Atlantic City

Atlantic City was planned as a resort. In the early 1850s the physician Jonathan Pitney, later called the Father of Atlantic City, promoted a health resort on Absecon Island and persuaded the municipal authorities that a railway to the beach would be beneficial. The city was incorporated in 1854. Visitors from Philadelphia came by train, and in 1870 the first boardwalk was laid along the sand so that hotel owners could keep it out of their lobbies.

By the early 20th century grand hotels lined the Boardwalk, piers such as the Steel Pier offered concerts and diving horses, and the Miss America pageant began here in 1921. Under the political boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, Prohibition was largely ignored and gambling ran in back rooms. The vast Convention Hall, now Boardwalk Hall, opened in 1929. In the segregated city, the Black Northside had its own nightlife on Kentucky Avenue, where clubs such as Club Harlem drew Black and white audiences.

After the Second World War, cheap jet travel, air conditioning and suburban swimming pools drew visitors elsewhere, and most of the old hotels were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s. New Jersey voters legalised casinos in the city in 1976, and Resorts opened in May 1978 as the first legal casino in the eastern United States. Casinos brought jobs and tax revenue, but competition from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other states brought a string of closures after 2006. Superstorm Sandy flooded the city in October 2012 and destroyed the northern section of the Boardwalk. Sports betting, legal since 2018, now adds to the business.

Atlantic City's imprint on American culture is out of all proportion to its size. The American version of Monopoly takes its street names from the city — and their prices reflect the social standing of neighbourhoods at the time, with streets where Black and Asian residents lived priced lowest. Salt water taffy and the seaside pier amusement all became national images of the summer holiday here, and for decades the Miss America pageant made the city famous; it left in 2004, returned from 2013 to 2018, and is now held elsewhere.

Black Atlantic City has its own history: Kentucky Avenue's clubs were a stop for leading Black entertainers, and Missouri Avenue Beach, once a segregated beach nicknamed Chicken Bone Beach, now hosts jazz events and is remembered with pride. The population today is mixed, with large Black, Hispanic and Asian communities and an old Italian American quarter, Ducktown.

Entertainment is the business of the city. Concerts and sporting events fill Boardwalk Hall and the casino theatres, the Thunder over the Boardwalk airshow draws crowds to the beach each summer, and beach festivals bring country acts to the sand. The Orange Loop, a small downtown district of clubs, a beer hall and an amphitheatre, has grown as a home for independent music away from the casinos.

About 38,500 people lived in Atlantic City at the 2020 census, a slow decline from earlier decades; the surrounding Atlantic County is culturally tied to Philadelphia and counted as part of its wider metropolitan area. Nine large casinos, the convention centre and the hotels, restaurants and shops that serve visitors are the backbone of the economy, and casino tax revenue funds state programmes for older and disabled people.

Behind the Boardwalk, the city is poorer than the resort suggests. Many residents do not own a car, and as of 2024 the city had only one working supermarket; after a planned new supermarket fell through, the city announced in October 2025 a plan to redevelop Renaissance Plaza around an expanded store. Neighbourhoods range from the dense blocks near the beach to quieter residential districts such as Chelsea Heights. Stockton University runs classes in the city.

The year has a strong rhythm: crowded summer weekends of beach, concerts and the airshow; quieter shoulder seasons; and winters when the Boardwalk empties and the life of the city moves indoors to the casinos and conventions. Casino workers' pay and staffing have been a recurring issue since the pandemic years.

The submarine sandwich is the local staple. White House Sub Shop has served long subs packed with cold cuts on Arctic Avenue since 1946, and Ducktown's Italian bakeries supply the bread and pastries that go with the city's Italian American heritage. Cheesesteaks, a Philadelphia favourite, are sold widely too.

Salt water taffy is the Boardwalk's sweet. According to the traditional story, the name dates from 1883, when David Bradley's shop flooded with sea water after a storm and he sold his soaked taffy as "salt water taffy"; Joseph Fralinger turned it into a business, and taffy and fudge shops still line the Boardwalk. Street stands sell pretzels, hot dogs, pizza, funnel cakes and candyfloss.

Seafood comes from the surrounding coast and bays, and Dock's Oyster House, a family-owned restaurant, opened in 1897. The casinos hold most of the large restaurants and steakhouses, while the Orange Loop and the streets around Ducktown offer smaller independent places and bakeries.