He's sowing his Wildwood oats at 'Randyland'

THE POLAR BEAR snarls and the square-jawed gunslingers squint their steely eyes, but the friendly walrus bellhop beckons visitors to step inside a Wildwood wonderland that's been dormant for a decade.

Curious adults and children have tugged at locked doors at Pacific and Wildwood avenues for years now, pressing their faces against the glass to catch a glimpse at the odd figures, arcade games, and bizarre contraptions that seem to go on forever in the massive building.

They also see mannequin clones of Randy Senna, a veritable Willy Wonka of Wildwood, whose sparkling blue eyes and permanent, snow-white smile brighten up the darkness inside the former Woolworth's. Every day, a handful of Randy mannequins in various stages of undress smile at the lunch counter while others sit on pinball machines. Beaming Randy heads, minus the body, smile from the ice-cream freezer, the hot-dog grill, and from inside the churro warmer instead of crispy cinnamon sticks.

"This is Randyland, that's why there's Randys all over the place. There are hundreds of them," the real Senna said one recent fall afternoon with a booming laugh. "It's a history of fun here, it's a history of New Jersey boardwalks, and most of all, it's a history of me. You walk through my life here. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do anything. I play pinball. I am married to this. These are my children."

Like the fictional Willy Wonka, Senna, 50, is an eccentric man whose life revolves around a few burning passions. He's gifted, too, a self-taught electrical engineer who, according to one peer, could fix broken machines with paper clips and bubble gum.

"This guy should be building the next moon rocket," said Senna's attorney, Scott Becker. "I understand, and not because he told me himself, that he's pretty much a genius."

Government bureaucracy, Senna said, has prevented him from opening Randyland for years because leaders felt it was more arcade than museum and arcades weren't a permitted use on Pacific Avenue. New leaders looking to revitalize the street are more open to Randyland, he said, and he thinks he might get his "golden ticket" by summer.

"I'm just trying to live my dream," he said.