When most Philadelphians hear US Route 30 mentioned, they think about Lancaster Avenue, which turns into Lancaster Pike and runs to Lancaster, PA.

 

What you may not know, however, is that if you were to keep driving west on US-30, you would eventually cross the entire country and end up on the west coast of Oregon.

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US-30 starts out in Atlantic City at a corner of Virginia Avenue and becomes the White Horse Pike until it reaches Pennsauken, NJ. The section that runs from Pennsauken through Camden to the Ben Franklin Bridge is known as Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

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Camden-born Rear Admiral William Braid Wilson was a decorated hero from the Spanish-American War and World War I. In 1929, Wilson's hometown named a recently completed stretch of highway after him.

 

It started out as a beautiful tree-lined boulevard that ran through Camden and connected Philadelphia to several of the growing communities of South Jersey. Respectable businesses like Sears and various car dealerships appeared in the decades that followed.

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But poor Admiral Wilson. Fifty years later, the Admiral's namesake boulevard had deteriorated into a blighted wasteland of gas stations, crime, strip clubs, cheap prostitute-infested motels, and liquor stores where underage Philly area teens could buy booze legally and carry it back to Pennsylvania in their car trunks.

 

In 1990, the authorities decided enough was enough and unveiled the Gateway Project, a plan to clean out the area and restore it to its former park-like glory. However, New Jersey did not really take action on the project until 1999, when it had to get Camden spruced up in time for the 2000 Republican convention, held across the river in Philadelphia.

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Admiral Wilson Boulevard today is hardly paradise, but it is much better than it was 40 years go. The Camden riverfront has been revitalized and the dirty old strip clubs and motels have been replaced by more respectable businesses and lots of greenery.

 

And somehow, through all the turmoil of the decades, two long-time favorites still survive - The Pub restaurant and Zinman Furs.