30 thoughts on “Baldwin Hotel, Beach Haven, NJ 1908 [800×512]”
I have the most wonderful childhood memories of staying at the Baldwin Hotel. Our family spent a couple weeks each summer at Beach Haven, staying at the Baldwin. As a child this spectacular building provided exceptional exploring opportunities. My dad was a watercolorist who painted a wonderful painting of an adjacent property, where nuns spent summer vacations. He did do while sitting on the balcony of our room.
When the Baldwin burnt to the ground, Beach Haven lost a large part of its identity.
Thank you for posting this beautiful rendition of the grand old Baldwin.
Hi, A.K.
I apologize for the delay in responding to your delightful comment about one of the Baldwin Hotel images– did you see all five? It is very gratifying when a reader has an emotional response, as you did, to something that they find here. I mentioned your comment in a blog post at https://rivertonhistory.com/2011/08/waiting-for-irene/. As you may have inferred from what you have read, many people have contributed information, images, and items to this collaborative effort. If you are able to send us a photo, scan, etc. of any of your father’s LBI artwork, or anything else that you may feel relevant, I will be glad to add it to our virtual collection.
Best regards,
John McCormick
Historical Society of Riverton
Thank you for posting the 1908 image of the Baldwin Hotel. Along with many other college students I worked there in the summer of 1954. The owner at that time was a man named Yocum (or Yokum), and the hotel had fallen into hard times. There were still, however, a fair number of guests. The most memorable event of the season was when a man fell into the elevator shaft from the lobby! He had been drinking, and didn’t notice when the night clerk invited him to “step in” although the elevator car was upstairs. His relaxed posture probably saved him from serious injury,and in that less litigious age he was satisfied to receive a free vacation at the hotel.
Hi, Lewis
Thank you for pausing to thank us for the memory that looking at these images has brought back. For those of us who have been to these places, the images here are not simply pretty pictures, but are indeed powerful catalysts for releasing a flood of memories.
I worked at the Surf City Hotel as busboy and waiter 1965-1968,for owners Abe and Louise Portzline, also as one of my several jobs of college days. Head-waitress Barbara showed me the ropes. I remember the amazing organ at the bar with the pipes visible thru a window in the wall. I only wish I had taken some photos, but I was too busy working. I think I earned about 66 cents an hour plus tips. When we went in for the dinner shift we got a full dinner plus dessert. At least once during the summer Kenny the chef gave everyone prime rib. If we worked until 11 or later we got a sandwich and drink as well. I pretty much just lived on what I ate there, slept and went to the beach, then back to work. The Halloween Party marked the end of the season.
I am a retired teacher and contribute to this website and our newsletter. I am glad that you found some enjoyment looking thru the images here. Almost all of the scans here are the result of the kindness of friends, acquaintances, and even some strangers from miles away who have kindly shared their collections. The virtual archive you see here grew from a small personal collection and scans taken from some other local collectors so that I could illustrate local history to my middle school history classes. If you have any scans or photos of postcard images or related ephemera and can get them to me I will gladly post them.
In any case, thanks for stopping by.
Best regards,
John McCormick
I was a lifeguard at Beach Haven in 1958 and 1959….We used to go to the Baldwin in the evenings…One of the lifeguards dated the daughter of the owner of the hotel. What a wonderful place!
Robert J. Broselow,MD
Sand Creek Ranch
Southland,Texas
Hi, Roy
I received your kind letter from across the miles in Louisiana along with your donation of a Baldwin Hotel postcard. Thank you for stopping by to reminisce and thank you for giving us a version of the Baldwin that we did not have. Without a copyright date or postmark, your guess that it dates from 1940 or so is probably a good one, based on the style of the automobiles illustrated. We sincerely appreciate that you thought to send us your postcard. That is how we amassed this virtual image collection – one at a time.
As I examine the sequence of Balwin Hotel postcards, I a puzzled that the turrets shown in earlier dated postcards, as well as in the two dated 1948, are missing in the one we estimate to be from the early 1940s. Perhaps a reader can sort out this seeming contradiction for us.
Regards,
John McCormick, editor
Link for your postcard: https://rivertonhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Baldwin-Hotel-Beach-Haven-NJ-c1940-Copy.jpg
I am a collector of postal material. I am in posession of an envelope and enclossed letter, both showing letterhead of the New Hotel Baldwin, mailed in 1909. Are such items hard to find. he letter is in fine shape, but the envelope is not. I would be willing to donate such to a local museum if wanted
Hi, Lawrence
Thank you for your interest. While I would love to score that rare piece of ephemera, I wonder if the Maritime Museum of New Jersey in Beach Haven would be a better home for it. Its President & Treasurer, Deborah Whitcraft, very generously let me scan hundreds of shore area postcards in her personal collection several years ago. The Hotel Baldwin postcards seen here are almost certainly hers. http://njmaritimemuseum.org/
Regards,
John McCormick
The Baldwin Hotel brings a flood of very happy memories to me. I was a life guard on the Baldwin beach in the summer of 1955. I was also the night watchman for a period of time. My future wife was a waitress at the Baldwin. Helen and Nate Levinson were the managers that year. We were married the summer of 1957. We both finished our college years and started our family. We were blessed with 2 boys and 2 girls, followed by 6 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. Sorry to say that my wife died in November 2016. When I pass on our children will pour are ashes into the waters of the old Baldwin beach. We will end up where it all started.
My Grandparents, Abe and Cora Korb owned the Baldwin until it burned down. Cora was Helen’s sister. Cora went on to establish the Temple in Brant Beach and was the first female to graduate from Barnagate HS.
I biked by the BALDWIN HOTEL several hundred times and flipped burgers at a snack bar on the beach in front of the hotel. I was always afraid that all the wood might go up like a match stick – same with the LUCY EVELYN schooner. To bad it burned but I have fond memories of this majestic building.
Mike Klint
Carlsbad, Ca.
When I was a college student, I ran the elevator at the Baldwin hotel – it was in either 1953 or 1954. The summer was great, but ended with Chuck Yokum taking off with the employees’ escrow account. We had free room, board, and uniforms all summer, but no pay at the end.
As soon as Chuck left, a hurricane followed. We employees elected to stay even though the Coast Guard ordered an evacuation. We sat up all night while the storm gale roared outside, tearing bits and pieces off the building. There was a huge fireplace in the lobby and we burned the porch furniture to keep warm and ate all the food that was left and drank all the beer. We had an uproarious time.
In the morning we went down to the beach and saw the white foamy surf was now all colors because of luminous plankton that washed in with the hurricane.
After some months, we each got a partial settlement (mine was $80) for the whole summer’s work. I bought a used Rolleiflex camera with the money and considered myself lucky.
Hi, Mary
When you write that short story or book, I want to read it! I wonder if any of these fit your timeframe: August 14, 1953 – Hurricane Barbara, August 31, 1954 – Hurricane Carol, September 10, 1954 – Hurricane Edna, October 15, 1954 – Hurricane Hazel.
Regards,
John McCormick
I worked at the Baldwin Hotel the summer of 1952, along with some of my classmates from Bethlehem High School.It was one of the best summers of my long life. We lived in dorm like rooms. There was housemother, there was a ten o’ clock curfew, if you stayed out later than that you had to have a pass and come in through the lobby. That summer a soda fountain was opened in the hotel. That was a great experience.
There was limited activity in Beach Haven, I remember a bowling alley, a drug store, ice cream shop, a diner and not much more.
Beach Haven will always have a special place in y heart.
Joanne Bufton
Bethlehem, Pa
April 8, 2019
Hi, Joanne
I am so glad you found something here to spark those vivid memories of your Summer of ’52. It does sound like dorm life, having a curfew and a housemother. If you received room and board, the pay must have been pennies per hour. My 1963 busboy job at Surf City Hotel paid $0.66/hr plus 10% of the waitresses’ tips. I stayed at my aunt’s home and lived on the dinners and late shift sandwiches the hotel owners provided. Good times.
Regards,
John McCormick
I have a lovely memory of being in the Baldwin Hotel. The memory was rekindled by a family history I had filed away and since we are confined to home now due to covit-19, I have been going through old papers.
My grandmother’s sister was known as Aunt Bena (Beatrice). Our family, aunts, uncles, cousins would spend about a month in Beach Haven for many wonderful summers, and Aunt Bena would stay in the Baldwin Hotel. Her room was wonderful — with nice windows, even a window that was like a bay window, and as a little kid, we could actually step into the window that overhung the street.
My sister and I had a “job”, which is incredible thinking about being so protective of kids today – we would go to the news stand store and buy newspapers and then bring them to our aunts and uncles who would pay us a few pennies more than what they cost us. Then we would go to the Baldwin Hotel to visit Aunt Bena – often she was eating breakfast and would give us some of her toast. Unbelievably, we were only about 6 and 4 years old, and our parents let us do this on our own! I know we were that young because my brother had not been born yet, and I was 7 when he was born.
What wonderful memories we have of Beach Haven and LBI.
My mom worked as a waitress in Summer at the Baldwin during WWII. She needed that money for college as she was raised by a single mom in Jersey City and they had to scrap together all their nickels to get her through. She eventually went on to earn her Medical degree from Cornell Univ in NYC. She was always an industrious gal! I found a picture of her in her work uniform and a picture of the Baldwin Hotel in her personal items. She passed away in 2018 at age 92.
My father in law played in a band called The Top Kicks or the Morizzo Brothers and they played at The Baldwin Hotel. We are not sure what year it was but we thought it was the year that they burnt down we would love to see a flyer or advertisement if they advertised “live music” at that time.
Hi, Sylvia
Yes, that would be amazing to find a showbill, or ad, about the appearance of The Top Kicks.
Searching for the group was complicated by the fact that a top-kick is a slang term for first sergeant. I came up empty on an ad but I did find a few dozen notices. No pictures or graphics – several are attached. I couldn’t display them on my website reply to you. These came from an online newspaper subscription service I get.
Meanwhile, this comment may serve as a request to the Universe to reveal to us the advertisement you seek.
Thank you for visiting rivertonhistory.com
Regards,
John McCormick, Editor
The family was so excited to receive the information that you found. Nick Morizzo from the Top Kicks/Morizzo Brothers had 2 sons that followed in his footsteps and still play on and around Long Beach Island! Louis Morizzo won a fishing tournament this summer on the island and his daughter has a shop called “Not Just Yogurt” located in Manahawkin.
Their family home survived the storm of 1962 and can be seen in an aerial shot in the book “Six Miles at Sea”.
The information you found is very meaningful to us. Our deepest thanks.
God bless,
Sylvia Morizzo
Hey, glad to help. If anyone our there has a flyer advertising a show by the Top Kicks or Morizzo Bros. at the Baldwin, please let us know.
I have the most wonderful childhood memories of staying at the Baldwin Hotel. Our family spent a couple weeks each summer at Beach Haven, staying at the Baldwin. As a child this spectacular building provided exceptional exploring opportunities. My dad was a watercolorist who painted a wonderful painting of an adjacent property, where nuns spent summer vacations. He did do while sitting on the balcony of our room.
When the Baldwin burnt to the ground, Beach Haven lost a large part of its identity.
Thank you for posting this beautiful rendition of the grand old Baldwin.
Hi, A.K.
I apologize for the delay in responding to your delightful comment about one of the Baldwin Hotel images– did you see all five? It is very gratifying when a reader has an emotional response, as you did, to something that they find here. I mentioned your comment in a blog post at https://rivertonhistory.com/2011/08/waiting-for-irene/. As you may have inferred from what you have read, many people have contributed information, images, and items to this collaborative effort. If you are able to send us a photo, scan, etc. of any of your father’s LBI artwork, or anything else that you may feel relevant, I will be glad to add it to our virtual collection.
Best regards,
John McCormick
Historical Society of Riverton
Aaron, that was a beautiful recollection of Summers past in Beach Haven.
Paul Weinberg
I would love to see his painting lisasnyder.stackhouse777@Gmail.com
My grandmother was since passed had a boutique inside the Baldwin violet Kennedy
Thank you for posting the 1908 image of the Baldwin Hotel. Along with many other college students I worked there in the summer of 1954. The owner at that time was a man named Yocum (or Yokum), and the hotel had fallen into hard times. There were still, however, a fair number of guests. The most memorable event of the season was when a man fell into the elevator shaft from the lobby! He had been drinking, and didn’t notice when the night clerk invited him to “step in” although the elevator car was upstairs. His relaxed posture probably saved him from serious injury,and in that less litigious age he was satisfied to receive a free vacation at the hotel.
Hi, Lewis
Thank you for pausing to thank us for the memory that looking at these images has brought back. For those of us who have been to these places, the images here are not simply pretty pictures, but are indeed powerful catalysts for releasing a flood of memories.
I worked at the Surf City Hotel as busboy and waiter 1965-1968,for owners Abe and Louise Portzline, also as one of my several jobs of college days. Head-waitress Barbara showed me the ropes. I remember the amazing organ at the bar with the pipes visible thru a window in the wall. I only wish I had taken some photos, but I was too busy working. I think I earned about 66 cents an hour plus tips. When we went in for the dinner shift we got a full dinner plus dessert. At least once during the summer Kenny the chef gave everyone prime rib. If we worked until 11 or later we got a sandwich and drink as well. I pretty much just lived on what I ate there, slept and went to the beach, then back to work. The Halloween Party marked the end of the season.
I am a retired teacher and contribute to this website and our newsletter. I am glad that you found some enjoyment looking thru the images here. Almost all of the scans here are the result of the kindness of friends, acquaintances, and even some strangers from miles away who have kindly shared their collections. The virtual archive you see here grew from a small personal collection and scans taken from some other local collectors so that I could illustrate local history to my middle school history classes. If you have any scans or photos of postcard images or related ephemera and can get them to me I will gladly post them.
In any case, thanks for stopping by.
Best regards,
John McCormick
I was a lifeguard at Beach Haven in 1958 and 1959….We used to go to the Baldwin in the evenings…One of the lifeguards dated the daughter of the owner of the hotel. What a wonderful place!
Robert J. Broselow,MD
Sand Creek Ranch
Southland,Texas
I will always remember ,The Baldwin, I was a life guard in Barnigate light in 1954. It was a magnificent structure and one I often think of!
I WAS THERE WITH MY FAMILY IN 1954. I LOVED THAT PLACE. I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD.
Hi, Roy
I received your kind letter from across the miles in Louisiana along with your donation of a Baldwin Hotel postcard. Thank you for stopping by to reminisce and thank you for giving us a version of the Baldwin that we did not have. Without a copyright date or postmark, your guess that it dates from 1940 or so is probably a good one, based on the style of the automobiles illustrated. We sincerely appreciate that you thought to send us your postcard. That is how we amassed this virtual image collection – one at a time.
As I examine the sequence of Balwin Hotel postcards, I a puzzled that the turrets shown in earlier dated postcards, as well as in the two dated 1948, are missing in the one we estimate to be from the early 1940s. Perhaps a reader can sort out this seeming contradiction for us.
Regards,
John McCormick, editor
Link for your postcard: https://rivertonhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Baldwin-Hotel-Beach-Haven-NJ-c1940-Copy.jpg
I am a collector of postal material. I am in posession of an envelope and enclossed letter, both showing letterhead of the New Hotel Baldwin, mailed in 1909. Are such items hard to find. he letter is in fine shape, but the envelope is not. I would be willing to donate such to a local museum if wanted
Hi, Lawrence
Thank you for your interest. While I would love to score that rare piece of ephemera, I wonder if the Maritime Museum of New Jersey in Beach Haven would be a better home for it. Its President & Treasurer, Deborah Whitcraft, very generously let me scan hundreds of shore area postcards in her personal collection several years ago. The Hotel Baldwin postcards seen here are almost certainly hers.
http://njmaritimemuseum.org/
Regards,
John McCormick
Thank you John, I have sent her an e-mail. Regards, Lawrence
The Baldwin Hotel brings a flood of very happy memories to me. I was a life guard on the Baldwin beach in the summer of 1955. I was also the night watchman for a period of time. My future wife was a waitress at the Baldwin. Helen and Nate Levinson were the managers that year. We were married the summer of 1957. We both finished our college years and started our family. We were blessed with 2 boys and 2 girls, followed by 6 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. Sorry to say that my wife died in November 2016. When I pass on our children will pour are ashes into the waters of the old Baldwin beach. We will end up where it all started.
So beautiful
My Grandparents, Abe and Cora Korb owned the Baldwin until it burned down. Cora was Helen’s sister. Cora went on to establish the Temple in Brant Beach and was the first female to graduate from Barnagate HS.
I biked by the BALDWIN HOTEL several hundred times and flipped burgers at a snack bar on the beach in front of the hotel. I was always afraid that all the wood might go up like a match stick – same with the LUCY EVELYN schooner. To bad it burned but I have fond memories of this majestic building.
Mike Klint
Carlsbad, Ca.
does anyone know about an illustrator by the name of Jack Rooney who did sketching in Beach Haven? I have 5 of his wonderful illustrations…
When I was a college student, I ran the elevator at the Baldwin hotel – it was in either 1953 or 1954. The summer was great, but ended with Chuck Yokum taking off with the employees’ escrow account. We had free room, board, and uniforms all summer, but no pay at the end.
As soon as Chuck left, a hurricane followed. We employees elected to stay even though the Coast Guard ordered an evacuation. We sat up all night while the storm gale roared outside, tearing bits and pieces off the building. There was a huge fireplace in the lobby and we burned the porch furniture to keep warm and ate all the food that was left and drank all the beer. We had an uproarious time.
In the morning we went down to the beach and saw the white foamy surf was now all colors because of luminous plankton that washed in with the hurricane.
After some months, we each got a partial settlement (mine was $80) for the whole summer’s work. I bought a used Rolleiflex camera with the money and considered myself lucky.
Hi, Mary
When you write that short story or book, I want to read it! I wonder if any of these fit your timeframe: August 14, 1953 – Hurricane Barbara, August 31, 1954 – Hurricane Carol, September 10, 1954 – Hurricane Edna, October 15, 1954 – Hurricane Hazel.
Regards,
John McCormick
Our readers may wish to read more of Mary Wallis Gutmann’s account of her summer of 1954 working on LBI in this post: https://rivertonhistory.com/2019/03/summer-work-at-beach-havens-once-lavish-hotel-baldwin-in-1954/
We welcome reader submissions of first-person stories about topics on this website.
I worked at the Baldwin Hotel the summer of 1952, along with some of my classmates from Bethlehem High School.It was one of the best summers of my long life. We lived in dorm like rooms. There was housemother, there was a ten o’ clock curfew, if you stayed out later than that you had to have a pass and come in through the lobby. That summer a soda fountain was opened in the hotel. That was a great experience.
There was limited activity in Beach Haven, I remember a bowling alley, a drug store, ice cream shop, a diner and not much more.
Beach Haven will always have a special place in y heart.
Joanne Bufton
Bethlehem, Pa
April 8, 2019
Hi, Joanne
I am so glad you found something here to spark those vivid memories of your Summer of ’52. It does sound like dorm life, having a curfew and a housemother. If you received room and board, the pay must have been pennies per hour. My 1963 busboy job at Surf City Hotel paid $0.66/hr plus 10% of the waitresses’ tips. I stayed at my aunt’s home and lived on the dinners and late shift sandwiches the hotel owners provided. Good times.
Regards,
John McCormick
I have a lovely memory of being in the Baldwin Hotel. The memory was rekindled by a family history I had filed away and since we are confined to home now due to covit-19, I have been going through old papers.
My grandmother’s sister was known as Aunt Bena (Beatrice). Our family, aunts, uncles, cousins would spend about a month in Beach Haven for many wonderful summers, and Aunt Bena would stay in the Baldwin Hotel. Her room was wonderful — with nice windows, even a window that was like a bay window, and as a little kid, we could actually step into the window that overhung the street.
My sister and I had a “job”, which is incredible thinking about being so protective of kids today – we would go to the news stand store and buy newspapers and then bring them to our aunts and uncles who would pay us a few pennies more than what they cost us. Then we would go to the Baldwin Hotel to visit Aunt Bena – often she was eating breakfast and would give us some of her toast. Unbelievably, we were only about 6 and 4 years old, and our parents let us do this on our own! I know we were that young because my brother had not been born yet, and I was 7 when he was born.
What wonderful memories we have of Beach Haven and LBI.
What a delightful story you have shared here. Yes, the coronavirus shut-down has evoked more than a few memories for folks. Stay safe, Byron.
My mom worked as a waitress in Summer at the Baldwin during WWII. She needed that money for college as she was raised by a single mom in Jersey City and they had to scrap together all their nickels to get her through. She eventually went on to earn her Medical degree from Cornell Univ in NYC. She was always an industrious gal! I found a picture of her in her work uniform and a picture of the Baldwin Hotel in her personal items. She passed away in 2018 at age 92.
respectfully,
Paul Hughes
Arl Va
My father in law played in a band called The Top Kicks or the Morizzo Brothers and they played at The Baldwin Hotel. We are not sure what year it was but we thought it was the year that they burnt down we would love to see a flyer or advertisement if they advertised “live music” at that time.
Hi, Sylvia
Yes, that would be amazing to find a showbill, or ad, about the appearance of The Top Kicks.
Searching for the group was complicated by the fact that a top-kick is a slang term for first sergeant. I came up empty on an ad but I did find a few dozen notices. No pictures or graphics – several are attached. I couldn’t display them on my website reply to you. These came from an online newspaper subscription service I get.
Meanwhile, this comment may serve as a request to the Universe to reveal to us the advertisement you seek.
Thank you for visiting rivertonhistory.com
Regards,
John McCormick, Editor
A follow up from Sylvia:
Dear John,
The family was so excited to receive the information that you found. Nick Morizzo from the Top Kicks/Morizzo Brothers had 2 sons that followed in his footsteps and still play on and around Long Beach Island! Louis Morizzo won a fishing tournament this summer on the island and his daughter has a shop called “Not Just Yogurt” located in Manahawkin.
Their family home survived the storm of 1962 and can be seen in an aerial shot in the book “Six Miles at Sea”.
The information you found is very meaningful to us. Our deepest thanks.
God bless,
Sylvia Morizzo
Hey, glad to help. If anyone our there has a flyer advertising a show by the Top Kicks or Morizzo Bros. at the Baldwin, please let us know.
Dave Ewer and I use to walk there for Ice Cream in the 1962