Claridge Hotel and Casino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Claridge is a hotel and casino located in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Located between Park Place and Illinois Avenue, the Claridge is set off the Boardwalk behind Brighton Park. As of present the hotel is part of Bally's Atlantic City.
[edit] History
The Claridge is a unique hotel in that unlike most Atlantic City resorts it did not grow out of a modest boarding house. It was the idea of Philadelphia architect John McShain who designed the twenty- four story, 400 hundred room hotel. Opened in 1930, during The Great Depression, the Claridge became the last of the great hotels built in Atlantic City near the Boardwalk; no knew resorts rose in the city until Howard Johnson’s built a hotel there in the 1960’s. Due to the hotel’s tall, slick, slender appearance it gained the nickname “The Skyscraper By The Sea.”
The Claridge was a successful hotel during the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Marilyn Monroe was a special guest there in the fifties when she was grand marshal of the annual Miss America Pageant. Despite Atlantic City’s downturn as a premiere vacation resort in the 60’s the hotel continued to operate and survived in to the casino era.
[edit] Casino Era and Current Status
In 1981 the Del Webb Corporation, owners of The Mint Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, bought the Claridge and turned it in to a casino. The hotel was expanded with 200 hundred new guest rooms being built. The Claridge had the distinction of being the last of the pre-casino Atlantic City to be refurbished in to a casino. New Jersey then Governor Brendan Byrne had been dissatisfied with what he called “Patch and Paint” jobs of the city’s old resorts, this had been done with Resorts International and the Dennis Hotel which is part of Ballys Park Place, and lobbied hard for the old structures to be torn down in favor of new resorts.
In July of 1981 the new casino opened under the name Del Webb’s Claridge and Hi Ho Casino (the hotel eventually became known as Del Webb’s Claridge and eventually just The Claridge). The hotel saw success early on but as bigger casinos were built in the city, the Claridge had a hard time competing as a small casino in a large market. In the 90’s the casino was bought up by the owners of Fitzgerald’s Las Vegas, which expanded the hotel by building a large parking garage next to it.
In 2003 the Claridge was bought by Bally's Atlantic City, which made the resort a hotel wing part of Ballys. Despite being part of Ballys as of present the Claridge still retains its own casino.
