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Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA. Famous for its boardwalk, casino gambling, sandy beaches, and the inspiration for the board game Monopoly, it is a resort community located on Absecon Island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of the United States 2000 Census, population was 40,517 in the city, and 271,015 in the combined metropolitan area. Other municipalities on the island are Ventnor City, Margate City, and Longport. The main routes into Atlantic City are the Black Horse Pike (US 322/40), White Horse Pike (US 30) and the Atlantic City Expressway. Atlantic City borders other cities such as Absecon, Brigantine, Pleasantville, and others.
Atlantic City was incorporated on May 1, 1854 by an act of the New Jersey Legislature. The new city contained portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township.
Like all major cities, Atlantic City contains distinct neighborhoods or districts. The communities are known as: The North Inlet, The South Inlet, Bungalow Park, the Marina District, Venice Park, Downtown (Midtown), Ducktown, Chelsea, and Chelsea Heights.
Board Walk
The first boardwalk was built in 1870, along a portion of the beach to help hotel owners keep sand out of their lobbies. The idea caught on, and the boardwalk was expanded and modified several times in the following years. The historic length of the boardwalk, before the 1944 hurricane, was about 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) and it extended from Atlantic City to Longport, through Ventnor and Margate. Today, it is 4.12 miles (6.63 kilometers) long and 60 feet (18 meters) wide, reinforced with steel and concrete. The combined length of the Atlantic City and Ventnor boardwalks—the boardwalk now ends at the Ventor/Margate border—is approximately 5.75 miles (9.25 kilometers), currently the world's longest boardwalk.
Historic Hotels
During the early part of the 20th century, Atlantic City went through a radical building boom. Many of the modest boarding houses that dotted the boardwalk were replaced with large hotels. Two of the city’s most distinctive hotels were the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel and the Traymore Hotel.
In 1903, Josiah White III bought a parcel of land near Ohio Avenue and the boardwalk and built the Queen Anne style Marlborough House. The hotel was a hit and, in 1905–06, he chose to expand the hotel and bought another parcel of land next door to his Marlborough House. In an effort to make his new hotel a source of conversation, White hired the architectural firm of Price and McLanahan. The firm decided to make use of reinforced concrete, a new building material invented by Jean-Louis Lambot in 1848 (Joseph Monier received the patent in 1867). The hotel’s Spanish and Moorish theme capped off with its signature dome and chimneys represented a step forward from other hotels that had a classically designed influence. White named the new hotel the Blenheim and merged the two hotels into the Marlborough-Blenheim. Bally's Atlantic City was later constructed close to this same location.
The Traymore Hotel was located at the corner of Illinois Avenue and the boardwalk. Begun in 1879 as a small boarding house, the hotel grew through a series of uncoordinated expansions. By 1914, the hotel’s owner, Daniel White, taking a hint from the Marlborough-Blenheim, commissioned the firm of Price and McLanahan to build an even bigger hotel. Sixteen stories high, the tan brick and gold-capped hotel would become one of the city’s best-known landmarks. The hotel made use of ocean-facing hotel rooms by jutting its wings farther from the main portion of the hotel along Pacific Avenue.
One by one, additional large hotels were constructed along the boardwalk, including the Brighton, Chelsea, Shelburne, Ambassador, Ritz Carlton, Mayflower, Madison House, and the Breakers. The Quaker-owned Chalfonte House and Haddon Hall opened in the 1890s, would by the twenties merge into the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel and would become the city's largest hotel with nearly 1,000 rooms. By 1930, the Claridge, the city's last large hotel before the casinos, opened its doors. The 400-room Claridge was built by a partnership that included renowned Philadelphia contractor John McShain. At 24 stories, it would become known as the "Skyscraper By The Sea."
Transportation
Atlantic City is connected to other cities in several ways. New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line runs from Philadelphia and several smaller South Jersey communities directly to the Atlantic City Rail Terminal at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Within the city, public transportation is provided by New Jersey Transit along seven routes, and by the Atlantic City Jitney Association (ACJA) on another four fixed-route lines and on shuttles to-and from the rail terminal.
On June 20, 2006, the board of New Jersey Transit approved a three-year trial of express train service between New York Penn Station and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal. The estimated travel time will be 2½ hours with a few stops along the way and is part of the Casinos' multi-million dollar investments in Atlantic City. Most of the funding for the new transit line will be provided by Harrah's Entertainment (owners of both Harrah's Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City) and the Borgata. The line is expected to be in service by the end of 2007, but details on the line's operation are scant.
The Atlantic City Bus Terminal is the home to local, intrastate and interstate bus companies including New Jersey Transit and Greyhound bus lines. The Greyhound Lucky Streak Express offers service to Atlantic City from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C..
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