And let me guess....said "upscale" condos sit mostly empty, don't they? *sigh*

I've only been to Bethany a handful of times; but going to nearby Rehoboth several times a year was de rigeur for me. Several places that always brought back fond memories over there have also been torn down for those crappy condos. <_<

My relative has a beach house near there and on the street she lives on every time one of the older smaller houses goes up for sale its bought up by a wealthy person, torn down almost immediately, and replaced with these monstrosities. These houses are three stories and take up almost the entire lot, yet many I rarely see people at. The one built next door my relative actually casts a shadow on her house and the guy used it a lot the first year he built it. But now he rarely ever comes down. The house is empty most of the year. I think she said he came down once last summer. But for the most part the house is empty. And this is not only driving up real estate prices and making the beach towns unaffordable, but its pushing more and more over development. And most of these people aren't even from Delaware. So its not just empty condos now.

By the way I share your sentiment about Rehoboth. I remember there being hundreds of little rental cottages just outside town, yet now nearly all of them are gone. And many places I really liked are gone like Java coffee house. I was just happy at least the house was on the historic register. The crab house that occupies it wanted to build a cinder block monstrosity there. I take lots of pictures every time I go to either town because, like Newark, I know every time I go back something else will be gone. And the stuff that replaces it is never as beautiful, unique or interesting as what it replaced. None of the new businesses are places I want to patronize either.

Preaching to the choir. Last time I was up in Rehoboth, I didn't recognise half of what I saw. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I'd been going there for over 25 years, I'd say I was in the wrong place.

Most of the McMansions and other atrocities that are now there are like you said, empty most of the time. They're basically status symbols; the snotballs that have them built do it just so they can say to other snotballs they have it.
A little miniature golf course I used to play on Sea Veiw Golf, is now long gone. As a kid I'd play there often, and as I got older, I played once or twice a year with my family, just for the sake of nostalgia and good memories. I barely even recognise the plot of ground it sat on now. Some God-awful beast of a condo has been crammed into where it was, and its practically pouring out into the street.
The Surfside Grill, right on the boardwalk, also gone. I'd get lunch there, or even just a soda. It was right next to Sea Veiw Golf, so a game of minigolf and lunch at the Surfside made for a nice day at the beach. I should start bringing my camera and take as many pictures as I can as well. Who knows what'll be gone next.

Thinking about it, I'm surprised the boardwalk is still actually made out of wooden planks. I wonder how much longer that'll last.

There was actually this mini golf course in Bethany my grandmother used to take us to when we'd stay with her. That disappeared a couple years back I was sad to see.

You notice too the buildings that replace these places are never nearly as beautiful/interesting? And often times don't provide the enjoyment the old places did. I've noticed most often, if these places are replaced with other businesses they're usually upscale places like clothing stores and salons. All the more interesting businesses and restaurants seem to be in the older buildings. It sometimes feels like the town's color and playfulness are slowely being whitewashed over.

I actually am too. I'm surprised they haven't done concrete or composite. There is something about the aged grey wood. Composite, and especially concrete, just aren't the same.

I have noticed that. Not only are the replacements less interesting/beautiful, they're also cold, monolithic "big box" and "name brand" stores. Like there aren't enough of those already. NO, we DON'T need a starbucks on every street corner. The local mom and pop coffee place is more than enough. That's what made the towns more appealing and interesting to begin with, the local "flavour" if you will, and "flavour" being more than just food taste. You can go anywhere and get a starbucks coffee. But the local mom and pop place is likely the one and only place you can ever get coffee the way they would make it. Perhaps pop brews the coffee with just a hint of cinnamon for a nice little spice. Maybe mom gets special coffee beans and blends them in a way that her family handed down for generations.

Plus, like you said, the buildings themselves are all "cookie cutter", there's no real style, its just some cheaply made drywall and paint slapped together in a few weeks. The older buildings were built with actual care and precision, you could tell the builders took pride in their work. Plus, the beachside weather can add some "charm" of its own, like with the aged gray wood of the boardwalk. The way the salt and sea air can soak into the wood, the way the sun can fade the paint...a little weathering can actually add to a building.

Yep and sadly its not Walmarts or McDonalds or Starbucks going out of business every day. Its small businesses. I forget what the statistic was but it said something like 1 family owned general store goes out of business every day in the US. Another thing people don't realize is these chain businesses kill competition. Once a store like Walmart gets a certain size, competing with them is impossible. Same with Starbucks. If there is a Starbucks nearby I very much doubt that a business started by someone else which isnt a chain will. As a matter of fact I can't think of many nearby businesses that aren't chains. There are still 3 in our shopping center and another in a house which I have to wonder how they stay in business or if they still even are. By the way there are about 25 businesses in our shopping center and thats 3 out of 25 there that is family owned. They are a Laundramat, a restaurant and a store that sells fake bouquets.

you can definitely see a difference, yeah. Most new houses built around here look like they'd blow over in a strong wind! The plastic siding blows off often, nothing is straight, etc

Preaching to the choir. Nearly ever small buisness around where I live is gone. In fact, during the heady days of the "housing boom", the people here all got on this huge kick where they didn't want anything to do with small buisnesses. It was big name brands or nothing.
A small pizzeria that had been around for 30 years, was driven out of its location in the mall because the mall decided it wanted all big buisnesses.
Left and right small buisnesses disappeared, and scores of new "shopping centers" appeared, despite the fact that there were already plenty of empty centers all over town. All the name brand places wanted "shiny, new" buildings. Well, when the economy collapsed in 2007, most of these new shopping centers stopped construction where they were and no one moved in. The few with a storefront have maybe one or two, despite spaces for up to a dozen. The whole town is now a monument to stupidity and failure, upwards of two dozen brand new, and almost if not completely empty shopping centers.

If it weren't for the fact that what few older buildings and mom and pop shops that are left would also be gone, I'd say let a nice, big hurricane blow in and blow all those souless "upscale" and "big box" places away.

Most of the small businesses that were around here went out of business long ago unfortunately. When my neighborhood was built this was about as far out in the country as you could get, but even the nearby town has lost a lot of small businesses. We have almost no significant small businesses. In fact the closest thing we do have is a True Value hardware store, which is a chain but each store is individually owned. The service there is excellent though. At Home Depot the employees don't know what they're talking about half the time. There is a large florist too, actually, which I had forgotten about. Most of the small businesses in the town are bookstores, bars and restaurants. I'm starting to notice chains appearing unfortunately though, and upscale places. There has been a lot of demolition recently as wel, andl of buildings that had been there for years and which I don't think would ever disappear.

Piece by piece, the things that made this country what it is are being bulldozed, and at this rate we'll be left with nothing but big box stores and "upscale" places. Big, empty, souless boxes.
There's just no soul, no flavour, no character in anything new being built. And just as bad, there's no history. There are no legends. Those, to me, are just as important. The people who made these places what they are. There's no soul in another mcdonalds. But the local diner. The cook was perhaps a Vietnam veteran. Maybe the server was in the Peace Corps. A mcdonald's is a cookie cutter building, some sheet rock, a (poor) brick job, and some fiber-fill. While the local diner. Well, first it was a pharmacy. Then perhaps it was a Speakeasy during Prohibition. Maybe after that it was a general store for a few years, and then the current owners rennovated the place, rolled up their sleeves and did the work themselves. The lunch counter was a bit crooked for 10 years because someone didn't use a level, and it wasn't until ol' Joe down at the other end, a carpenter by trade, came in one weekened and straightened it out.

I totally agree. And I've always hated urban renewal and other mass demolition projects for that reason. These buildings and neighborhoods often grow and evolve over decades of use, each structure unique and tailored for its specific purpose over time, built on and altered as space was needed. Places like this, once they're gone they're lost forever. No matter how hard you try to duplicate that history you really can't. You can't really "plan" a perfect city you have to let it grow and evolve on its own, and have policies in place to encourage that growth. This is what makes those little medieval rural villages in England or the old hill towns in Italy so popular as tourist destinations. That beauty and history of a town which has grown through nothing but necessity with no real plan in mind, built in local custom and tradition. There are many towns in Italy actually, that don't even allow chain stores to operate within the town. This is to protect the town itself as well as small family owned local businesses.

A very great example of what you said actually was a diner around here. This diner was a totally original 1950's era train car style diner that had been operating for years. Unfortunately it went out of business a couple years ago. And while technically it was illegal to alter the original structure, the beautiful original interior was removed, as was a rear cinder block building with the kitchen, restrooms and a small second story. And apartment building was added behind and attached. And not only that, a horrible looking strip of stucco was added above the original building making the whole thing look like a modern cheezy reproduction. The interior is now cheezy and pink. The stainless steel and vinyl, as well as other countless original details have been replaced by sheet rock, glass block and cruddy looking reproduction tables and chairs. The whole thing looks like a modern theme restaurant, and really like they only kept the diner because they were forced to.

Very well put.
There are many things you simply can not do on purpose, no matter how hard you try. You just have to let things grow and develop as they will. In fact, it seems in most instances, the harder you try to do something like "plan a perfect city", the less likely it'll happen and the less successful you'll be.
As for Italy...its good to hear such a thing. They've not sold out their souls and their history in the name of profit. God knows that would never work here. Everyone has a "get rich quick" scheme and are looking for anything and everything to make a fast buck.

Now that's just a crying shame.
There's nothing more souless than sheet rock and glass block. Well, maybe fiber board, but yeah.

I find it interesting that people go to these medievel towns in Europe that are so picturesque and beautiful and yet there is really very little drive to preserve whats left of "organically" constructed towns and cities in the US. In fact the areas which seem to to be torn down the most are the oldest areas and not the cruddy tract housing and office parks built around these areas.

Kind of ironic, no?

Very ironic, yeah.