Over the last year, there were several articles about a Beach Haven landmark, the Holiday Snack Bar, and ongoing controversy about its expanded outdoor dining. As many know, it is a small eatery located on the corner of Centre Street and Delaware Avenue in the center of Beach Haven. I have followed with interest these articles and decided to write this reflection and recall bygone days at the snack bar in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

TIMELESS TREASURE: This print of a watercolor by Surf City artist Cathleen Engelsen graces the author’s living room. He says it captures the Holiday Snack Bar of the 1950s-’60s just as he remembers it.

I, along with my brother John, worked at Holiday Snack Bar from 1956 through 1962.