Bill Barlow
OCEAN CITY -- When Gillian's Wonderland opened in 1965, no human being had set foot on the moon, more than 180,000 American troops were in Vietnam, and B. Thomas Waldman served as Ocean City's mayor, leading a three-person committee.
As for the next 59 years at the property, no clear picture has yet emerged.
Developer Eustace Mita owns the land, and has previously proposed a multimillion-dollar hotel near the site. But for now, he is not ready to share any hints about what may be proposed for the property.
"We are very enthusiastic about what is starting to come together," Mita said Friday. "That's all I can say."
He said the closing of the long-standing amusement park would be a sad day in Ocean City.
"We believe that there'll a new dawning on the Boardwalk," Mita said. "There's a sunset on the Boardwalk now, but we believe there's going to be a great sunrise."
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In 1965, Roy Gillian left the business his father, David, had founded to start his own at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk, where Stainton's Playground had burned down a decade earlier. In the 1980s, Roy Gillian served as the mayor of Ocean City. He died in August at 94.
In the years following its opening, Wonderland became a centerpiece of summer visits to Ocean City.
Gillian's Wonderland is set to close Oct. 13; Send us your memories
Gillian's Wonderland in Ocean City is set to close in October after more than 94 years in business. Here are some memories of the establishment from readers.
Don Weckerly, of Limerick, Pennsylvania, recalls being 8 years old in the early 1970s, eager to visit the park. Walking along the Boardwalk, he recalls passing several movie theaters, arcades and the people ready for dinner at Simms, where the men wore ties and women wore skirts.
"And eventually, we made it to Wonderland," he wrote in a remembrance submitted to The Press of Atlantic City. "Oh glorious Wonderland! That's where the thrills were found."
A job at Wonderland was long a rite of passage for locals, said Ronald Kirk, of Linwood. He started at Wonderland as a teenager in the early 1990s.
"I loved running the carousel because even at that time I appreciated the beauty in the artwork and sculpted horses," he wrote.
Generations of residents and visitors have shared memories of the amusement park since the announcement that it would close in October. Columbus Day weekend is often seen as summer's last hurrah in Ocean City. Well after Labor Day, the weekends still bring thousands to the city for the annual Fall Block Party along Asbury Avenue on Saturday, and with a good forecast, the beach and Boardwalk are likely to see crowds again.
It will also be the last weekend of operation for Wonderland, with the park set to be open from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Jay Gillian, one of Roy Gillian's sons and the CEO of Gillian's Wonderland, made the announcement in a letter to the public Aug. 9, saying he had no choice but to close the pier and the 6th Street Pizza and Grill.
Since then, he has not said much more than was in the letter, and has declined requests for an interview. Most recently, he said he would not speak with the media until after the weekend about the park. Gillian is also the mayor of Ocean City, a position he has held since 2010.
This is when Gillian's Wonderland in Ocean City is set to close
Gillian's Wonderland on the Boardwalk will close for good Oct. 13, after entertaining generations for more than six decades.
Along with the nostalgia, Ocean City has plenty of questions about what will come next. In his August letter, Gillian said Wonderland was no longer a viable business.
"The property itself is no longer mine, so I can't speak to its future. But I'll always have a lifetime of priceless memories and I hope you will too," Gillian wrote.
Still, residents and business owners have clamored for more details. Residents have made appeals at City Council meetings and at a 2nd Ward meeting, which Gillian attended. He was not scheduled to speak, but he told those at the meeting that he did his best to keep the park afloat.
The park was heading toward a sheriff's sale in 2021 when Mita added a $10 million cash infusion to pay off a reported $8 million in debt and keep the park operational.
"I will tell you one thing about Mr. Mita is, if he had not come in, Wonderland would have been a dirt lot (right now)," Gillian said at the September meeting.
With no announced plans for the property, or for the towering Ferris wheel that is one of the first things visitors see coming over the Route 52 causeway into town, speculation and rumors have run rampant.
From public comments, many residents expect a hotel, which would not be allowed under the current zoning, and possibly a bar in the lobby, which Ocean City has never allowed anywhere and council recently restated its opposition to.
GALLERY: Take a look back at Gillian's Wonderland in Ocean City
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
Twitter @jerseynews_bill
INSIDE
Readers share memories of Gillian's Wonderland. A11
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