Atlantic City

by Philip Greenspun; created 1995

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.

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