Atlantic City, New Jersey

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Atlantic City, New Jersey
Flag Seal
Map of Atlantic City in Atlantic County
Coordinates: 39°21′54″N, 74°26′21″W
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Atlantic
Incorporated	March 1854
Government
- Mayor	Bob Levy
Area
- City	17.4 sq mi (44.9 km²)
- Land	11.4 sq mi (38.9 km²)
- Water	6.0 sq mi (15.5 km²)
Population (2000)
- City	40,517
- Density	3,569.8/sq mi (1,378.3/km²)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Website: http://www.cityofatlanticcity.org

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA. It is famous for its gambling casinos and boardwalk. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 40,517, with a population of 271,015 in its combined metropolitan area. It is a resort community located on Absecon Island, off the Atlantic Ocean coast of New Jersey. Other municipalities on the island are Ventnor City, Margate City, and Longport. The main routes into Atlantic City are the Black Horse Pike (US 322/40), White Horse Pike (US 30) and the Atlantic City Expressway.

Atlantic City incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 1, 1854, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Demise and Rebirth 3 Geography 4 Climate 5 Demographics 6 Government 6.1 Local government 6.2 Federal, state and county representation 7 Education 8 Casino resorts 9 Planned casino/resorts 10 Former, closed and never opened casino/resorts 11 Sports 12 Media outlets 12.1 Newspapers 12.2 Radio stations 12.3 Television stations 13 Transportation 13.1 Rail and Bus 13.2 Highways and taxicabs 13.3 Airline service 14 Shopping 15 Atlantic City in popular culture 16 References 17 External links

[edit] History

Atlantic City has always been primarily a resort town. Its location in South Jersey, hugging the Atlantic Ocean between marshlands and islands, presented itself as prime real estate for developers. The city was incorporated in 1854, the same year in which train service began, linking this remote parcel of land with Philadelphia. Atlantic City became a popular beach destination because of its proximity to Philadelphia.

In 1870, the first boardwalk was built along a portion of the beach to help hotel owners keep sand out of their lobbies. The idea caught on, and the boardwalk was expanded and modified several times in the following years. The historic length of the Boardwalk, before the 1944 hurricane, was about 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) long and it extended from Atlantic City, through Ventnor and Margate, into Longport. Today, it is 4.12 miles (6.63 kilometers) long and 60 feet (20 meters) wide, reinforced with steel and concrete. The combined length of the Atlantic City and Ventnor Boardwalks is approximately 5.75 miles (9.25 kilometers) long. It is now the world's longest boardwalk.

Ocean Pier, the world's first oceanside amusement pier was built in Atlantic City in 1882.^[2] Other famous piers included the Steel Pier, now used as an amusement pier (opened 1898) and the Million Dollar Pier (opened 1906), now the site of a shopping mall.

During the early part of the 20th Century, Atlantic City went through a radical building boom. Modest little boarding houses that dotted the boardwalk would grow into monster sand castles by the sea. Two of the city’s most distinctive hotels were the Marlborough-Blenheim and the Traymore Hotels.

In 1903, Josiah White III bought a parcel of land near Ohio Avenue (today the site of Bally's Atlantic City) and the boardwalk and built the Queen Anne style Marlborough House. The hotel was a hit and in 1905-1906 he chose to expand the hotel and bought another parcel of land next door to his Marlborough House. In an effort to make his new hotel a source of conversation, White hired the architectural firm of Price and McLanahan to design his hotel. The architectural firm decided to make use of reinforced concrete, a new building material invented by Jean-Louis Lambot in 1848 (Joseph Monier received the patent in 1867). The hotel’s Spanish and Moorish theme capped off with its signature dome and chimneys represented a step forward from other hotels that had a classically designed influence. White named the new hotel the Blenheim and merged the two hotels into the Marlborough Blenheim.

Across the way at the corner of Illinois Avenue and the boardwalk, would grow the city’s most distinctive hotel, The Traymore. Began in 1879 as a small boarding house, the hotel grew through a series of uncoordinated expansion. By 1914, the hotel’s owner, Daniel White, taking a hint from the Marlborough-Blenheim, commissioned the firm of Price and McLanahan to build an even bigger hotel. Sixteen stories high, the tan brick and gold-capped hotel would become one of the city’s best-known landmarks. The hotel was best known for making use of ocean-facing hotel rooms by jutting its wings farther out from the main portion of the hotel along Pacific Avenue.

One by one, other large hotels sprung up along the Boardwalk. The Brighton, the Chelsea, The Shelburne. The Ambassador, The Ritz Carlton, The Mayflower, The Madison House, the Breakers, best known for its snob appeal for only the highest class of person roomed there and enjoyed its roof top garden lounge. The Quaker-owned Chalfonte House and Haddon Hall opened in the 1890s, would by the twenties merge into the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall and would become the city's largest hotel with nearly one thousand rooms. By 1930, the city's last large hotel opened its doors. The 400-room Claridge was built by a partnership that included renowned Philadelphia contractor John McShain and at nearly twenty-four stories it would become known as the "Skyscraper By The Sea."

The city hosted the 1964 Democratic National Convention which nominated Lyndon Johnson for President and Hubert Humphrey as Vice President. The ticket won in a landslide that November. The convention and the press coverage it generated, however, cast a harsh light on Atlantic City, which by then was in the midst of a long period of economic decline. Many felt that the friendship between Johnson and the Governor of New Jersey at that time, Richard J. Hughes, led Atlantic City to host the Democratic Convention.

Like all major cities, Atlantic City contains distinct neighborhoods or districts. The communities are known as: The North Inlet, The South Inlet, Bungalow Park, Monroe Park; The Marina District (also known as Back Maryland),Venice Park, The Downtown(Midtown), Ducktown, Chelsea, and Chelsea Heights.

[edit] Demise and Rebirth

Like many older east coast cities after World War II, Atlantic City became plagued with poverty, crime, and disinvestment by the middle class in the mid to late 20th century. The neighborhood known as the "inlet" became particularly impoverished. The reasons for the resort's decline were multi-layered. The automobile become available to many Americans after the war. Atlantic City had initially relied upon visitors coming by train and staying for a couple of weeks. The car would allow people to come and go as they pleased, and many people would spend only a few days, rather than weeks. Also the advent of suburbia played a huge role. With many families moving to their own private houses, luxuries such as home air conditioning, and swimming pools diminished the necessity for people to flock to the beach during the hot summer. Perhaps the biggest factor in the decline in Atlantic City's popularity came from cheap, fast jet service to other premiere resorts. Places such as Miami Beach, and Nassau, Bahamas superseceded Atlantic City as favored vacation spots.

By the late sixties the typical Atlantic City tourist was invariably poor, black, elderly, or all three. Many of the resort's great hotels, which were suffering from embarrassing vacancy rates, were either closed, converted to cheap apartments, or converted to nursing home facilities. Prior, and during the advent of legalized gambling, many of these hotels would be demolished. The Breakers, the Chelsea, the Brighton, the Shelburne, the Mayflower, the Traymore, and the Marlborough Blenheim all fell to the wrecking ball in the seventies and the eighties. Of all the pre-casino resorts that bordered the Boardwalk only the Claridge, the Dennis (now part of Bally's Park Place), the Ritz Carlton, and the Chafonte-Haddon Hall survive to this day. The steel frame work of the old Ambassodor Hotel was used for the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, although its distinctive brick facade was removed and replaced with a more modern one. Smaller hotels off the Boardwalk, such as the Madison House, also survive.

In an effort at revitalizing the city, New Jersey voters in 1976 approved casino gambling for Atlantic City, this came after a 1974 referendum on legalized gambling failed to pass. The Chafonte-Haddon Hall became Resorts International and was the first legal casino in the eastern United States when it opened on May 26, 1978. Other casinos were soon added along the boardwalk and later in the marina district for a total of thirteen today. The introduction of gambling did not, however, quickly eliminate many of the urban problems that plagued Atlantic City. Many have argued that it only served to magnify those problems, as evidenced in the stark contrast between tourism-intensive areas and the adjacent impoverished working-class neighborhoods. Drug-infested tenements in poor condition stand directly beside multi-billion dollar casino hotels along the ocean in some locations. In addition, Atlantic City has played second-fiddle to Las Vegas, Nevada, as a gambling mecca in the United States, although in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Las Vegas was experiencing a massive drop in tourism due to crime, particularly the Mafia's role, and other economic factors, Atlantic City was favored over Las Vegas. The rise of Mike Tyson in boxing, having most of his fights in Atlantic City in the '80's, also helped Atlantic City's popularity. On July 3, 2003, Atlantic City's newest casino, The Borgata, opened with much success. Another major attraction is the oldest remaining Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium in the world.

Atlantic City is home to New Jersey's first wind farm. The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm consists of five 1.5 MW turbine towers, each almost 400 feet (120 meters) high.

Gambling was stopped for the first time since 1978 at 8:00 a.m. on July 5, 2006, during the 2006 New Jersey State Government Shutdown mandated by Governor Jon Corzine. The casinos generally remained open for entertainment and hotel services, but ceased gambling functions due to the absence of state regulators. The casinos resumed gambling functions at 7:00 p.m. on July 8, 2006.

From 2005 to 2006, Atlantic City had the highest percentage increase (25.9%) in average home value in the United States. [1]

[edit] Geography

Atlantic City is located at 39°21′54″N, 74°26′21″W (39.364966, -74.439034)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 44.9 km² (17.4 mi²). 29.4 km² (11.4 mi²) of it is land and 15.5 km² (6.0 mi²) of it (34.58%) is water.

[edit] Climate

Atlantic City has a humid continental climate, but it is almost on the borderline of the humid continental/subtropical climate zones. In the winter, the city does not get as much snowfall as northern New Jersey or inland areas because it is moderated by the ocean. In the summer, Atlantic City gets a sea breeze off the ocean that makes temperatures stay cooler than inland areas.

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rec High °F	78	75	87	94	99	106	104	103	99	90	84	77
Norm High °F	41.4	43.9	51.9	61.3	71.1	80	85.1	83.3	76.6	66.3	56	46.4
Norm Low °F	22.8	24.5	31.7	39.8	49.8	59.3	65.4	63.7	56	43.9	35.7	27.1
Rec Low °F	-10	-11	5	12	25	37	42	40	32	20	10	-7
Precip (in)	3.6	2.85	4.06	3.45	3.38	2.66	3.86	4.32	3.14	2.86	3.26	3.15
Source: USTravelWeather.com [2]

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1860	867		–
1870	1,043		20.3%
1880	5,477		425.1%
1890	13,055		138.4%
1900	27,838		113.2%
1910	46,150		65.8%
1920	50,707		9.9%
1930	66,198		30.6%
1940	64,094		-3.2%
1950	61,657		-3.8%
1960	59,544		-3.4%
1970	47,859		-19.6%
1980	40,199		-16.0%
1990	37,986		-5.5%
2000	40,517		6.7%
Est. 2005	40,368	[3]	-0.4%
sources:[4][5]

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 40,517 people, 15,848 households, and 8,700 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,378.3/km² (3,569.8/mi²). There were 20,219 housing units at an average density of 687.8/km² (1,781.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 26.68% White, 44.16% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 10.40% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 13.76% from other races, and 4.47% from two or more races. 24.95% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 15,848 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 24.8% were married couples living together, 23.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.1% were non-families. 37.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,969, and the median income for a family was $31,997. Males had a median income of $25,471 versus $23,863 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,402. About 19.1% of families and 23.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.1% of those under age 18 and 18.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Government

[edit] Local government

Atlantic City is governed under the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) system of municipal government. The current Mayor of Atlantic City is Bob Levy.

The City Council is the governing body of Atlantic City. Members of Council are elected to serve for a term of four years. There are nine Councilmembers, one from each of six wards and three serving at-large. The City Council exercises the legislative power of the municipality for the purpose of holding Council meetings to introduce ordinances and resolutions to regulate City government. In addition, Councilmembers review budgets submitted by the Mayor; provide for an annual audit of the City’s accounts and financial transactions; organize standing committees and hold public hearings to address important issues which impact Atlantic City.^[6]

Members of the Atlantic City Council are:

• Ward 1: G. Bruce Ward (appointed to replace Gibb Jones, who resigned for health reasons)^[7]
• Ward 2: Marty Small
• Ward 3: Joyce Mollineaux (appointed to replace Craig Callaway, who resigned on August 30, 2006)^[8]
• Ward 4: William "Speedy" Marsh, Council President
• Ward 5: Dennis Mason
• Ward 6: Timothy Mancuso
• At Large: John Schultz
• At Large: Eugene Robinson
• At Large: George Tibbitt

[edit] Federal, state and county representation

Atlantic City is in the Second Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 2nd Legislative District.^[9]

New Jersey's Second Congressional District, covering all of Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County and Salem County and portions of Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County, is represented by Frank LoBiondo (R, Vineland). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

The 2nd legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by James J. McCullough (R, Egg Harbor Township), and in the Assembly by Francis J. Blee (R, Absecon) and Jim Whelan (D, Atlantic City). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Atlantic County's County Executive is Dennis Levinson. The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders, administers all county business. Atlantic County's Freeholders are Francis Sutton, James Curcio, Frank Finnerty (Freeholder Vice Chairman), Alisa Cooper, Joe Kelly, Rev. Lawton Nelson, Thomas Russo, Sue Schilling and Joseph F. Silipena (Freeholder Chairman).

[edit] Education

The Atlantic City School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district are eight elementary schools — Chelsea Heights School, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Complex, New Jersey Avenue School, New York Avenue School, Richmond Avenue School, Sovereign Avenue School, Texas Avenue School and Uptown School Complex — Atlantic City High School [3] for grades 9-12, along with Venice Park School and Viking Academy.

Students from Brigantine, Longport, Margate City and Ventnor City attend Atlantic City High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with the respective school districts.

[edit] Casino resorts

Name	Address	Ownership
Bally's Atlantic City 1	Park Place and the Boardwalk	Harrah's Entertainment
The Borgata	One Borgata Way (Also known as 1501 MGM Mirage Boulevard)	Marina District Development Corporation
Caesars Atlantic City	Pacific Avenue and the Boardwalk	Harrah's Entertainment
Harrah's Atlantic City	777 Harrah's Boulevard	Harrah's Entertainment
Hilton (New)	Boston Avenue and the Boardwalk	Resorts International
Resorts Atlantic City	North Carolina Avenue and the Boardwalk	Resorts International
Showboat	South States Avenue and the Boardwalk	Harrah's Entertainment
Tropicana	Brighton Avenue and the Boardwalk	Aztar Corporation
Trump Marina	Huron Avenue and Brigantine Boulevard	Trump Entertainment Resorts
Trump Plaza	Mississippi Avenue and the Boardwalk	Trump Entertainment Resorts
Trump Taj Mahal	Virginia Avenue and the Boardwalk	Trump Entertainment Resorts

¹ Claridge Tower and the Wild West Casino are considered part of Bally's.

[edit] Planned casino/resorts

• CityCenter East – In March 2006, MGM Mirage announced that it has begun pre-development and design work for a new casino/resort, tentatively called "CityCenter East", patterned after the company's CityCenter project in Las Vegas. If built, CityCenter East would be located on 55 acres of land situated between The Borgata and Harrah's Atlantic City^[10].

• Pinnacle Gaming purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City's smallest casino, and permanently closed it on November 11, 2006 at 6:00 AM. Pinnacle plans to demolish the building and replace it with a $1.5 - 2 billion casino resort on 18 contiguous oceanfront acres, to open by 2011.

• Morgan Stanley has also bought 20 acres directly north of the Showboat Hotel and Casino and plans to build another 1 billion dollar-plus resort casino^[11].

• A company headed by former Caesars CEO Wallace Barr and former New Jersey Casino Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Curtis Bashaw recently purchased land south of the Atlantic City Hilton, owned by its parent Colony Capital, LLC of Los Angeles, CA. The tract includes the site of the former Atlantic City High School and the planned but failed Dunes casino. Only the former Dunes site is currently zoned for casino space.

• The recent closure of Bader Field, the city's original airport, has prompted speculation that gaming mogul Steve Wynn may be interested in returning to Atlantic City to develop all or part of the former Bader Field's 143 acres as a casino similar to his Las Vegas and Macau properties. These rumors were dispelled when the time and environmental cleanup of the site would prove too extensive.

• The parent company of Tropicana Casino and Resort, Aztar, is looking for a partner to develop a boutique casino and/or condominium complex on a square city block of boardwalk property north of the Ritz Carlton Condominium Building.

• A parcel of land behind behind the aging Trump Marina Casino bordered by Brigantine Bay and the Trump Marina parking garage is rumored to be owned by Mirage Resorts. Local residents and casino experts have been quoted in the press as being unsatisfied with the aging casino and have urged its demolition, combining the land with the bayfront parcel for a larger, more modern casino.

• As reported by the Press of Atlantic City, Steve Wynn will join forces with his one-time nemesis, Donald Trump, to build a casino at the Center of the Boardwalk district. Plans are currently tentative but involve creating a massive 30 acre parcel of land by placing Pacific Avenue (which currently bisects the Trump Plaza property) underground, demolishing Trump Plaza, its parking garage, and support structures. The Historic Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall would either be demolished or incorporated into the site. Further, the site of the former Trump World's Fair Casino, adjacent to Boardwalk Hall and owned by condominium developer Bruce Toll, is reported to be a part of the project. Funds infused by Mr. Wynn by either a sale or lease of Trump Plaza's land would provide Trump Entertainment with capital needed to restore his other two Atlantic City properties and potentially render the company profitable. Legal disputes are raging with Vera Coking, a resident who owns the last remaining building on the parcel. She has refused to sell and has been threatened with the new casino complex being built around her home, as was the case with the ill-fated Penthouse Casino project of the 1980s.

[edit] Former, closed and never opened casino/resorts

Name	Reason For Closure/Not Opening
Atlantis	License revoked on July 4, 1989. Sold and renamed Trump Regency (non-casino).
Bally's Park Place	Renamed Bally's Atlantic City
Bally's Grand	Renamed The Grand
Boardwalk Regency	Renamed Caesars Boardwalk Regency
Brighton	Renamed Sands Atlantic City
Caesars Boardwalk Regency	Renamed Caesars Atlantic City
Claridge	Renamed Claridge Tower at Bally's
Del Webb's Claridge Hotel and Hi-Ho Casino	Renamed Del Webb's Claridge
Del Webb's Claridge	Renamed Claridge
Dunes	Never completed, land sold. Currently a parking lot.
Golden Nugget	Sold and Renamed Bally's Grand
Harrah's Marina	Renamed Harrah's Atlantic City
Harrah's at Trump Plaza	Sold to Trump Casinos & Resorts. Renamed Trump Plaza
Hilton (Original)	Casino Licensure denied. Sold and renamed Trump Castle Hotel/Casino.
Le Jardin	Project scrapped due to Mirage Resorts-MGM Grand merger
Merv Griffin's Resorts	Sold and Renamed Resorts International
Mirage Atlantic City	Renamed The Borgata before construction was completed
MGM Grand Atlantic City	Planned but not developed
Park Place	Renamed Bally's Park Place
Penthouse International	Never completed. Developer ran out of money. Property sold.
Playboy Hotel & Casino	Sold and renamed Atlantis
Resorts International	Renamed Resorts Atlantic City
Sahara Atlantic City	Planned but not developed; land sold to Golden Nugget
Sands	Closed 11/11/06. 6:00 AM. Building to be demolished.
The Grand	Renamed the Atlantic City Hilton Casino/Hotel
Tropicana Casino and Resort	Renamed TropWorld
TropWorld	Name reverted back to Tropicana Casino and Resort
Trump Castle	Renamed Trump Marina
Trump Regency	Reopened as Trump World's Fair at Trump Plaza
Trump World's Fair at Trump Plaza	Closed. building demolished. Currently an empty lot.

[edit] Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Logo
Atlantic City Surf	Baseball	Can-Am League	Bernie Robbins Stadium

The 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying series involving the USA, West Indies, Japan and South Africa is being held at Bernie Robbins Stadium in October 2006.

On November 16, 2006 Hal Handel, CEO of Greenwood Racing, announced that the Atlantic City Race Course would increase live racing dates from 4 days per year, to up to 20 days per year. www.saveacrc.com has been actively involved in expanding racing at the Atlantic City Race Course and created the movement to bring full time racing back to ACRC in 2005.

[edit] Media outlets

Media outlets without a link do not currently have a website.

[edit] Newspapers

• The Press of Atlantic City
• Atlantic City Weekly
• The Courier-Post
• Philadelphia Daily News
• The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Star-Ledger
• The Trenton Times
• The Trentonian
• The Hammonton News
• Hammonton Gazette

[edit] Radio stations

Atlantic City's radio market is ranked #139 in the nation.

[edit] Television stations

See also: Television stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• WQAV-LP Channel 34 Atlantic City (AsiaVision/Independent) - Wikipedia article / Official Website
• WMGM-TV Channel 40 Atlantic City (NBC)
• WMCN-TV Channel 53 Atlantic City (ShopNBC)
• W60CX Channel 60 Atlantic City (TBN) - Wikipedia article / Official website
• WWSI-TV Channel 62 Atlantic City (Telemundo)

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Rail and Bus

Atlantic City is connected to other cities in several ways. New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line runs from Philadelphia and several smaller South Jersey communities directly to the Atlantic City Rail Terminal at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

On June 20, 2006, the board of New Jersey Transit approved a three-year trial of express train service between New York Penn Station and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal. The estimated travel time will be 2½ hours with a few stops along the way and is part of the Casinos' multi-million dollar investments in Atlantic City. Most of the funding for the new transit line will be provided by Harrah's Entertainment (owners of both Harrah's Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City) and the Borgata. The line is expected to be in service by the end of 2007, but details on the line's operation are scant^[12].

The Atlantic City Bus Terminal is the home to local, intra-state and interstate bus companies including New Jersey Transit and Greyhound bus lines. The Greyhound Lucky Streak Express offers service to Atlantic City from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

[edit] Highways and taxicabs

Access to Atlantic City by car is available via the 44 mile (70 km) Atlantic City Expressway, US 30 (commonly known as the White Horse Pike), and US 40/322 (commonly known as the Black Horse Pike). Atlantic City has an abundance of taxi cabs and a local Jitney service providing continuous service to and from the casinos and the rest of the city.

[edit] Airline service

Commercial airlines serve Atlantic City via Atlantic City International Airport, located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of the city in Egg Harbor Township. Many travelers also choose to fly into Philadelphia International Airport or Newark Liberty International Airport, where there are wider selections of carriers from which to choose. The historic downtown Bader Field airport is now permanently closed and plans are in the works to redevelop the land; most likely it will be torn down for mixed development use.

[edit] Shopping

Atlantic City is home to two malls, Pier Shops at Caesars and Atlantic City Outlets The Walk. Two nearby regional malls include the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township and the Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing.

[edit] Atlantic City in popular culture

• Atlantic City has been a rather frequent subject in popular culture. The eccentric 1972 Bob Rafelson film The King of Marvin Gardens with Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and Ellen Burstyn was shot on location there and strongly conveys a feel for the pre-casino/post-glory-days limbo the city was mired in at the time. The powerful Oscar-nominated 1981 movie, Atlantic City, by French director Louis Malle, starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, reflects the city at the dawn of its casino-driven "rebirth". Atlantic City is cited as the Sundance Kid's birthplace in the 1969 classic western film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A popular Bruce Springsteen song, "Atlantic City", depicting a young couple's escape to the city, appears on Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska[4].
• More recently, several episodes of Donald Trump's television show The Apprentice have been based and filmed in Atlantic City.
• Atlantic City is often mentioned on the sitcom Friends.
• In Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, the family escapes to Atlantic City in the midst of the Colehouse Walker debacle. It is a song feature in Ragtime: The Musical. Two musicals by John Kander and Fred Ebb are set in Atlantic City: 1984's The Rink, which starred Chita Rivera and Liza Minelli and deals with a decaying roller rink by the seashore, and 1997's Steel Pier, about a dance marathon during the Great Depression.
• It was the home of the Miss America pageant from 1921 to 2005. In August 2005, it was announced that the pageant would no longer be held in Atlantic City. On January 21, 2006, the first pageant to occur outside Atlantic City took place in Las Vegas, at the Aladdin Casino and Resort.
• The streets of Atlantic City are used in the original American version of the board game Monopoly.
• The sticky confection salt water taffy is closely associated with the Boardwalk.
• Episode 5.3 of Sex and the City was set primarily in the Taj Mahal casino.
• A Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida,
• Disney's BoardWalk Villas, is based on Atlantic City in the 1930s.
• The Simpsons visited Atlantic City, with Homer making a derogatory remark towards the New Jersey state flag by pointing out that it has a fat man kissing a woman on it. In reality it does not. In another episode, after Homer's plan to build a casino run by South Pacific island natives goes awry, he remarks to the islanders, "I gave you a glittering Vegas, and you turned it into a skanky Atlantic City." Banners on the boardwalk in the show read "Atlantic City: Where New York comes to smoke".
• In the opening scenes of Empire Records, Lucas visits Atlantic City in an attempt to raise enough money to save the record store he works in. He ends up losing $9,000 which sets the scene for the rest of the movie.
• In one scene of Clerks, Jay tells Dante that he and Silent Bob are heading over to Atlantic City to "drink some beers, get ripped, and hopefully get laid."
• Seinfeld makes frequent references to driving down to Atlantic City.

Atlantic City is a place frequented by New Jersey based mob drama The Sopranos.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Atlantic City Board of Education
• Atlantic City School District's 2005-06 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• National Center for Education Statistics data for the Atlantic City School District
• Atlantic City Casino Reviews
• Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority
• Atlantic City Convention Center
• Atlantic City Free Pubic Library
• Atlantic City Housing Authority
• Atlantic City International Airport
• Atlantic City Police Department
• Atlantic City Race Course Official Website
• Atlantic City Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Atlantic City Surf (Minor League Baseball Team)
• Boardwalk Hall (Formerly the Atlantic City Convention Center)
• California, Here They Come (Link with article concerning move of the former Boardwalk Bullies' hockey team to Stockton, California)
• Movie of Atlantic City floral parade, circa 1904
• New Jersey Casino Control Commission
• New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority
• New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement
• South Jersey Transportation Authority
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 39.364966° -74.439034°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

This box: view • talk • edit Municipalities of Atlantic County, New Jersey (County seat: Mays Landing)
Boroughs	Buena | Folsom | Longport |
Cities	Absecon | Atlantic City | Brigantine | Corbin City | Egg Harbor City | Estell Manor | Linwood | Margate City | Northfield | Pleasantville | Port Republic | Somers Point | Ventnor City
Town	Hammonton
Townships	Buena Vista | Egg Harbor | Galloway | Hamilton | Mullica | Weymouth
CDPs and other communities	Collings Lakes | Elwood-Magnolia | Mays Landing | Pomona | Richland | Smithville