Page 78 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch October 18, 2013 ✕✎sv❋s✒ OCEAN CITY WITH BUNK MANN The George Washington Hotel was one of the few old wooden hotels not lost to fire along the Boardwalk. A series of blazes in the 1960s and early 1970s had destroyed the Plimhimmon, Hamilton, Colonial, Rideau and Roosevelt hotels. The George Washington was demolished in January 1990 because it no longer met building codes and the cost to modernize it would have been prohibitive. The hotel had opened in 1931 and quickly became a local landmark. The tallest building in town for nearly 40 years, it was the first thing that could be seen when returning from an offshore fishing trip. Known for its elegant porch and top floor ballroom, the George Washington was one of Ocean City’s most popular hotels, although there was no truth to the rumor that it had been secretly owned by Al Capone and the mob in the pre-World War II era. Today, the Americana Hotel occupies the site at 10th Street and the Boardwalk. Photo by Sean Williams