Boardwalk: The Story of Atlantic City

by Jack Prophet | Jul 6 2011

The latest buzz about Atlantic City is the gritty HBO hit Boardwalk Empire which uses the seaside resort and casino town as the show’s backdrop. Focusing on the roaring 20’s and 30’s the show illustrates the energy and popularity that the city engendered during its height just before World War Two. Although the famed gambling mecca has in some ways struggled to return to its gloried past, the city continues to be a major attraction and destination for millions of visitors every year.

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Atlantic City has long served as a summer getaway even for its original inhabitants who were the Lenni-Lenape tribe. Absecon Island, which Atlantic City now rests upon, was rich with fishing which eventually also attracted white settlers. By 1640 the island was owned by one Thomas Budd, and by 1783 the first permanent settlement was built. In 1854 railway service had arrived and with that an avenue in which to stream the rich and bored from Philadelphia to the relaxing summer environs of the island. This in turn led to Atlantic City’s first serious building boom that would echo all the way into the 21st Century.

Over the succeeding years the number of tourists continued to rise and two more railroad lines were built to handle the traffic which exceeded half a million visitors a year. Grand hotels such as the Marlborough-Blenheim and the Traymore sprang up along the shore joining the Sea Surf, the Ritz Carlton, and the Mayflower. By the 1920’s Atlantic City was the spot to be seen during the summer months and it even attracted visitors from Europe. The population skyrocketed from a mere 5500 in 1880 to and astounding 50,000 in 1920 as the resort industries struggled to service the teeming crowds.

During this period Atlantic City was going gangbusters, and although both gambling and alcohol were illegal for the majority of that period it didn’t seem to matter. Booze flowed freely during the Prohibition years, and all games of chance such as Keno, Craps, Roulette, Blackjack and Poker could be found in even the best hotels in specially closed off rooms. It was during this period that organized crime began to make its presence felt and Atlantic City hosted numerous gangsters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

It was also during this time that the city became famous for its Boardwalk and piers. Although the first Boardwalk had been built as early as 1870, successive versions became longer and more sophisticated. The Boardwalk originally came into being as a way to keep the ever present beach sand out of all the hotels and restaurants which guest constantly trekked in. The Boardwalk was the perfect solution as resort goers now walked on the wooden planks. The piers jutted well out into the water and by the 1930’s there was four of them with names like the Steel Pier and the Ocean Pier. They soon became famous for their entertainment and carnival type shows which drew incredulous tourists in to see bearded ladies and two-headed pigs.

World War Two began to mark the decline of the golden age of Atlantic City as tourism necessarily dried up. The grand hotels were now mostly empty or closed down and a massive hurricane in 1944 severely damaged much of the city. In addition, a small city in the desert of Nevada was beginning to reshape the gambling landscape and would soon capture the imagination of the country. By the 1950’s Atlantic City was a ghost town as successive municipal and state governments desperately sought to restart its economic engine.

The answer finally seemed to be to legalize an activity that the city was already well known for, and as such voters passed a pro-gambling bill in 1976. Immediately Atlantic City was back on the map and it experienced its second economic and building boom as casinos began sprouting up along the shore. As Las Vegas was waning in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s due to a lack of vision and a jaded public, Atlantic City capitalized as gamblers streamed in from New York, Philadelphia, and the surrounding states. Casinos made record profits and it began to seem as though the golden years were back.

Since that time however, Atlantic City has experienced some lows most notably with the recent cancellation of two major casino and hotel projects due to the current economic climate. Perhaps the biggest blow to the city however was the legalization of gambling in neighbouring states such as New York and Pennsylvania, which had long been two of the largest contributors of gamblers and tourists to the casinos.

Although times are a little tougher for Atlantic City, it is still the second largest gambling destination in the United States. Given that the town’s motto is “Always Turned On", it is hard to imagine it going away any time soon.

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