Atlantic City
by Philip Greenspun.
Home : Travel : New York : One Vignette
The Beach
This was the whole point of Atlantic City to begin with.
The Boardwalk
Sixty feet (20 m) wide, four miles (6 km) long, and smoother than any
Manhattan street, the Atlantic City Boardwalk is a remarkable
engineering achievement. A rolling chair is the best way to tour the
Boardwalk, for you travel at a brisk walking pace without wearing out
your feet ($15/half-hour).
Amusement Piers
The expense of Boardwalk frontage inspired a unique style of
construction in Atlantic City: the amusement pier. These don't take
up much space on the boardwalk, but stick out a few hundred meters
into the ocean and are crammed with tourist shops and rides.
I'd heard that Atlantic City was a center for some unusual escort
services, but I still wasn't quite prepared for what I saw...
Bumper cars are always good clean fun.
But if you get tired of driving for some reason, just ride the ferris wheel
Casinos
Atlantic City was a slum until 1978 when casino gambling was
introduced. Then it became a slum with a few casinos. Now it is a
slum with a lot of casinos.
Casinos are private property and state laws allow the owners to kick
you out for any reason. This is how they get rid of card counters and
photographers. Fortunately, the vertical grip on my Canon EOS-5 has a
shutter release that escaped the attention of the beefy casino
bouncers.
Bums
Trickle-down economics is apparently not working for all the residents
of Atlantic City.
Up to the Cover Page
Text and pictures copyright 1995 Philip
Greenspun
philg@mit.edu