The three New Jersey beach resorts known collectively as The Wildwoods have recently been the subject of widespread notice for their unique concentration of mid-century commercial architecture. Known in The Wildwoods as Doo Wop, the style is mostly represented in the resorts' surviving motels, built between 1955 and 1970, and comes in a variety of forms: Modern, with jet-age glass walls; Vroom!, with thrusting pointed features; and Polynesian Pop, with thatched roofs and tiki torches. This fun, colorful book recounts the stories of the motels, describes their special features--from glorious neon signs to ubiquitous plastic palm trees--and covers the recent Neo-Doo Wop buildings that have risen in the wake of Doo Wop preservation.
Kirk Hastings was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 4, 1952. After living in suburbs of both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., his family (including one older brother and one older sister) finally settled in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, located near the southern tip of the state. Growing up in the media-rich era of the 1960s his creative imagination was greatly stimulated, and he spent most of his school years drawing cartoons on his book-jacket covers and writing short stories for his own amusement.
After graduating from high school Kirk attended art school in York, Pennsylvania for two years, and then worked as a proofreader for a year (having been professionally trained in this capacity). Kirk returned to Wildwood in 1973 and pursued commercial layout and graphic design work in order to make a living. But he still continued to write adventure fiction and draw cartoons on the side.
During the summer of 1976 Kirk made the acquaintance of some college students staying at a local rooming house in Wildwood that were affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, and he became a Bible-believing Christian through their influence. He started attending Central Bible Church in North Wildwood that fall, an independent Bible-believing church. Particularly interested in the archaeological and historical evidence that supported the Bible, as well as the scientific evidence supporting the concept of Biblical creation (as opposed to Darwinian evolution), Kirk began studying these subjects in earnest, reading every book and article (both pro and con) he could find on them. Shortly thereafter he began writing letters to various newspapers and magazines, responding to critics of creationism and the historical reliability of the Biblical manuscripts.
Between 1979 and 1981 Kirk published an well-received original comic strip named "Seasiders" in a southern New Jersey newspaper. The strip featured a seashore motif. Kirk wrote and drew the strip himself.
In 1995 Kirk became the president of the Wildwood Crest Historical Society (after being vice-president for four years), and has since had a number of articles published in local newspapers relating to local history and the colorful myths and legends of southern New Jersey folklore.
Kirk embraced the home-computer revolution when it came along, and has since become quite practiced in computer layout and design work, working at various jobs in that capacity. He published his first full-length novel in June of 2004, "The Fury of Achilles", an historical adventure tale that continued the saga of the ancient Greek hero begun in Homer's "Iliad". Kirk designed and drew the cover for the book. In 2007 he published his second book, "Doo Wop Motels: Architectural Treasures of The Wildwoods", about the classic 1950s and 1960s motel buildings he grew up with in Wildwood Crest, NJ. In 2009 he published his third book, "What Is Truth? A Handbook For Separating Fact From Fiction In A Propaganda-Filled World", based on extensive research concerning the major religions of the world. It focused primarily on the historical and scientific evidences supporting the Old and New Testaments. In 2010 he published his second novel, "The Infinity Man", a philosophical science fiction adventure tale based on a character he conceived of while still a teenager.
Since then Kirk has continued to have a number of letters published on the editorial pages of various newspapers and magazines (both local and national) on a variety of moral, ethical and political topics, as seen from a Christian and Biblical viewpoint.
Kirk is now 57 years old (2009) and lives in Somers Point, New Jersey with Sally, his wife of 20 years (a 4th grade elementary school teacher). They have no children. They have both attended Linwood Community Church (an independent Bible-believing church) in nearby Linwood, New Jersey, since 1995. Sally became President of the Somers Point Historical Society in 2003, and Kirk continues as President of the Wildwood Crest Historical Society.
