Atlantic City: Recreation

Sightseeing

Opened in 1999, the $4 million Atlantic City Visitor Welcome Center, located on the expressway just outside the city, provides guests with up-to-date information on hotels, restaurants, attractions, shopping, festivals, events, and regional cultural and historical sites. The Boardwalk Information Center, in the center of town, provides walk-in visitors with regional guides and information on various attractions and amenities.

Atlantic City's premier attraction is its boardwalk, a nearly five-mile-long steel, concrete, and wooden structure stretching along the Atlantic Ocean beach. The structure was described in 1909 by a travel writer for a national magazine as "overwhelming in its crudeness—barbaric, hideous and magnificent." Roughly paralleling Atlantic and Pacific avenues, the boardwalk is 60 feet wide and home to a variety of shops, amusement stands, and eateries. Its surface is a patterned design of bethaburra, a Brazilian hardwood. Along its length, and well worth a close look, is Donald Trump's $1 billion Taj Mahal, adorned with Hindu elephant gods, multicolored onion domes, minarets, and $14 million of chandeliers.

The boardwalk continues its southward stretch into neighboring communities such as Ventnor. Running perpendicular to the Boardwalk are a series of entertainment piers, many of which have been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Central Pier is known for its observation tower. Steeplechase Pier features children's amusements. Steel Pier, first opened in 1898, was a noted entertainment area. In 1990, the pier reopened as a family entertainment facility under the auspices of the Trump Taj Mahal complex. Garden Pier attracts culture lovers to the Arts Center and Historical Museum. Now a mall called Ocean One, the former Million Dollar Pier features shops and restaurants. The Tivoli Pier, part of the Trop World resort, is a 2-acre amusement park reminiscent of Atlantic City's carnival days. Legalized gambling and the glitter of the luxurious casino/hotels lining the boardwalk are other popular tourist attractions.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum has attracted the curious since 1996. The Absecon Lighthouse, which was built in 1854, was reopened to the public after a $3 million facelift. The 228-step historic structure is the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey and offers a bird's eye view of Atlantic City's dazzling skyline and the back bay area. Lucy the Margate Elephant is a six-story wood and metal structure built in the shape of an elephant. Located in nearby Margate and initially used as a bazaar site in 1881, Lucy is now a national historic site. Wheaton Village portrays life in an 1888 glass-making village; the Towne of Historic Smithville features colonial buildings and specialty shops. At the Marine Mammal Stranding Center and Museum in Brigantine, visitors can discover the wonders of the sea and learn about the care of ailing sea creatures.

Arts and Culture

Performing arts in Atlantic City take the form of top name entertainment offered at the casino/hotels' lounges and "big rooms," many of which seat more than 1,000 patrons. Innumerable singers, musicians, entertainers, dancers, and comedians, most of them Hollywood and Broadway stars, have taken the stage in Atlantic City. Recent improvements to Brighton Park along the boardwalk include a new amphitheater, which offers summertime concerts. Jazz concerts are scheduled at Historic Gardner's Basin.

Located on the boardwalk's Garden Pier is the Atlantic City Arts Center and Historical Museum. The center hosts art exhibits and shows all year long while the museum focuses on the city's 150-year history. The Circle Gallery on Park Place and the Lenox China Showroom are popular tourist stops. The Noyes Museum in Oceanville features a collection of regional duck decoys. Staff of the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in Atlantic City are noted in the Ripley hierarchy for their ability to find particularly unusual exhibits. The Ocean Life Center at Gardner's Basin has 8 tanks totaling 29,800 gallons of live exhibits, including a 23,000 gallon tank featuring the fish of northern New Jersey and a 750 gallon touch tank. Interestingly, the Ocean Life Center is accessible by car, on foot, and by boat.

Arts and Culture Information: Atlantic County Office of Cultural Affairs, 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330; telephone (609)625-2776

Festivals and Holidays

Atlantic City's most famous annual event is the Miss America Pageant, held the second week of September. Begun in

1921, the pageant generates an aura of festivity, including the Miss America Ocean Powerboat Race. Other annual events include the Atlantic City Boat Show in January and the Antique Auto Show in February. The city's Easter Parade has been an eagerly awaited event for generations of Atlantic City residents and visitors alike. In late May comes the symbolic Unlocking of the Ocean. The city sponsors Boardwalk Art Shows in June and September. In early July, the annual New Jersey Fresh Seafood Festival, described as a "sea appreciation party," takes place at Historic Gardner's Basin Maritime Park, a turn-of-the-century fishing village. Anglers are attracted to the Atlantic City Tuna Tournament in late July. The Wedding of the Sea in mid-August is celebrated with music, floats, a parade, sidewalk sales, and ceremonies held at Mississippi Avenue and the beach. Atlantic City's Marlin Tournament is held each August as well.

Sports for the Spectator

The Atlantic City Race Course, 14 miles west of the city, presents thoroughbred racing during the summer and simulcasts of racing events the remainder of the year. The Atlantic City Surf, a professional baseball team affiliated with the Atlantic League, plays near Bader Field in the $14.5 million Sandcastle Stadium, a 75,000-square-foot facility. The 5,900-seat stadium offers grandstand and premium deck seating, 20 luxury skyboxes, oversized concession areas, a souvenir shop, team clubhouses, administrative offices and 2,000 parking spaces. Other professional sports events, especially boxing matches, are sponsored by the city's casino/hotels. Annual events include the National Powerboat Races, State Sailing Championships, Shop Rite LPGA (women's golf) tournament (formerly the Atlantic City Classic), and professional polo matches, bowling competitions, and bicycle races.

Sports for the Participant

It is the pristine beaches along Absecon Island that draw thousands of swimmers and water sports enthusiasts every year. Surfers ride the breakers that wash the beaches, and sailors and powerboaters enjoy the ocean and inlet waters in the area. Ocean fishing is a popular sport, both from the shores of the coastal waters and from the decks of boats miles out to sea. Facilities in and around Atlantic City accommodate those wishing to play squash, tennis, racquet-ball, and golf. Bicycling, walking, and jogging along the boardwalk are picturesque as well as good exercise. Many of the casino/hotels offer guests complete fitness and athletic facilities.

Shopping and Dining

Atlantic City's most unusual shopping destination is Shops on Ocean One at Arkansas Avenue and the Boardwalk. Built in the shape of a luxury ocean liner, Ocean One features 150 stores, restaurants, and an amusement park, all spread over three levels and extending over the ocean. The city's major downtown shopping area occupies Atlantic Avenue and the avenues intersecting it. The Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing is the area's largest shopping center, boasting more than 150 stores and restaurants. In nearby Pleasantville, the Shore Mall offers 75 shops and eateries, plus a movie theater complex. For the bargain hunter, every Tuesday and Saturday the Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown has a flea market. Historic Wheaton Village in Millville is a replica of a Victorian glass-making town, complete with gift and craft shops, plus there are several other uniquely themed, quaint shopping plazas throughout neighboring communities.

Delicatessen fare and fresh seafood are noteworthy Atlantic City offerings. Many of the delis along the Boardwalk feature stacked sandwiches, kosher hot dogs, and garlic dill pickles, the likes of which are seldom seen south of New York City. Fresh catches from the Atlantic include oysters, crabs, clams, and a variety of deep-sea fish. Dining is elegantly formal in many of the casino/hotel restaurants, a number of which specialize in assorted international cuisines. Traditional American fare can be had at colonial-era inns in Historic Smithville. Atlantic City is also the birthplace of salt water taffy and visitors may sample dozens of flavors along the boardwalk and in candy shops. The Historic Renault Winery and Vineyard in Egg Harbor City is renowned along the East Coast for its wines and gourmet food.

Visitor Information: The Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, 2314 Pacific Ave., Atlantic City, NJ 08401; telephone (609)348-7100; toll-free (888)222-3683. State of New Jersey, Dept. of Commerce, Energy, and Economic Development, Div. of Travel and Tourism, CN-826, Trenton, NJ 08625-0826; telephone (609)777-0885; toll-free (800)847-4865