Things were eerily quiet in Beach Haven this past summer, and that had nothing to do with weather. By now everyone knows why. The landmark Surflight Theatre on Engleside Avenue went into bankruptcy in February and took its adjoining Show Place Ice Cream Parlour out of business with it. No more Broadway musicals or long lines waiting to get into a one-of-a-kind dessert place where customers were sometimes required to sing or dance, or both, for their ice cream.
The late Joseph P. Hayes, founder of Surflight, opened Show Place with a partner in 1975, because it was so near to his…
Subscribe to keep reading
This story is from our archive. Get your SandPaper Annual Pass for access to our digital archive, plus everything else a pass includes. Details below.
Annual Pass — $18 Details
365-day access to:
- The complete SandPaper digital archive (stories date back to 2012).
- Full photo galleries from our photographers.
- The entire catalog of SandPaper games, puzzles and quizzes.
How it works
- Enter your email below and click to pay the one-time $18. Card details are entered on Stripe’s secure page.
- You’re in straight away — no password to create, and nothing to set up or manage.
- You stay signed in. If you’re ever signed out, or you read on a new phone or computer, we’ll email you a code to get you back in.
- Never auto-renews. Your pass is good for one year. We will email you when it expires so you can renew if you’d like.
See our site policies for more information.
Already a subscriber? We’ll email a code to get you back in.
