Thursday Thirteen #19

Thirteen Facts about Atlantic City
(Where the Lap Lady & Tall Man have been at the Atlantic Builders Convention all week long)

1. Atlantic City was settled as a resort town in 1854 when train service began to Philadelphia, PA.

2. In 1870 the first boardwalk was built along the beach to keep sand out of hotel lobbies. At one point the board walk was 7 miles long before the 1944 hurricane. Now it is 4.12 miles long and 60' wide.

3. After WW II, the city was plagued with poverty and crime into the late 20th century. Part of the decline was due to the popularity of the car as AC had relied on the train to bring visitors to stay for a couple of weeks. Now people could come and go. (It is about 1.5 hours from our house). Also cheap airfare to other destinations like Miami Beach and the Bahamas cut into AC's pool of visitors.

4. In an effort to reviatlize the city in 1976 NJ voters approved casion gambling for AC. The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel became Resorts International and was the first legal casino in the easter US.

5. Atlantic City is home to NJ's first wind farm. The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm consists of five 1.5 MW turbine towers, each almost 400 feet high. (The Tall Man LOVES wind farms)

6. For the first time since 1978 gambling stopped in AC on 7/5/2006 during a government shut down concerning the increase in our sales tax. Three days later they were gambling again.

7. The hotel that the LL & TM are staying at is called The Trump Taj Mahal which is located right on the boardwalk. It has 75 regular gaming tables, 14 tournament tables and the second largest poker room in AC. It is currently undergoing a $250 million dollar renovation and new tower addition. It has 1,250 guest rooms. This is the head quarters for this year's Atlantic Builders Convention where the LL & TM are manning a booth. The convention itself is at the Convention Center which is a short walk from the hotel. There are many other very interesting resorts in the area but they chose this one because they got a discounted rate ;).

8. Steel Pier opened on 6/18/1898 at 1,000 feet long. It was built by the local Quakers as a place to relax in the resort town on their own. Soon it opened to the public. It provided clean wholesome entertainment for the whole family. In 1962 a storm of tidal wave proportions smashed part of the pier. And just before 1970 a $1 million fire destroyed the famous Marine Ballroom where the biggest names in show business performed. For many years teh Pier had a horse and rider that made a 40 ft dive into a tank! On August 21,2006 it was announced that the pier would close for good in October. On January 3, 2007 it was announced it will remain open for one more year. It is now owned by Trump Entertainment. It will be redeveloped into retail.

9. The Miss America pageant calls Atlantic City home. In 1921 the AC Chamber of Commerce President Frederick Hickman announced "Miss America represents the highest ideals. She is a real combination of beauty, grace, and intelligence, artistic and refined. She is a type which the American Girl might well emulate." The first Miss America was Margaret Gorman from D.C.

10. There are 11 casinos controlled by the NJ Casino Control Commision.
Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort
Ballys Atlantic City & The Claridge Casino Hotel
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Caesars Atlantic City
Harrah's Casino Hotel
Resorts Atlantic City
Showboat Casino Hotel
Tropicana Casino and Resort
Trump Marina Hotel Casino
Trump Plaza Hotel Casino
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort

11. The board game Monopoly uses Atlantic City's street names. In 1972, the Atlantic City Commissioner of Public Works threatened to change the names of the real Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues, but public outcry vetoed the bill.

12. To build a 3-foot wide sidewalk of Butterscotch Krimpets from Center City, Philadelphia to Atlantic City you would need 30,412,800 Krimpets. (Never had a Tasty Kake? You're missing out!!)

13. According to Absecon Island lore (Atlantic City is on Absecon Island), the term Saltwater Taffy was first coined in Atlantic City. Allegedly, a huge storm in the summer of 1883 caused the tide to rise so high that it soaked the candy store of David Bradley. When he discovered the calamity, he is said to have made a reference to "saltwater taffy." True or not, the story has persisted to this day.

The Lap Lady and Tall Man don't gamble (It is against the TM's religion- he is a Quaker) but they like to watch other people loose their money :).