ER, Yes, we were typical teenagers.
The discussion here is always entertaining and even more so when it hits so close to home.
I know that area pretty well but had never heard of that hotel or anything about a significant German population in the area. I have heard that there was a cafe at the beach at the bottom of Marine Avenue years ago. For as long as I can remember the area has been completely residential until you get up to Highland Avenue which is just out of frame in the aerial shot you posted so the zoning situation has changed over the years.
Only a few blocks north is the site of Bruce's Beach, once an African American owned beach resort. The land was unfairly seized from the owners and eventually turned into a city park. Tovanger wrote about it in
post #32412 last December.