the rix mix

The Flanders Hotel was the Ocean City NJ landmark. You saw the red roof & cupola coming into the city. You saw it from the beach. This Spanish Mission Revival miracle anchored the southern end of the boardwalk's busiest stretch. The Flanders was my ideal of where a person with money to burn spent a week in town if you didn't have a house on a canal & a boat. The hotel was well past prime in the 50s, & in the 60s started looking shabby, a decline that slowly continued for decades. The huge salt water pool was removed. I'm not sure the place even had air-conditioning. By age 13 I wandered freely through the lobby, shops, sun decks & solariums, having learned from exploring the grand old hotels in Atlantic City that nobody was inclined to stop a blonde-haired, sun-burned kid who looked like he knew where he was. Incredibly, The Flanders has survived. It probably would have been razed if the Ocean City government had not stepped in & forbade it.

Week In Ocean City: Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat