Arriving by train, you'll be confronted by the monstrous
Convention Center , which opened above the station in 1997,
and houses a massive food court and standard mall shops, along with
its meeting spaces and countless hotel rooms. Most of the hopeful
new arrivals, however, head straight for the casinos, with an ample
overspill flooding the Boardwalk and beach.
Atlantic City's wooden Boardwalk was originally built as
a temporary walkway, raised above the beach so that vacationers
could take a seaside stroll without treading sand into the grand
hotels. Alongside the brash 99ยข shops and exotically named
palm-readers, a few beautiful Victorian buildings that survived the
wrecker's ball invoke past elegance, despite being dwarfed by the
casinos and housing fast-food joints. Early in the morning, when
the breezes from the ocean are at their most pleasant, the
Boardwalk is peaceful, peopled only by keen cyclists and a few lost
souls down on their luck.
The Central Pier offers all the fun of a fair, with
rides, games and old-fashioned "guess your weight" challenges. A
few blocks south, another pier has been remodeled into an
ocean-liner-shaped shopping center. The small and faded Arts
Center and Historic Museum (tel 609/347-5837), on the Garden
Pier at the quiet northern end of the Boardwalk, has a free
collection of seaside memorabilia, postcards, photos and a special
exhibit on Miss America, as well as traveling art shows. A block
off the Boardwalk, where Pacific Avenue meets Rhode Island Avenue,
and at the heart of some of the city's worst deprivation, stands
the Absecon Lighthouse . Active until 1933, it's recently
been fully restored and offers a terrific view from its 167ft tower
(July-Aug daily 11am-4pm, Sat also 7pm-9pm; Sept-Dec and March-June
Thurs-Mon 11am-4pm; call for Jan-Feb hours; $4; tel
609/449-1360).
Atlantic City's beach is free, family filled and
surprisingly clean, considering its proximity to the Boardwalk.
Beaches at well-to-do Ventnor , a jitney ride away, are
quieter, but charge users $3 per week. For the same fee, New
Jersey's beautiful people pose on the beaches of Margate ,
three miles south of Atlantic City; all watched over by Lucy, the
Margate Elephant at 9200 Atlantic Ave. A 65ft wood and tin
Victorian oddity, Lucy was built as a seaside attraction in 1881
and used variously as a tavern and a hotel. Today her huge belly is
filled with a museum of Atlantic City memorabilia, and
photos and artifacts from her own history (Apr-May and Sept-Oct Sat
& Sun 10am-5pm; June-Aug Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-5pm; closed
Nov-Mar; $4; tel 609/823-6473).