July 22-28, 2004

naked city

fineprint

Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Less words, more story.

by Brian Hickey

Prostituting for Posterity

By all historical accounts, Henry Braid Wilson Jr. sounds like an honorable enough fellow. A Camden native, he commanded the U.S. Navy's fleet in French waters during World War I. Having earned a litany of distinguished-service awards, his return home was marked by motorcades, parades and dinners of planked shad. While nobody today can vouch for how the shad tasted that April 1919 evening, Wilson is anything but forgotten. For he's the admiral in Admiral Wilson Boulevard, the strip of highway on the Jersey side of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

It's such an important stretch of road that before 2000 GOP convention, former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman sunk roughly $50 million into a project to tear down blighted buildings to make way for parks and scenic Camden vistas. Why? So convention delegates staying in Cherry Hill wouldn't have to see pimps, pushers and prostitutes from their bus windows as they headed toward Philly.

Talk about revisionist history, right? Not only did locals lose such legendary locales like the French Quarter Inn — there, ladies of the night pulled back their motel-room curtains to signify they were open for business (don't ask; it's a long, but legal, story). Now it seems that another high-profile, old-school Admiral Wilson site will be forever altered.

Last week, the South Jersey Tourism Corp. announced that the Delaware River Port Authority had received a $500,000 grant to help SJTC turn the former home of the Oasis Motel — now a parking lot overlooking the mighty Cooper River — into a 3,000-square-foot welcome center. There, visitors will be able to receive information about attractions scattered throughout South Jersey.

Doth we protest too much when we say enough is enough? Since the Admiral's been dead for 50 years, we think it's high time somebody speaks up to protect the legacy of his namesake road. The buildings have been razed. The aforementioned pimps, pushers and prostitutes have found new areas to peddle their wares. So, it falls to the SJTC to memorialize the boulevard we grew to love before Christie befouled the joint.

Since 3,000 square feet is more than enough room to house brochures for Wheaton Village and the Cowtown Rodeo, why not dedicate a room for a Hooker Hall of Fame? A Playas' Ballroom? Maybe throw in an overdose-simulation ride for good measure? After all, Admiral Wilson Boulevard was a hotbed for all three.

SJTC President Judi London says she was asked whether they'd have "Go-Go" on the welcome center sign when it's finally up and running in roughly a year. So, are there any plans to celebrate the past while looking toward the future?

"I'd want to it say 'Stay-Stay," she says, noting that there are no plans to commemorate the boulevard's seedy past. "We want to welcome people to South Jersey, to boast and promote everything you can do here. Those activities, they're really not there anymore, so I'd say no."