They hired locally as well as international students to work at 701 Mosaic on J1 visas, at first mostly from Europe, then, when word got around, from the Caribbean.
“And my Aunt Ruth who was the most glamorous woman you’d ever met in your life, big hat on, artfully posed while she’s reading, while me and my friend Frances are in and out of the water, and my mother’s just laying, and it’s like Aunt Ruth? Move? You’re asking her to do what? No, that’s not happening.” “One time, a white man came over and said, ‘You know, I think you folks would be more comfortable down that end of the beach,’ and my mother said, ‘Oh no we’re fine,’ ” Womble recalled. Recently, she said, she’s seen visitors to the boardwalk begin to better reflect a more diverse demographic and less the white Ocean City that questioned her family when they spread out on a certain beach. In the beginning, Womble said, “I bit my tongue a lot.” But there were challenges along the way in being one of the few Black business owners in Ocean City, and sometimes in just being Black in Ocean City.Īs time went on, she spoke her mind, on Facebook, in person, on the chalkboard, sharing her political views. “I come tearing down Ocean Avenue on my bicycle, my skirt’s billowing, and my friend said, ‘This is amazing,’ ” said Womble. When friends came to visit, they’d marvel at the transformation of their friend by the sea. Sometimes, they’d drive back to Brooklyn after closing on a Sunday, and the city felt overwhelming. Living in a beach town grew to feel natural. She once did an open mic in Ocean City in which her jokes were about her husband, whom she called “Mr. The back and forth between them is touching and warm, and Womble’s inner comic is never far away. “I used to say he stole the best years of my life,” Womble joked. He doesn’t want me to bump into something hot. Their love story was born in a blackout, summer of 1977 in New York City, working in a Manhattan restaurant. “I said, ‘Thank you for your feedback.’ ” “I actually got a call from someone that said, ‘I don’t think I should have to see this when I come on vacation,’ ” she said. Some bristled when her chalkboard food musings turned to quotes about immigrant children in cages without proper food, or the Flint, Mich., water crisis, Womble said. “There’s no doubt in my mind a Red Stripe would be perfect with this jerk chicken.” They joined an unsuccessful effort to allow BYOB. They appreciated her passion to create a fine dining experience at 701 Mosaic, especially in a dry town, albeit one with private clubs that serve alcohol and get daily delivery from liquor stores on the mainland. Over the years, they developed a loyal and appreciative clientele, who warmed to Allwood’s soft-spoken charm and skill in the kitchen, and laughed along with Wombles wit. The State Department of Treasury lists no minority-owned businesses in Ocean City in its database. Ocean City doesn’t compile lists of Black-owned businesses, so it’s hard to say with absolute certainty, but Womble says the others, including Still Waters massage and a window washing business, no longer are operating.
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