Reader Brian F sent in these scenic and dramatic shots of his latest work site, the front and roof of the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantic City, New Jersey USA, where the R was being lifted up to join the O in Rock!
Have you been to Atlantic City readers or indeed any of the rock memorabilia - stuffed Hard Rock Cafes?
About 1980 we saw a movie called 'Atlantic City' starring Burt Lancaster. At the time we thought we had probably left it too late to see the 'historic' resort part of Atlantic City from it's early 20th century days.
ReplyDeleteWe attended a family wedding of a young cousin on a beach just outside the city a few years ago. All guests were ferried to and from the beach from a hotel where we stayed and where the reception was.
The hotel could have been on a beach anywhere. The old wooden boardwalk along the front is lined with hotels. A few hundred yards in land it is a depressed old town with many run down poorly maintained buildings. The town does not show any sign of prosperity from the hotels and casinos that attract visitors.
Very old movies set in casinos show the rich people in society dressed formally and gambling at roulette etc.
Atlantic City casinos specialise in slot machines for the addicted poor. We went in a couple of casinos and you have people operating five of more slot machines at the same time preventing any one else from using them. People dress casually, and that is probably too formal a description. These are not the casinos frequented by James Bond.
Saddest part of all are the young children 10 years and under camped out on the casino steps waiting for their parents to leave.
I am old enough to remember the quintessential Atlantic City, the original Steel Pier, the Marlboro Blenheim hotel,the Traymore,(and of COURSE,the famous Taber's Toyland).Today's A.C. is indeed bankrupt and full of crime,but let me point out that in the background of the seagull picture is Resorts,the first A.C. casino which is inside Haddon Hall, a grand hotel from the 1920's.For the last 25 years, I have toiled to help re vitalize this city,and earn my living doing so without putting my pay on the betting tables,and I am hopeful that someday this place can be restored to its former glory.
ReplyDeleteI wish you well in your endeavors Brian. The promise of revitalization from casinos is not a very likely reality, the 'House' wins but they don't share. My wife's grandparents used to go on vacation to Atlantic City from Brooklyn to visit the salt water pool and other turn of the 20th century attractions which were about family entertainment. That isn't the case now.
Delete