C.

TUESDAY – Taco Tuesday at Gregs; Patty Blees is at the Library III; Trivia nite at Carolines.

WEDNESDAY – Second To None are at the Crab Trap; Retro Express plays 70s flashback at Schooners; Don Ellsworth is at the Library III; Bubba Mac Blues Band plays at the Bubba Mac Shack (8).

THURSDAY –Second To None is at the Crab Trap; Quizzo trivia at Bubba Mac Shack (7:30-9:30) before the Bubba Mac Blues Band jam (9:30); Sonic Blues Jam at Schooners; Patty Blee is at the Owl Tree; Bill Henderson is at the Library III; Taco Thursday at Gregs.

There's Bayshores II grill on Bay Avenue in Somers Point, Bayshores bar in Bargaintown, Mike Pedicin, Jr.'s Bayshore Music Company and Jay Lamont's Bayshores Allumni real estate group, all named after a legendary nightclub that doesn't exist anymore, except in people's memories and imagination.

The site of the Waterfront restaurant for the past 20 years, the upcoming changes will reflect on it's past, particularly the Bayshores era. Bayshores was an old, wood clapboard building that jutted out over the bay. It had a half-dozen bars, two stages for continious music and a nice dance floor.

My first visit, when I was a teenager and the drinking age was 21 (circa 1969), was a rainy Sunday summer afternoon when I was working at Mack & Manco's Pizza on the Ocean City boardwalk. When business slowed down, an older piemaker, Duncan MacRae, a marine helicopter pilot just back from Vietnam, made three pies to go and told me to pick them up and follow him. Driving us across the causeway in his Corvette at breakneck speeds, we pulled into the Bayshores parking lot and parked next to the door since the parking lot was full. There was a line to get in, but we gave the guy at the door a pizza and walked in.

Once in the door the blast of the music pushed me back, as I glanced around the room. The left wall was painted with a list of dozens of bands that had played there, while to the right there was a big rectangle bar in front of a dance floor and stage, where Malcolm and Hearafter were playing "Maggie Mae."

The second pizza went to the bartender, a talll, thin, tan, Magnum type guy, who I later learned was Buddy Twiel, who served us bottles of Bud. The third pie went to the band, when they finished their set, which had the crowded room rocking.

The band played all afternoon, then came back and played again at night, until 2am, when everybody went to the after hour joints - the Dunes, Mothers, Attic or Brownies, all of which had live bands that played all night long, until dawn. That's the way it was for decades, until the early 1980s.

The death knell for the rock & roll era was sounded earlier however, when the drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18. Because they were drafting teenagers to fight the war in Vietnam, soldiers who couldn't vote or drink, it just wasn't fair. But instead of ending the senseless war, they lowered the voting and drinking age.

While it took awhile for the new, youthful electorate to make their feelings felt at the voting booth, they certainly learned to party right away. When the drinking age was 21, the 30-40 age group was still part of the action, but when the drinking age was lowered, they sort of pushed the older generation into the Crab Trap and Mac's. The new drunks took over, and those who didn't die in Vietnam, some became highway stats before the laws were rectified. But then it was too late.

By the early 1980s, only Bayshores, Tony Marts and the Anchorage were left, and they were fading fast, shells still vibrating from their glory years, half-empty holdouts, who caught Sam the Band as the last Bayshores band.

When Harris Berman came along, the lawyer and former prosecutor had, with his brother, sold a Florida hotel, the proceeds of which were used to buy Bayshores, tear it down and build the Waterfront, which was designed as a Pocono ski resort. It was to be a restaurant without a stage and no live music at all.

Then Berman bought Tony Marts across the street, tore that down and built Egos, a sophisticated nightclub, with a dance floor and canned music and no stage. Eventually however, it was realized that live music is part of the equation, along with food and drink, and part of the overall Jersey Shore experience. So eventually live bands were brought back to both places, especially so after Jay Lamont bought them from Harris Berman.

With the Waterfront deck going strong in good weather, and live music inside the bar most nights, the Waterfront once again was a stronghold of good, live entertainment. Now, however, as the Waterfront fades into history, and Bayshores is just a memory, it appears that the music will die again. The new vision for a new era looks at the Bayshores and sees housing units, rather than the musical heritage that still rings true, if not even there.

FRIDAY - Hank, Ed and Frank and the Hurricane play Caroliness (Weather Permitting); Mike Maggio plays Karoke (5-11) at the Bubba Mack Shack before Danny and Ernie play (11); Don Ellsworth is at the Buck Tavern, Second To None is at the Crab Trap; Patty Blee plays the Library III.

SATURDAY - Mighty Parrot close the BBC - Back Bay Cafe at the Tuckahoe Inn (7-11) while the Party Guys play inside; Bubba Mac Blues Band at the Bubba Mac Shack before David Kolker plays in the Attic (11); Don Ellsworth is at the Library III; Just Duet plays together at the Owl Tree.

SUNDAY - Open mic night at Schooners; Jerry Blavit moves to Sunday afternoons at the Bubba Mac Shack for his live remote radio show (over 92.1 FM 4-7pm) before the Bubba Mac Blues Band; Rock & Roll rules Gregs.

WEDNESDAY - Bubba Mac Blues Band is a the Bubba Mac Shack; Retro Express plays backwards at Schooners; Don Ellsworth is at the Library III.

THURSDAY - Sonic Blues Jam at Schooners; Bill Henderson plays solo at Library III; Patty Blee is at the Owl Tree; it's Taco Thursday at Gregs.

When the Somers Point Historical Society (SPHS) officially opens its doors to the public Saturday (May 8^th), the one time church and former library will house the memories and memorabilia of 300 years of history of the city that sports itself as “small town charm by the bay.”

Among the books archived at the Society’s new headquarters at the old church at 745 Shore Road, two stand out distinctively in that you can’t get them anywhere else. One is a new $5 booklet “City of Somers Point – Before & After” Volume 1, the first in a series of then and now photos of some of the Point’s classic buildings – the Anchorage, Gregory’s, old City Hall (now the library), the hospital and various homes and churches.

The other book is Tony Mart’s Scrapbook. Originally started sometime in the early 1960s to keep file of advertisements and newspaper clips, it grew with the addition of black and white glossy promotional photos of the acts that performed there, business cards and other memorabilia related to the legendary nightclub.

While Tony Marts is no longer there, the 40 some years of rock & roll are chronicled in the scrapbook that now belongs to Carmen Marotta, Tony Mart’s son and current Somers Point councilman. Carmen loaned the book to the historical society, whose President Sally Hastings painstakingly scanned and copied every page before returning it to Carmen.

Now anyone can peruse Tony Mart’s Scrapbook by stopping in to visit and joining the SPHS, and even contribute some memories, interesting nightclub memorabilia or unique photos that can be scanned, copied and returned. The scrapbook is the motherload of such memorabilia however, and I’ll never forget the first time I heard about it.

“It’s in the book, it’s all in the book,” is what Tony Marotta told me in his deep, gravely voice in response to one of my pestering questions about a band, The Band, who Tony recalled as, “The Hawks. You mean Levon and the Hawks. Yea, I remember them, the bums, they left we without a band for Labor Day weekend, the biggest weekend of the summer.” Then he took a puff of his cigar and said again, “It’s all in the book. Come back tomorrow morning and ask the day manager to let you see the book.”

The book is a six inch thick black covered scrap book of all the ads, the photos, the newspaper write ups that chronicle the Bay Avenue nightclub that helped establish Somers Point as a mecca of great bands and music from the end of World War II until September, 1982 when it closed and the music died.

The next day I went back, and walked through the doors of the closed club, above which were two signs, one that read: “Showplace of the World,” and the other, “Through these doors walk the most beautiful girls in the world.” The stools were upside down on the bar, a sweeping janitor pointed the way to the back office, outside and around the back, walls lined with boxes and beer kegs. The manager at a desk looked up from his paperwork, and when I asked for the book, he took it off the shelf behind him and handed it to me. And just like Tony said, it was all in the book.

Some bands that never made it outside of Somers Point, others like Levon and the Hawks, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Skyliners (“Pennies from Heaven”), Conway Twitty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Mike Pedicin, Sr. (“Shake a Hand”), Tido Mambo,…they were all there. Levon and the Hawks, who became The Band, moved to Woodstock, backed Bob Dylan and went on to mythical status, according to The Book, played Tony Marts as the house band behind headliner Conway Twitty for a few months in the summer of 1965. They were replaced for Labor Day weekend by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels (“Devil in the Blue Dress”).

From the fifties thru the eighties, Tony Marts had two stages, continuous live music seven nights a week, all summer, every summer until September 1982. Earlier that year they filmed “Eddie and the Cruisers” at the club, capturing the spirit on celluloid, then closed down. The property was sold and the old nightclub, like Bay Shores across the street, was raised and a new disco opened on the site. Egos became Crazy Jane’s, then Key West, Brownies and Ice. Then the liquor license was moved down the street to the Yacht Club and the building sits vacant.

The spirit of Tony Marts remains however, in the memories of those who were there, and in The Book – the Tony Marts Scrapbook, one of the gems of the new Somers Point Historical Society archives.

Somers Point has a deep and varied history, from the Indians and early settlers, boatbuilders and fishermen, but the history of the old Bay Avenue nightclubs – Tony Marts, Bay Shores, Orsatti’s Gateway Casino, Steel’s Ship Bar, etc., is what originally made the Point famous, and is what most people remember.

And now, you too can peruse The Book, and take a trip down memory lane at the new Somers Point Historic Society on Shore Road, where the history of the music is being preserved.

The new headquarters of the Somers Point Historic Society will open at 12 noon tomorrow, Saturday (May 8), with a party and reception at Gregory’s dining room later in the afternoon.

[Bill Kelly is the author of “300 Years at the Point – A History of Somers Point.” He can be reached at Billykelly3@yahoo.com ]

Three South Philly guys made their mark on Bay Avenue in Somers Point this week, opening the dynamic Sails and the exquisitely restrained Tucker’s Steak & Seafood House, kicking off a new seasons with high expectations and a new era for an old seashore town. Anthony, Dominic and Joe are at the Point.

If you trace the lineage of the liquor licenses, Sails is the cutting edge evolution of Bayshores and theWaterfront, while Tucker’s S & S is an extension of Tony Marts, though neither bear any resemblance to the classic old nightclubs.

When Anthony Demaio and Dominic Falcone came to the Jersey Shore from South Philly they took on the grill in the shadow of Lucy the Elephant in Margate and in the footsteps of Lenny’s hotdog stand. Parlaying that down Washington Avenue to Mojo, they contributed to the Southbeach revival and Manyunking of Margate. Now they’re bringing some of that style and new money to Bay Avenue at the Point.

Given the opportunity to realize their vision by Gary Holloway, whose multi-million dollar investment in the Waterfront property will eventually change the character of that end of town, Anthony and Dominic created Sails.

Sails is the most dynamic and radical development to hit the Point since Taco Tuesday, except it’s taking things to another extreme. Forget 7 for 1 beers, low end and high volume, Sails is totally upscale, tres-chic and well, expensive. It should be called $ail$. Don’t forget your wallet, and bring money, cash or plastic, or don’t bother going. While this place will be visited by natives and locals if just to check it out, it’s not going to be the popular place to hang out, but rather the special place to go on occasion. Anthony and Dominic aren’t targeting the locals as patrons, but rather going after the center city crowd with taste, style and money to burn. And they’re going to bring a whole new class to a town that’s used to cheep beer and clams, so bring ‘em on.

Saving up a few week’s earnings, I visited Sails for the first time on their first Friday night, having opened the previous Monday after a few dry runs. While the layout of the bar is pretty much the same as the old Waterfront, the entire room is bathed in white, beams and all. As one recent first time patron put it, it’s like a “blue, white and gay explosion.” I wondered what it would look like when the walls and ceiling get stained white from cigarette smoke, but then I noticed there were no ashtrays, and four guys who walked in were asked to leave because one had a lit cig (they went to Gregory’s).

The bar, made of a gray granite like surface, is an oval cornered rectangle that you can walk around, with high backed wooden booths along the windows that overlook the Ocean City causeway bridge. Four silent plasma TVs reflect the current sports action, while a jazz combo plays cool jazz in the corner next to the newly tiled restrooms. A wall of shells, coral and conchs separate the bar from the dining room, which is layered in three tiers, booths against the back wall, a row of tables above the floor and a glass wall facing the water, giving every table a view of Great Egg bay.

Upstairs is the unfinished disco bar, and outside the deck, which will also have tables for fine dining and a separate cabana grill for burgers and hot dogs. Dominic promised that the deck will feature all types of music, so rock & roll is still in the picture.

The place is bright and cheery, the jazz is really cool, the wait staff is experienced and friendly, and we’re looking forward to meeting some of the new people that Sails will bring to the Point. On the downside, the drinks are pricey, the food is elegantly prepared and presented, the portions are small and expensive. The least expensive glass of wine is $7, beer is $4 and $5 a draft or bottle, lobster Newberg tops off at $40, the filet mignon steak is $38. That said, Sails is not going to be the place where regular people hang out, but rather it’s a special place for special occasions, which will probably evolve with the seasons.

The same night I walked down Bay Avenue to check out Tucker’s, which is a smaller, darker, more intimate place in what used to be the Point Pub before the liquor license was moved to the Somers Point Shoping Center when Ernie Corletto bought it in the 1960s. Then John Mayer sold his marina and renovated the place, opening it as a private club, but then Ira Trocki bought it and moved the old Tony Marts liquor license down the street and reopened to the public.

Now Joseph Tucker has it. Tucker used to own Pompii and Joseph’s in Philly, and came over to the Point from Longport, taking a classic old world building and bringing in a new style steak and seafood joint. The place feels comfortable, has a great view of the bay, and has a neat, though small hardwood bar flanked by plants. The wine is a dollar cheaper than Sails, and the food is considerably less expensive, with big portions and a fine Italian style.

A little easier on the wallet, I tried Joy’s Meat Ball appetizer ($6), which was really tasty, and the Mediterranean salad ($12), before Nick turned me on to a suburb pasta that was totally unique to me. I’ll go back for a steak (filet $24) and try some of the chef’s signature dishes another time. Now this is a place I could hang.

Besides Dominic, Anthony and Joe, Somers Point is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Stumpos from Cape May, who are taking over the old Somers Inn (Harry’s) and new owners of Macs, who are awaiting approvals for what they want to do with the last of the old style restaurants on Shore Road. For many years there were five, five star restaurants at the Point – the Crab Trap, Macs, Chi Chis, Harry’s and Daniels, and that’s the way it was for decades. Now we’re seeing an influx of new style joints that will make it another world.

[Bill Kelly is the author of “300 Years at the Point – A History of Somers Point, N.J.” He can be reached at billykelly3@yahoo.com ]