History of AC

The Las Vegas Adviser question of the day today (5/5) is about the History of AC - interesting reading.

http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/qod.cfm

As this will disappear tomorrow, I%26#39;ll post the article as a reply.

History of AC

Sorry it%26#39;s so long!

Q:

I keep reading that casinos in Atlantic City are having a hard time these days. How long has Atlantic City had casino gambling?

A:

Just over 30 years.

Until recently, Atlantic City has been an irresistible magnet for day-tripping gamblers. Centuries before that, mankind was already being lured to the marshy inlets and miles of beaches of Absecon Island, from which Atlantic City eventually arose. The original ';resort patrons'; were the Absegani Indians of the Lenni-Lenape Tribe, who repaired to Absecon’s shores during warm weather.

As with most good Native American ideas, this was soon appropriated by the white man -- along with the island itself. It was deeded by the British crown to Thomas Budd, circa 1680. At that time, beachfront was valued at four cents an acre. What casino developer wouldn’t give his eyeteeth to get that price today!

Absecon Island was first settled as a fishing village in 1790. The initial permanent structure, a log cabin, was built in 1785 where Arctic and Arkansas avenues now intersect. Over at Baltic and Massachusetts, one can stand on the spot where Aunt Millie’s Boarding House opened in 1838. This was the island’s first business venture, setting its destiny as a hotel-dominated municipality.

Hoteliers and railroad operators noticed that, along with an influx of dollars, tourists were tracking something else into the city’s fine establishments: sand, and lots of it. Rather than see their carpets ruined, they initiated the construction of a wooden promenade in 1879, precursor to today’s six-mile Boardwalk. From the Boardwalk extended a series of piers clustered with souvenir ships, circus freaks, nautical oddities, and specialty acts, like the horse and rider who dove 60 feet into specially constructed pool.

Atlantic City’s prosperity ended with World War II when the grand hotels were requisitioned as barracks. By 1946, air travel put Florida, Bermuda, and the Bahamas within easy reach of the tourist trade and history passed by Atlantic City. The population, which had peaked at 60,000 during the Great Depression, began to decline.

In 1974, gambling was seized upon as a ';unique tool of urban development,'; and an amendment was proposed to the New Jersey Constitution that would open the state to casino development. The lack of an explicit limit on casino construction raised the specter of slot machines on every corner and –- although they were outspent by a 17:1 ratio –- casino opponents won at the polls, 60% to 40%.

Two years later, when the issue was revisited, the ground had shifted. New Jersey had instituted a state income tax in 1975 and a rejiggered version of the casino-enabling amendment appeared on the ballot. This one specified that casinos would be restricted to Atlantic City and that revenues derived therefrom would go to the state’s elderly and disabled. According to John Dombrink and William Thompson’s The Last Resort, ';Quiet, tasteful, European-style casinos were promised'; … somebody’s idea of black humor, maybe.

One of the major campaign donors was Resorts International, a company that only recently had been Matawan, N.J.-based Mary Carter Paint. As Michael Pollock recorded in an article for Shorecast magazine, ';For the executives who headed the company, manufacturing paint was as exciting as watching it dry.'; Snapping up 3,000 acres in the Bahamas, the firm opened the Paradise Island casino in 1967 and repainted itself Resorts International the following year.

Resorts wanted to be on the ground floor of casino development along the Boardwalk, seizing on the old Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel as its base of operations. Conversion proceeded swiftly and on May 26, 1978, singer Steve Lawrence baptized a new era in Atlantic City when he unleashed the inaugural crap roll at Resorts Casino Hotel.

Having opened far ahead of its competitors, Resorts had players waiting in lines that stretched for blocks. Grossing $600,000 per day, Resorts’ casino lifted the company’s profits 1,600% in its first year operation.

Meanwhile up and down the Boardwalk, the massive Gilded Age piles of the city’s old resort hotels were toppling (a process recorded in Louis Malle’s film, Atlantic City), replaced by the even more massive and sometimes quite hideous towers of Resorts’ competitors. As a dozen casinos rose, so did land values. In 1976, Atlantic City’s aggregate real estate was valued at $316 million; by 1988, that number had ascended to $6 billion. Fifteen acres of Marina District land, obtained for $37,000 in 1975, were resold as casino-zoned land for $20 million in 1980. Over the same period, visitation increased tenfold and 30,000 new jobs were created in 1978-1980 alone.

The arrival of casinos kept Atlantic City from declining into a ghost town, a fate that befell nearby Asbury Park of Bruce Springsteen fame. The seaside community has also weathered the advent of racinos in Delaware and tribal megaresorts in Connecticut. But the challenges continued to mount. After the 9/11 attacks, New York State approved an expansion of casino gambling. But the most serious inroads were made by racinos and ';slot parlors'; in Pennsylvania, which started opening in 2007. A brief ban on smoking in Atlantic City’s casino, although quickly revoked, did further damage.

Over the years, several venerable casinos have vanished from the landscape, including Trump Worlds Fair and the Sands. Others are struggling -- especially the former Resorts International. Current owner Colony Capital encumbered Resorts with a massive loan that the casino%26#39;s revenue stream couldn’t support. After several months of mortgage payments were skipped, the former Resorts was in grave danger of being foreclosed and is basically hanging on by its fingernails.

Also struggling is Colony%26#39;s Atlantic City Hilton, which once upon a time was Steve Wynn%26#39;s Golden Nugget. Post-Wynn, it became Bally%26#39;s Grand. When Bally%26#39;s casino properties were sold to Hilton Gaming in 1998, it gained its present moniker ... although it would pass briefly through Harrah%26#39;s Entertainment%26#39;s hands en route to Colony%26#39;s. Similarly, Resorts changed hands several times, being owned by Merv Griffin and by Sun International before winding up with Colony.

The unequivocal success story of Atlantic City in the last decade has been the Borgata. Built by Boyd Gaming on land owned by MGM Mirage, it has been the clear market leader ever since it opened in mid-2003. Borgata also lit a fire under competing operators to upgrade their product. To this day, it is the standard by which all other Atlantic City casinos are measured.

History of AC

Amazing how quickly they covered the last 30 years...some of us have longer memories!

Oops, read it after I posted it - a DECIDEDLY negative tone to the article. For the AC lovers, this doesn%26#39;t tell the whole story by any means.

Fascinating reading, Suz! Thanks for posting!

Thank you for all the good info, very interesting!

Thanks for posting this Sue-very interesting reading!!

saw that in my email this am. usually dont read it unless my brother in law (he occasionally answers the q.o d because he wrote a book about vegas but just had to look at it when i saw it was about ac,

Thanks for posting that, Sue. I wish it had focussed more on the good points and less on the ';hanging by the thumbs'; parts - which, to be honest, can be said about many casinos elsewhere these days.

I have photos of my mother-in-law and her sister as little girls strolling the boards on Easter Sunday 1930. It was quite the place to be. Everyone is dressed to the nines. You can still see some of the architecture today.

ACM

I have to add the Miss America %26#39;show us your shoes%26#39; parade history. www.jimgladstone.com/go_jimbo.html… excerpt:

The ';show us your shoes'; ritual began in the early %26#39;70s, when a group of drag queens, dressed as Miss Americas watched the parade from balconies overlooking the boardwalk. Peering down as contestants were chauffeured by sitting atop the back seats convertibles, the queens could see what spectators on the ground level couldn%26#39;t: beneath their expensive evening wear, many contestants wore casual shoes or went barefoot. Perhaps out of resentment that they%26#39;d wedged themselves into mules while the real girls hadn%26#39;t, the chanting began and several good-humored contestants lifted their legs high to reveal stockinged feet and threadbare slippers. ';Show us your shoes'; quickly became a Miss America tradition, although today%26#39;s clued-in contestants display high fashion footwear when they raise their gams to salute the gays.

BTW,notice ACmamas dog is back on her pic, Yay!