Paradise Shores and York Beach changed from wetlands, farmland, and forest into a developed resort area over the twentieth century. The land of Paradise Shores had been a farm called Derickson's Venture from 1812 until its sale in the early 1950s, and York Beach existed before South Bethany was created, which is why the town's four southern oceanside streets were given the alphabetical names Indian, Jamaica, Kewanne, and Logan rather than numbers. Aerial views from July 20, 1954 show the area before development, while later views from the late 1980s show York Beach Mall with Paradise Shores and York Beach labeled. Tom Hickman, Jr. built the Texaco gas station at York Beach Mall in the 1960s, and it later hosted the first produce stand, while local farmers also drove pickup trucks from street to street selling corn, tomatoes, and other produce. York Beach and Paradise Shores were not part of the Town of South Bethany until annexation in 1972. Businesses in the area included B and R Bait and Tackle, which opened in 1967 and operated for 41 years, the Dutchess of York dress and bathing suit shop, Sea Level, begun at York Beach Mall in 1979, and McCabe's Gourmet Market, created in 1986 by Rebecca Grimes Mais and Richard Mais and known for employing many local teenagers. The 1962 Storm of the Century flooded the entire town from ocean to bay, stalled offshore for five tidal cycles, and destroyed all 37 homes along the Ocean Drive shoreline as well as all oceanfront homes in South Bethany and York Beach, though no one in this area was killed or injured. One displaced house, known as the Floating House, was beached during the storm and later moved on a trailer to 413 Kimberly Road, where it remains in its original form. In 1984 a compulsory ordinance required oceanfront homeowners in York Beach-South Bethany to place huge boulders in front of their houses for protection from the ocean, but Sussex County Court reversed the ordinance in 1988. Many of the pine trees now seen there date from the 1970s, when Town Manager May Felerski gave property owners bundles of pine seedlings to plant.