@@katobrucelee08 Used to be the Philly / Camden area was the manufacturing capital of the world, Atlantic City was their playground, those days are long gone.
@@RytheCodplayer What does this have to do with Atlantic City and how America routinely razes its own urban areas? Why can't we accept actual on topic criticism instead of deflecting and bringing up something completely random?
you know,i can be very emotional about the destruction of architecture and culture here in europe since alot of it was bombed etc,but everytime a new video comes out and shows how the US just nuked their own cities to replace it with grey,concrete is beyond crazy,this is a crime in so many ways i cannot even begin,these cities will take so long to feel even remotely alive again.
A huge difference is the huge and vast amounts of land in America. There's no real incentive to keep things in one place. So much of everything is considered just disposable in America - and not in a good way.
I am frequently seeing photos from eastern Europe where they renovate ugly Soviet style buildings to beautiful old looking buildings. So they upgrade rather than tearing them down. I think that is the better way.
Wow Atlantic City was so GRAND. So many American cities were. To think that so many of these gilded structures were knocked down for cars and parking... 😔
I find it ironic how just a bit of money and right friendships made it possible to put a whole nation on its knees. No car? Well good luck on... life, it's safe to say
@@yvonneplant9434 I'm talking about auto companies pushing buttons to make cities car-only areas since the day cars became cheap, the hell does covid have to do with it? What are you scared to get covid if you go for a walk?
Yep! Despite its supposed wealth, it has built incredibly little that will stand the test of time. In 100 years, virtually everything which exists today will be ruins because nothing in the US has ever been built to last.
I was just in Grand Central a couple weeks ago. What an amazing block with which to spend an afternoon (I love the adjacent Chrysler Building as well), and the station also serves as a convenient hub for pedestrians (not just train passengers) who are passing through the area. But unfortunately it took the sacrifice of another breathtakingly beautiful train station in Manhattan to spur the historic preservation movement - we have known for decades that modern developers only have $$ in their eyes and have no regard for cultural heritage. Even though we have finally started to value our older, more beautiful buildings, it still seems like new developments are still only built featuring planned obsolescence. I think developers know that they can depend on renewal projects coming their way every thirty years in the same spots. As a result we have a few remaining grand reminders of what could have been, among a landscape of constant churn and completely lacking in any cohesive culture or heritage. It's quite depressing. In Chicago recently I was staring at the gorgeous Tribune Tower, wondering why we don't build more gothic skyscrapers. A city full of those would look like something out of a fantasy novel. But instead we have just a few remaining specimens, their dignity diminished as they are dwarfed on all sides by towering glass boxes.
Grand Central Station was spared thanks to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy and her collaborators who began the preservation movement after the original, glorious Penn Station was destroyed.
Americans do. We realize beauty too. Builders don’t. All about costs and how much they can squeeze out of the building for example. Then repeat. No appreciation for anything beyond money
We lived in Bronx/Queens 60’s-80’s. Used to take express bus on w/es. I think it cost $10 R/T trip and they gave adults $10 in quarters on top of it. Those quarters went quick on the slots at casino! My dad took me previously on a greyhound bus in the 60’s as a kid and I was in awe of the steel pier and the ocean front hotels. You could stay/ eat cheaply away from the boardwalk too! Thanks for this video!
I feel the worst period for architecture was the 1950s-1970s. Architecture in the last 30 years has actually improved as people have given more thoughts to ambient light, open floor spaces, energy efficiency, etc. I have seen many examples of modern architecture in the Middle East, China and other parts of Asia that actually look good. Still, all the 21st century buildings are glass, concrete and steel, and won't last 100 years.
It's amazing that the days of almost no building codes and zero design standards, people created our favourite buildings, many of which are still standing.
and NO zoning. Remove 90% of building codes, 100% of permits, 100% of zoning, and let's get America building again. Building codes should be for literal safety only as in the floor needs to support the weight not how many outlets in every room or we must have x sq ft.
Very well done! As a child, I visited AC many times in the 50s and 60s. Your point about AC becoming an automobile destination instead of a rail destination was interesting. Parking back then was a big problem. My wife and I went back to visit around 2010. It was heartbreaking.
The rise of the automobile through Ford and the Firestone tire company with the US govt destroyed cities local trolly on off trains so the people would be forced to buy cars and thus tires........even today there is no inter locking train systems for then country its for the car companies....
Growing up here in the 60s & early 70s, and getting depressed after returning there for a visit, I can honestly tell you this was probably the most precise explanation for what happened to this place. Thank you.
Two things not mentioned: A soaring crime rate....and the utter neglect by the casinos of anything beyond their footprint...despite millions of dollars flowing thru them for decades. Even in the 80s if you walked one block off the boardwalk you were in a rundown streetscape of pawn shops, porn stores and drugged out loiterers. Its a shame what it ultimately became.
@@babayaga2977So locals didn't want the "good paying jobs" because they already had better paying jobs? Sounds like the casinos aren't paying enough then. Gotta pay enough to entice employees
I work In AC at one of the casinos. Been employed in the city for 22 years and lived there when I was a kid for a short time. I also used to work at Ballys where the old Traymore was. That place was ENORMOUS! The architecture of this city was absolutely gorgeous. It saddens me what this city has become. Great video.
How would you describe Atlantic City today? Is the casino business still good? I saw some other videos where AC didn't look bad at all. Do you recommend anywhere to live that's nice in Atlantic County? I also heard that it's better to live in Ocean City and drive 30 minutes to Atlantic City..
Where The Traymore was is still an empty lot. Bally's is where the Marlboro-Blenheim, Dennis and The Shelburne was. Dennis is still standing. Merchant to the rich, Reese Palley owned the Marlboro = Blenheim.
Atlantic City was built on an alluvial spit that would have been destroyed in a large hurricane. It's sad, but abandonment would prevent an even greater tragedy.
While US cities have suffered because of various policies, i.e. urban renew, the Interstate Highway System, systemic racism, none of that comes close to the inhumane destruction of Hiroshima.
My family lived in Pittsburgh PA. I went to Atlantic City in 1964 at age 15yrs along with my 16yr old brother, lied about our ages & got work for the summer. Looking back, it obviously wasn’t quite the gem it once was. But all the old-time charm was still there. I would walk the Boardwalk every night. The historic Democratic convention that nominated LBJ for President met in the AC Convention Hall. The Beatles performed their 1st concert there as well; they stayed at the hotel across the street from where I worked. The following year I went back to work the summer. The Ins-&-Outs Coffeehouse had opened right in the shadow of Convention Hall. We’d listen far into the night the mesmerizing folk music that had just come into its own. It inspired me to become a folk singer myself. Only once, many years later, after the family had moved to South Jersey, did I go in to see the casinos. It was a terrible culture shock even then. They hadn’t quite torn down all the hotels…
Oh well, just a silly 15 yrs old’s erroneous memory… But you could hear the screams of the hysterical girls a mile away during the performance at the convention hall! I also hitch-hiked to NYC for the World’s Fair in Flushing that summer. Michelangelo’s Pieta was at the Vatican Pavilion. They were so afraid it’d be damaged in transit, but traveled without incident. (But it was partially smashed into pieces a few yrs later when it was in situ at St. Peter’s.)
Fantastic video. Really loved how you put things into perspective, and it’s also so crazy to see how Atlantic City is just one of the towns where classical architecture was destroyed in the US.
As someone who vacationed in Ocean City, NJ; our family would drive to Atlantic City to dine at the Knife and Fork Restaurant and loved driving in Margate and Ventnor cities and charm of the old NJ beaches can be seen at all three of those older cities. The traditional beauty of the AC hotels can be scene in OC with the Flanders Hotel and the Resorts International in AC. Much of the charm of the Jersey shore comes from the mom and pop businesses on the boardwalks and towns where generations of families can go to the same businesses and eat or shop at the same place they did when they where a child and no their children and grandchildren can experience the same things. It’s the joy of sharing memories and seeing your child and or grandchildren enjoying the same place.
Great video. I lived in Northern NJ from 2011 to 2021. I visited Atlantic City a few times, and was struck by how sad the whole situation was. But interesting, while Atlantic City is faring so poorly, another spot just to it's south, seems to be doing pretty well. Ocean City has a terrific boardwalk. It was packed even in Oct of 2021 during Covid. There is also a more inland street, Asbury Ave, which is quite hopping. No, it's not nearly as big as Atlantic City once was, but it's a pretty great place to spend a weekend. It gives a little of what it must have been like on the boardwalk in AC 100 years ago. Another interesting spot on the Jersey Shore is Asbury Park/Ocean Grove. Asbury is up and coming again after having fallen apart, and it's downtown and waterfront are doing well. You can also walk over to Ocean Grove, to see an old Camp Meeting town, with cute houses and small, interesting shops.
Ocean City and Wildwood cater to families, while Atlantic City caters to gambling. The latter is full of crime and dangerous. The other cities much less so.
I'm so glad this video went so well for you. It's very well done just as most of you others. I haven't thought about this childhood home of mine in many years and you have rekindled my interest. Thank you.
It's also one of the biggest killers of sheer convenience! Living in Glendale, CA, the nearest Trader Joe's was two blocks away, my auto mechanic was half a mile, our hospital just down the block...in the (deleted) burbs it's all drive, drive, drive! Anything to make Big Oil richer!
Atlantic City was still a thing in the 2000's my mother went on a "girl's weekend" with a couple female coworkers around 2005. She said she loved it & had a ball. It was her 1st time having a "vacation" in her whole life. She still laughs and tells stories when I bring it up.
Ya I'm from the region and yes it was still a place to go back in the 90s and the 2000s. It was when the 2010s came around and all the casinos started to pop up all over Philadelphia region and Delaware that AC started to fall apart.
AC is definitely still a thing, it’s definitely not a vacation spot for the wealthy, but I went there this summer. Most of the hotel/casinos have everything you need, nobody goes to AC to explore the city, but there aren’t any other cities on the east coast that have the large hotel/casinos with shopping and restaurants all in one place.
@lorenzosammarco1056 And also a pattern of "urban renewal" through gutting the inner cities and destroying historic neighborhoods for the sake of building roads and parking.
The video fails to say that all that “grand” architecture and charming wooden hotels were literally falling apart and rotten. They were firetraps that where literally empty since no one wanted to stay in them. With no guests and no upkeep they were beyond saving.
Atlantic City is one of the most depressing cities I ever visited. Yeah, the boardwalk is there but its just too close to all the depression, you just can't escape it.
You were probably able to park right next to it, which was the unfortunate priority in post-war America: designing everything to make it convenient for the driver and not the pedestrian.
@@JokrMetaa You are a coward that doesn't understand causation! It was and is your demographic that caused those conditions in the first place! You are at cause! History proves this. Only cowards refuse to admit their coward character.
The Santa Cruz comparison was great. As someone from Long Beach, Long Island, there are many common themes. This work was really nicely done and released at quite a timely moment in history.
Another thing to realize is that south east PA killed AC too. Before casinos were legal in mostly the Philly area, this is where everyone went for gambling (and fine dining, which Philly is now fantastic for). Now, there's a casino almost every few miles in and around Philly, so no one wants or needs to drive the AC expressway for 45 minutes to an hour to gamble. Losing the majority of people in Philly is/was a HUGE chunk of revenue lost in AC. The dominoes were already falling, but this drastically increased the pace 10 fold. Also don't forget all the online gambling that's now out there that has increased drastically the last few years.
Two suggestions for episodes: Wilkes-Barre, PA and Binghamton, NY - They both have center squares with stillborn skylines, City-Beautiful bridges, industrialist mansions, and architectural gems. In common, universities helped each stop more ruin; both are on Susquehanna River branches; and both have a Boscov’s. Passaic, NJ - Also has stillborn skyline downtown. Wonderful factory buildings but many lost.
I was just in Binghamton NY for a a weekend recently. A very bipolar town. BEAUTIFUL buildings, next to brutalist eyesores (looking at you city hall) downtown was near empty during the day. It looked like a ghost town! Friday night filled up with college kids, but Saturday night was a ghost town again. I liked my time there, and I hope it can continue to improve.
I think the worst is behind. We just took an end of summer, mini family vacation to the Ocean Casino Resort and it is absolutely beautiful! The arcade at the Showboat next door is a lot of fun and the Hard Rock (formerly Trump Taj) has tons of great restaurants. The north end of the boardwalk is actually a great place to be.
That is the only nice part of Atlantic City boardwalk once you past the Resorts Casino hotel there is not too much excitement. They need to make the whole boardwalk like the North End.
I don't think a lot of developers have a soul, I've seen too many core landmarks in an area demolished for me to believe otherwise. They think they're God and will do anything to turn the built environment into their awful vision. This hasn't even stopped, this summer a developer in New Jersey demolished Brick Church in East Orange. Which was the building that the neighborhood was named after! They named *their development* "Brick Church" and then had the audacity to *Illegally* (!!!) demolish the building! They just can't get away with demolishing a whole city anymore (I hope...)
Brick Church - the oldest church in the city; in fact, it predates the city itself - had a crane-made gash in the rear of the sanctuary, revealing that the owner, David Scharf, never even bothered to salvage the religious relics left inside.
In terms of tourism they are trying to make place more family oriented. They added Dave IN Busters and Indoor Water park in Showboat hotel. Many people still go to shop at outlets too.
Could you do Kansas City next ? It had the 2nd most extensive streetcar system in the first half of the 20th century. Once the interstates were constructed and redlining took effect, entire high density blocks were demolished to make room for parking lots, highways and car dependent infrastructure.
I’m from Melbourne Australia, and while other cities around do the world were busy dismembering their tram/streetcar networks we managed to keep ours, due to a combination of being too broke after the war to replace it and some solid campaigning by far sighted public servants. Today we enjoy the largest tram network in the world, with 160 miles of double track tramways and 1800 stops across 24 interconnected lines traversed by a fleet of around 500+ modern trams, plus a few of the old ones for nostalgic value. And we wouldn’t dream of shutting it down - it’s brilliant. I wish Kansas City had been able to keep yours too.
I went to Kansas City for the first time this year from the northeast to see a baseball game and the city. The people were extremely nice but my goodness it's scarcely a city at all. Because we were from the northeast our first inclination was to walk between places and so we often did, but it was usually a 30 minute walk with nothing along the way. And failing that you had to uber everywhere. And those two stadiums right next to each other and absolutely no way to get there but by car? I shudder to think what it's like when the Royals and Chiefs play on the same day. I know even the Northeast cities pale in comparison to some others around the world, but it definitely made me appreciate having trams and subways that actually go to the stadiums.
Thank you for making this video. Living just only around two hours away from Atlantic City on the other side of the Delaware Bay, I have visited Atlantic City a few times before, and it is 100% different than all the other boardwalk towns in the area. It feels so corporate, little to no charm, and dystopian. The suburbs that separate the boardwalk casinos from the ones at the back of the city is honestly one of the saddest things I have ever seen. I hope my beach town never meets the same fate as Atlantic City.
Minute 6:08. The Chalfont and Haddon Hall, Chalfont on the left. Stayed there with my family at age 9 in the 1960s. I remember climbing up and down the fire escapes. Both buildings were owned by a family of Philadelphia Quaker businessmen names Leeds. They were designed by Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton, also a Quaker. And I remember one night climbing to the rooftop of the Haddon Hall next door. wonderful wind coming off of the sea. The Chalfont was demolished in 1980 and is now a parking lot. Haddon Hall survived (sort of) it is now Resorts Casino.
Excellent video. The old Atlantic City was a delicious extravaganza. Nowadays is a horror. Americans have a several problem about heritage's preservation.
Americans don’t have that problem. I guess you’ve never visited San Francisco, historical sections of Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, etc. “Americans didn’t save every bit of cool architecture they could have” isn’t the same as “Americans have no respect for history”
Thank you. The destruction still continues around the world and architecture snobs are still in power in the important institutions, demanding minimalist city deserts.
I grew up near AC during the casino boom of the 80s. For years, the city was nothing but a mess of demolition and construction. That's not even taking into account the casinos that failed before they even opened, leaving empty husks of girders and beams.
I was a sailor in 1961; took a bus to Atlantic City and walked along the beach, past the center filled with people, past a mile long row of three story residences, all wood frame with wrqp-around porches, old, decaying, with many empty lots between the houses still standing. Relics of a bygone era. The city has reinvented itself before, probably will do it again.
I moved to A.C in 1980 to work in the casinos. I moved away in 1993. At the time A.C had 1/3 of the U.S. population within a 6 hour drive. 4 mayors in a row got in trouble ( and prison ) for accepting bribes, embezzlement and a lot more. The handwriting was on the wall in the late 80s when Foxwoods opened, paving the way for out of state casinos in Connecticut, N.Y ,P.A Baltimore and more. In the dozen years I lived there, Atlantic and Pacific Ave were pothole laced and never ONCE paved. When Hurricane Bob came through in the 80s, the boardwalk was damaged and easily fixable . Mayor Ursey diverted funds and the Miss America pageant had to break off the boardwalk and drive the contestants though undesirable neighborhoods where they were pelted by bottles. The A.C Police were as corrupt as the day is long and I have personal stories about that. And lastly, after they opened gaming in Pennsylvania, they STUPIDLY approved the Revelle casino, which was doomed from its conception. I could go on all day long. They got what the deserved by mismanaging and squandering casino profits .
Sometimes casino's are approved in certain locations to be a road block. I'm in Mass. MGM in Springfield Mass. has never done well. But, when it was going through the process of state approval, Connecticut approved a casino on the site of an old movie theater property about 12 miles south. They did the whole golden shovel, move the dirt thing. MGM has never done gangbusters business and the Connecticut site never built the casino. If MGM had done well, that casino would have been built to siphon off gamblers from heading further north. "Everybody" has casinos these days. Because there's so many, they tend to suck up the money of the locals. The whole point in the cities and state's eyes was to suck up the money from people not in the area.
Urban renewal ran amok in Atlantic City NJ just like it did in New Haven CT. Once something is completely destroyed, there is no bringing it back. Urban renewal, car dependency, and redlining by banks destroyed the older northern US city.
Can’t have “urban” renewal until the demographics shift back. Considering joe biden let 20 million illegals invade the country there is zero chance of that. America is over.
AC can still be a fun place to live, work, and play in. There are great local art and music communities and plenty of good people trying to clean it up and bring it back to life. I have lived in Philly and different suburbs across NJ and NY, but I love living in AC at this time. It can be depressing, but also inspiring. There’s really so much potential. There’s always something fun to do! No shortage of entertainment, amazing restaurants, and top notch bars. Plus the beaches are free!
I think AC still has potential (if they do it right)... for example, they could make a series of canals (one first) heading from somewhere north like flagship resort, or the Claridge hotel to surf city..., make it wide enough for medium sized boats for people to park and reside there, instead of complete cars along the canals, turn it into something of an Amsterdam situation, where there are residential apartments, medium rowhomes(with character), do SOMETHING with Bader Field instead of leaving it as an abandoned airport/ballpark, invite the Hot air balloons to come and dock, more residential towers, borrowing that from Miami(in fact taking much of Miami's tourism because it's just boring now down there), providing waterskiing, sea-doo riding, a lot can be done, with some capital, government ease/assistance, and motivation instead of letting itself rot, there's even space for several impressive water/amusement parks, grand hotels, racetracks, and more, people need to be coaxed into coming outside! why bother being outside if it's boring and unimpressive
Also, the airport needs more airlines and direct flights that arrive and departs from there. They only have one airline and that's spirit airlines. Everybody don't want to travel with spirit airlines. Also, people don't want to always have to fly into Philadelphia either. It's frustrating trying to get there. If they worked on expanding their airport, more people would be willing to travel there.
There are a lot of manmade canal towns on the Jersey shore. People buy houses there to live on the water but they are nothing special and they don't attract tourists.
That idea is passe. Major airlines don't locate to an area without ample first class hotel rooms. Perhaps a few major non casino hotel brands in the city would attract the airlines but that isn't going to happen because the casino industry is a shadow government and won't allow any competition.
Its been like this for decades. At least it was is a real city, not a mirage in the desert like equally horrible Las Vegas which keeps trying to convince people it too is a real city. Atlantic City should never have destroyed it's illustrious history which was pretty glorious.
I know this ‘city’ doesn’t have much magnificence at all left, but I would really like you to make a video on Terre Haute, Indiana. It has a grand court house, a few really nice surviving classical urban buildings, multiple surviving theatres and churches, etc. It has about the same population that Atlantic City had at its peak. But it has no boardwalk to survive off of. It really has nothing to survive off of, except for the interstate, and a few giant industries in the outskirts that nobody knows much about at all. It has probably taken the biggest blow of all of the small American cities, excluding ones that are in actual decay such as Gary.
I went through West Terre Haute. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, not quite up there with Russians pointing Kalashnikovs at me, but close.
@@haraldisdead Wrong. It was the government via eminent domain. Politicians began using it to "revitalize" older cities by taking people's private property by force and building car-centric infrastructure over it.
New Jersey is a case study in urban decay. Camden, Newark, Atlantic City, Trenton, Elizabeth, and, in the past at least, all the cities in Hudson county. I-95, I-78, and I-280 decimated the northern cities. In the south, I-676 destroyed Camden. The "road gang" and the true organized crime groups in New Jersey sold the state away. Hudson county has been an exemplary study of city rebirth, that would perhaps make a great series on your channel about born again cities. Though, I wonder if this rebirth is due to the proximity of NYC and the sheer mass of wealth that exudes from NYC. NJ politics is the manifestation of corruption, back door dealings, and bureaucracy. A lovely state with so much potential (twin cities to Philly and NYC, entire beach cities), completely crippled for no good reason.
I grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, right along the Hudson County border, in the 70s and 80s. I lived in NJ for 32 years. Hispanic immigration hurt Hudson County tremendously, basically turning most of it into a third world country. Is that racist? Nah. The Cubans and Puerto Ricans, among other immigrants, I went to school with would have told you the same thing. They thought Hudson County was a dump too, and they knew why. We would ride our bikes through towns like West New York, Union City, and Jersey City, and it was like we were in Nuevo Havana, Some areas have been getting better since the 90s, but not for average people. I think the rebirth is precisely due to the proximity of Hudson County to NYC and, in significant part, to the redevelopment of the Hudson River waterfront. As for cities like Trenton, Camden, Newark, etc., Blacks have made those cities unlivable for most Whites.
@@thehighllama8101 Yeah as someone that lives in Hudson County right now, the last time any shooting has happened here was around 2 years ago and that was over some stupid gym beef. Do you still live in Bergen County? Or did you move out because you're scared of people speaking Spanish? By the way, No Sabos that can't speak a word of Spanish don't count as being Hispanic, sorry.
@@PeruvianPotato Lived in New Jersey for 20+ years. Volunteered for two years in Camden. Lovely people who are trying to rebuild. We would build gardens on barren lots (homes that got knocked down). Spent time in Newark, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, etc. Funny enough I have yet to watch sopranos. A lot of these cities are rebounding. Jersey City is a poster child now for the street safety movement. New Brunswick is building up a lot, drawing in a good amount of business too (Nokia Bell Labs headquarters is moving there). Been here to see all the bullshit that goes on in our government. Everyone knew Menendez was corrupt way before 2024. Took NJ 2+ years to be able to buy legal weed, even after they legalized it. And they wouldn't even include homegrow. Had to make sure the buddies got their fair share. Maryland made it legal on a Saturday in July last year and sales on Monday. Murphy choosing his donor's expensive building for the NJT headquarters... it goes on. Drive up to the Meadowlands and all you see is concrete and automobiles all around you. People call NJ a dumping grounds for a reason... And I love my state. I am proud of it. Its got so much to offer, I just wish our government wasn't so sleezy.
@@thehighllama8101 Cool it with the racist remarks man. Blacks didn't do shit to Camden, Trenton, Newark. White people ruined those cities to spite black people. I suggest you read Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. The proximity to NYC is definitely what is revitalizing hudson county so fast. Case in point, Newark is much farther behind. It has a ton of potential and I am sure it will improve with time. After all, Jersey city started their transition some 30 years ago. I don't know how you can claim hispanic immigration ruined the county. They were not the ones building the shit infrastructure for the past 100 years.
Here in Louisville when "Urban Renewal" was the rage in the 60's, they absolutely tore everything down. Little did they figure it would take many decades for that bombed out Dresden look to fill in again. Very shortsighted and in the end tragic losses for historic structures like the first skyscraper in 1886 and another one in 1890...both long gone!
My grandmother is from a prominent New Jersey family Lambert. She grew up in a very nice house in Atlantic City in the 1930s. She worked on steel pier as a teenager and she spoke fondly of Nucky Johnson.
The beginning of the end for AC was when that Indian tribe in CT won their court case and were allowed to open Foxwoods. That got the dominoes falling. After that, state after state after state after state legalized casino gambling i order to capture that revenue instead of losing it to tribal casinos or casinos in neighboring states.
Over here we still have a lot of the medieval City of York & i can tell you without fail that it looks better for 500 yrs than those ginormous gigantic eyesore of AC do for 50 yrs!!
There is a lot of factors you missed out on. I live right outside the city and also work in one of those casinos. Your wrong in saying no one comes here. All the new or re renovated ones are doing well and people come regularly from Philly, north jersey, Ny, and del. It’s outside the casinos that need help. No one feels safe leaving the resorts. So they don’t and the city suffers.
I was last there in 77'. Even as a 12 year old i found it odd to drive over swamp lands, go through the slums and then get the nice part. Steel Pier was still there.
My dad took me there a few times in the 60s & early 70s. It was in the original rundown. Some stores were closed, and that huge boardwalk had splinters, missing chunks, and loose boards, but it was at least tolerable along the beach. The casinos made it golden age sparkly again, but it never did much for the areas off the boardwalk that just kept deteriorating. Then we moved to MD and started going to Ocean City MD, until NY moved in.
Blame the NBA for not ending their long ago territorial draft one year sooner. Had they done that,the Knicks would not have been able to draft Bill Bradley,his connection to NJ would have faded, he would not have become a US Senator here,would not have taken a bribe from Las Vegas interests to get passed an anti 49 state sports betting bill,allowing Vegas to get back on its feet. A side effect of all of this is that Trump would have been making so much money,he never would have ran for President. And that's the rest of the story.
We had a family home in AC for years. Then, AC began falling apart when the casinos came in. The old family home on Texas Ave is a mess now. The Trump casinos were by far, the ugliest. When I was back in Philly in July 2024, my brothers told me not to visit AC, it would make me cry to see how far down it’s gone. I went to Ocean City instead. It’s become what AC used to be. Family oriented, a beautiful shore town.
Atlantic City fell prey to corruption. Who in their right mind would allow someone to raze such beautiful buildings and replace them with garbage? I'll tell you who, someone who received a hefty pay out under the table.
I was born in Atlantic City and raised in a suburb about 15 minutes outside of the city. Its a sad place i mostly avoid. The casino industry destroyed the city and extracted all of the wealth. They made it impossible for small business to thrive outside of their casinos and continually cut benefits and pay rates for their workers. Like mentioned in the video, the suburbs around Atlantic City are decent and most of the work force live in those towns. The people who were left behind living in Atlantic City are the poorest people that couldnt make it out, hence the high crime rate. This is not surprising for a gambling town, but truly the only thing that Atlantic City offers you is degeneracy. If you want drinking, gambling, drugs and prostitution then come to AC baby!!
At the end you have a photo of Battersea Power station, derelict for years, now it's a place of shops cafe and bars on the river Thames, changed the area around it too. Nice video!
The US should elect one of the heartless developers responsible for Atlantic City's destruction as president. This will only do wonders for the economy!
Great video, showcasing the real truth. I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment regarding "nuking its past history". Atlantic City's grandeur has long been lost.
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The before and after photos are so wild. So much architectural beauty has been lost. Truly sad to see
its called ethnic cleansing, look at the people who took over the city.
sadly, this realy applies up and down the Jersey Shore
@@katobrucelee08 Used to be the Philly / Camden area was the manufacturing capital of the world, Atlantic City was their playground, those days are long gone.
@@katobrucelee08 Good learning experience.
@@cycologist7069 very much so!
As an European, I can't even imagine anybody wasting precious beachfront space on parking lots. WTF.
The water is cold and uninviting most of the year.
As an American, I can’t imagine not living in a free country.
Yall just started getting replacement by pocs, enjoy your bleak, depressing future
As an American, I can’t even imagine getting arrested and sentenced to multiple years in prison for offensive social media posts. WTF.
@@RytheCodplayer What does this have to do with Atlantic City and how America routinely razes its own urban areas? Why can't we accept actual on topic criticism instead of deflecting and bringing up something completely random?
The real America was destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s... we now live in McAmerica... its ugly reanimated corpse... what a tragedy...
Yes, for us whites, it was great.
Yes. America has been for sale for decades or more.
Now It's sold!
@user-otzlixr You are so funny with that drama queen comment...
lol more like the 80;s when the reganots privatized evreything
I agree with you.
This would probably be one of the most architecturally beautiful American cities today.
you know,i can be very emotional about the destruction of architecture and culture here in europe since alot of it was bombed etc,but everytime a new video comes out and shows how the US just nuked their own cities to replace it with grey,concrete is beyond crazy,this is a crime in so many ways i cannot even begin,these cities will take so long to feel even remotely alive again.
A huge difference is the huge and vast amounts of land in America. There's no real incentive to keep things in one place. So much of everything is considered just disposable in America - and not in a good way.
It's easier to imagine the end of the world than a beautiful New Jersey
I am frequently seeing photos from eastern Europe where they renovate ugly Soviet style buildings to beautiful old looking buildings. So they upgrade rather than tearing them down. I think that is the better way.
American, and predominately the youth, don’t give one f.
@@hughestodd hey cousin..Sometimes I dont give a fuck either.
This video felt incredibly well put together. Not too flashy overproduced nor low budget. Seemed well researched too.
Well done
Wow Atlantic City was so GRAND. So many American cities were.
To think that so many of these gilded structures were knocked down for cars and parking... 😔
I find it ironic how just a bit of money and right friendships made it possible to put a whole nation on its knees. No car? Well good luck on... life, it's safe to say
The Jersey shore was the first developed seashore.
@@Momo_KawashimaIt's amazing how you forgot an illness that killed thousands in less than a year( 2020/ half of 2021)
@@yvonneplant9434 I'm talking about auto companies pushing buttons to make cities car-only areas since the day cars became cheap, the hell does covid have to do with it? What are you scared to get covid if you go for a walk?
@@Momo_Kawashimasorry buddy cant hear your broke ass
360p is wild, but I respect it.
artsy
this should be printed on a tshirt
America today and America 100 years ago are two completely different countries. Unfortunately!
In more ways than one...
In some ways I'm sure I agree, but 100 years ago poverty and discrimination were through the roof.
Not sure what is so appealing about 1924. Is it the children working in coal mines? Mentally challenged people being lobotomized? The severe poverty?
Yep! Despite its supposed wealth, it has built incredibly little that will stand the test of time. In 100 years, virtually everything which exists today will be ruins because nothing in the US has ever been built to last.
@@timanderson5981And what is well built is still torn down just the same!!👎 Two examples: Penn Station and the Kingdome!😢😢
I remember Atlantic City in the 80's. What a difference a few decades can make.
Americans don't understand anything about keeping classic buildings. Thank god that Grand Central Station in NYC was saved from destruction.
I was just in Grand Central a couple weeks ago. What an amazing block with which to spend an afternoon (I love the adjacent Chrysler Building as well), and the station also serves as a convenient hub for pedestrians (not just train passengers) who are passing through the area. But unfortunately it took the sacrifice of another breathtakingly beautiful train station in Manhattan to spur the historic preservation movement - we have known for decades that modern developers only have $$ in their eyes and have no regard for cultural heritage. Even though we have finally started to value our older, more beautiful buildings, it still seems like new developments are still only built featuring planned obsolescence. I think developers know that they can depend on renewal projects coming their way every thirty years in the same spots. As a result we have a few remaining grand reminders of what could have been, among a landscape of constant churn and completely lacking in any cohesive culture or heritage. It's quite depressing.
In Chicago recently I was staring at the gorgeous Tribune Tower, wondering why we don't build more gothic skyscrapers. A city full of those would look like something out of a fantasy novel. But instead we have just a few remaining specimens, their dignity diminished as they are dwarfed on all sides by towering glass boxes.
That's all they do in San Francisco
Grand Central Station was spared thanks to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy and her collaborators who began the preservation movement after the original, glorious Penn Station was destroyed.
@Peter-z9t I have read about the destruction of Penn station. It was sad for the Pennsylvania station to be destroyed.
Americans do. We realize beauty too. Builders don’t. All about costs and how much they can squeeze out of the building for example. Then repeat. No appreciation for anything beyond money
We lived in Bronx/Queens 60’s-80’s. Used to take express bus on w/es. I think it cost $10 R/T trip and they gave adults
$10 in quarters on top of it. Those quarters went quick on the slots at casino!
My dad took me previously on a greyhound bus in the 60’s as a kid and I was in awe of the steel pier and the ocean front hotels. You could stay/ eat cheaply away from the boardwalk too!
Thanks for this video!
"No redeeming aesthetic qualities". The last 45 years of commercial architecture, summed up in four words.
Brutalism. Inhuman, forbidding, grim. Perfect for our conformist, consumerist, corporatist society.
It's so buildings are easy to resell
I feel the worst period for architecture was the 1950s-1970s. Architecture in the last 30 years has actually improved as people have given more thoughts to ambient light, open floor spaces, energy efficiency, etc. I have seen many examples of modern architecture in the Middle East, China and other parts of Asia that actually look good. Still, all the 21st century buildings are glass, concrete and steel, and won't last 100 years.
@@Arctic740 built for failure
@@garryferrington811 You have no idea what Brutalism is do you?
It's amazing that the days of almost no building codes and zero design standards, people created our favourite buildings, many of which are still standing.
and NO zoning. Remove 90% of building codes, 100% of permits, 100% of zoning, and let's get America building again. Building codes should be for literal safety only as in the floor needs to support the weight not how many outlets in every room or we must have x sq ft.
Very well done! As a child, I visited AC many times in the 50s and 60s. Your point about AC becoming an automobile destination instead of a rail destination was interesting. Parking back then was a big problem. My wife and I went back to visit around 2010. It was heartbreaking.
Good learning experience.
The rise of the automobile through Ford and the Firestone tire company with the US govt destroyed cities local trolly on off trains so the people would be forced to buy cars and thus tires........even today there is no inter locking train systems for then country its for the car companies....
This was a very well done video. I’m glad I found you. Cheers.
Growing up here in the 60s & early 70s, and getting depressed after returning there for a visit, I can honestly tell you this was probably the most precise explanation for what happened to this place. Thank you.
Not even close. The change in the demographics killed AC.
@@JokrMetaayes, once the lower class minorities moved in, AC was doomed.
@@JokrMetaayea there is a common denominator in every fallen American city
Sad but true @@JokrMetaa
Man what a hot take! "Atlantic City, it's a shell of its former self"
Brilliant.
Two things not mentioned: A soaring crime rate....and the utter neglect by the casinos of anything beyond their footprint...despite millions of dollars flowing thru them for decades. Even in the 80s if you walked one block off the boardwalk you were in a rundown streetscape of pawn shops, porn stores and drugged out loiterers. Its a shame what it ultimately became.
The casinos offered good paying jobs but, well, people would rather not be employed when it's easier to get paid to not.
Segr gation
@@babayaga2977so your argument is that there were enough jobs for locals and they refused them?
@@babayaga2977 Stupid argument.
@@babayaga2977So locals didn't want the "good paying jobs" because they already had better paying jobs? Sounds like the casinos aren't paying enough then. Gotta pay enough to entice employees
Just discovered your channel. This was fascinating, well assembled, and concise. I look forward to watching more videos when I can.
Those cold, impersonal looking modern buildings next to those old, Victorian houses makes the landscape look dystopian.
It doesn't _look_ dystopian, it _is_ dystopian.
Lack of urban planning
I work In AC at one of the casinos. Been employed in the city for 22 years and lived there when I was a kid for a short time. I also used to work at Ballys where the old Traymore was. That place was ENORMOUS! The architecture of this city was absolutely gorgeous. It saddens me what this city has become. Great video.
How would you describe Atlantic City today? Is the casino business still good? I saw some other videos where AC didn't look bad at all. Do you recommend anywhere to live that's nice in Atlantic County? I also heard that it's better to live in Ocean City and drive 30 minutes to Atlantic City..
Where The Traymore was is still an empty lot. Bally's is where the Marlboro-Blenheim, Dennis and The Shelburne was. Dennis is still standing. Merchant to the rich, Reese Palley owned the Marlboro = Blenheim.
Damn i got str8 nostalgic for a place and time I've never been
For real.
So sorry you missed the best of America.
Everyone knows the reasons, but no one dares to voice them here.😊
N
America has treated its historic cities the way it treated Hiroshima…
Atlantic City was built on an alluvial spit that would have been destroyed in a large hurricane. It's sad, but abandonment would prevent an even greater tragedy.
😂 too hard.
While US cities have suffered because of various policies, i.e. urban renew, the Interstate Highway System, systemic racism, none of that comes close to the inhumane destruction of Hiroshima.
@@rickposter3534I know… it was just sarcasm because of the level of destruction and demolitions in Atlantic City…
Wakakak.....😮😮😮
Those were some of the most brilliant architecture iv seen in this country. And I’ll never get to see them in person.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
My family lived in Pittsburgh PA. I went to Atlantic City in 1964 at age 15yrs along with my 16yr old brother, lied about our ages & got work for the summer. Looking back, it obviously wasn’t quite the gem it once was. But all the old-time charm was still there. I would walk the Boardwalk every night. The historic Democratic convention that nominated LBJ for President met in the AC Convention Hall. The Beatles performed their 1st concert there as well; they stayed at the hotel across the street from where I worked. The following year I went back to work the summer. The Ins-&-Outs Coffeehouse had opened right in the shadow of Convention Hall. We’d listen far into the night the mesmerizing folk music that had just come into its own. It inspired me to become a folk singer myself. Only once, many years later, after the family had moved to South Jersey, did I go in to see the casinos. It was a terrible culture shock even then. They hadn’t quite torn down all the hotels…
The Beatles' first concert in the U.S. was February 11, 1964 at the Washington, DC Coliseum, also long ago abandoned.
Oh well, just a silly 15 yrs old’s erroneous memory… But you could hear the screams of the hysterical girls a mile away during the performance at the convention hall! I also hitch-hiked to NYC for the World’s Fair in Flushing that summer. Michelangelo’s Pieta was at the Vatican Pavilion. They were so afraid it’d be damaged in transit, but traveled without incident. (But it was partially smashed into pieces a few yrs later when it was in situ at St. Peter’s.)
Yeah the “culture” sure got a lot darker and violent.
@@JokrMetaa ayooo
@@itwasntme947 they ruin every place they take over.
Fantastic video. Really loved how you put things into perspective, and it’s also so crazy to see how Atlantic City is just one of the towns where classical architecture was destroyed in the US.
Watching Boardwalk Empire made me search up AC. I searched it up on google maps and was utterly confused
i loved that show👍👍, except maybe the last season
I also looked upo Google maps and there are sure a lot of empty spaces...
Finally someone talking about boardwalk empire in the comments section 🎉🎉😂
Thank you for producing this. Very enlightening!
As a Brit it's definitely not what i imagine on picturing AC. Sad
As someone who vacationed in Ocean City, NJ; our family would drive to Atlantic City to dine at the Knife and Fork Restaurant and loved driving in Margate and Ventnor cities and charm of the old NJ beaches can be seen at all three of those older cities. The traditional beauty of the AC hotels can be scene in OC with the Flanders Hotel and the Resorts International in AC. Much of the charm of the Jersey shore comes from the mom and pop businesses on the boardwalks and towns where generations of families can go to the same businesses and eat or shop at the same place they did when they where a child and no their children and grandchildren can experience the same things. It’s the joy of sharing memories and seeing your child and or grandchildren enjoying the same place.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. - Joni Mitchell
😢
Great video. I lived in Northern NJ from 2011 to 2021. I visited Atlantic City a few times, and was struck by how sad the whole situation was. But interesting, while Atlantic City is faring so poorly, another spot just to it's south, seems to be doing pretty well. Ocean City has a terrific boardwalk. It was packed even in Oct of 2021 during Covid. There is also a more inland street, Asbury Ave, which is quite hopping. No, it's not nearly as big as Atlantic City once was, but it's a pretty great place to spend a weekend. It gives a little of what it must have been like on the boardwalk in AC 100 years ago. Another interesting spot on the Jersey Shore is Asbury Park/Ocean Grove. Asbury is up and coming again after having fallen apart, and it's downtown and waterfront are doing well. You can also walk over to Ocean Grove, to see an old Camp Meeting town, with cute houses and small, interesting shops.
Ocean City and Wildwood cater to families, while Atlantic City caters to gambling. The latter is full of crime and dangerous. The other cities much less so.
I'm so glad this video went so well for you. It's very well done just as most of you others. I haven't thought about this childhood home of mine in many years and you have rekindled my interest. Thank you.
Suburbanization and car dependency is one of the biggest killers of architectural beauty in the world
It's also one of the biggest killers of sheer convenience! Living in Glendale, CA, the nearest Trader Joe's was two blocks away, my auto mechanic was half a mile, our hospital just down the block...in the (deleted) burbs it's all drive, drive, drive! Anything to make Big Oil richer!
guy mad commie blocks didn't become the norm
@@garryferrington811glendale is a suburb
Yup the last remnants before the car took over the USA was the gilded age and art deco.
Suburbinization and cad dependency were just ways to deal with urban lifestyles
Growing up 35 minutes from here I loved going to AC during the early 2000s until 2008.
What a beautiful place it once was. You would never guess by only seeing its current state.
It now looks like Berlin after the war!
Before photos, all white people. After photos all black people. It’s obvious what went wrong.
Boardwalk Empire shows the old Atlantic City ... good music too
Atlantic City was still a thing in the 2000's my mother went on a "girl's weekend" with a couple female coworkers around 2005. She said she loved it & had a ball. It was her 1st time having a "vacation" in her whole life. She still laughs and tells stories when I bring it up.
Ya I'm from the region and yes it was still a place to go back in the 90s and the 2000s. It was when the 2010s came around and all the casinos started to pop up all over Philadelphia region and Delaware that AC started to fall apart.
@@brybryguy6314but I feel like arguably AC is better now than the 2000s. I’m also from the area
AC is still a thing , don’t get it twisted.
AC is definitely still a thing, it’s definitely not a vacation spot for the wealthy, but I went there this summer. Most of the hotel/casinos have everything you need, nobody goes to AC to explore the city, but there aren’t any other cities on the east coast that have the large hotel/casinos with shopping and restaurants all in one place.
She definitely got rode hard down there
At 78, I can say from experience that America has been in decay, a swift slide, since 1990. This is going on across the country.
It's interesting how most of the cities in this series have the worst crime rates in the US today
I see a pattern....a black one
@lorenzosammarco1056 And also a pattern of "urban renewal" through gutting the inner cities and destroying historic neighborhoods for the sake of building roads and parking.
That's right Lorenzo. The dog whistle is blowing. Much like your wife when you leave to work.
@@lorenzosammarco1056 Indeed, resonant echoes of a disguised black soul...
@@lorenzosammarco1056yea the unfortunate reality
The video fails to say that all that “grand” architecture and charming wooden hotels were literally falling apart and rotten. They were firetraps that where literally empty since no one wanted to stay in them. With no guests and no upkeep they were beyond saving.
I was fortunate enough to have stayed at the Traymore in 1971 as a boy. So sad what happened to it the following year.
Atlantic City is one of the most depressing cities I ever visited. Yeah, the boardwalk is there but its just too close to all the depression, you just can't escape it.
Depression is a good word for black 🤣🤣🤣
You were probably able to park right next to it, which was the unfortunate priority in post-war America: designing everything to make it convenient for the driver and not the pedestrian.
@@JokrMetaa You are a coward that doesn't understand causation! It was and is your demographic that caused those conditions in the first place! You are at cause! History proves this. Only cowards refuse to admit their coward character.
Thank you for being gracious with Santa Cruz, CA. And yes, you are totally right about that magical place 👍
The Santa Cruz comparison was great. As someone from Long Beach, Long Island, there are many common themes. This work was really nicely done and released at quite a timely moment in history.
Another thing to realize is that south east PA killed AC too. Before casinos were legal in mostly the Philly area, this is where everyone went for gambling (and fine dining, which Philly is now fantastic for). Now, there's a casino almost every few miles in and around Philly, so no one wants or needs to drive the AC expressway for 45 minutes to an hour to gamble. Losing the majority of people in Philly is/was a HUGE chunk of revenue lost in AC. The dominoes were already falling, but this drastically increased the pace 10 fold. Also don't forget all the online gambling that's now out there that has increased drastically the last few years.
Atlantic City is still a great place to visit for a fun day/weekend trip. It’s just not as nice as it was in the golden age.
Not many places are...I'll still go to visit...
American city planners seem to give 0 f*cks about historical buildings
Two suggestions for episodes:
Wilkes-Barre, PA and Binghamton, NY - They both have center squares with stillborn skylines, City-Beautiful bridges, industrialist mansions, and architectural gems. In common, universities helped each stop more ruin; both are on Susquehanna River branches; and both have a Boscov’s.
Passaic, NJ - Also has stillborn skyline downtown. Wonderful factory buildings but many lost.
I would love to see Wilkes-Barre on here!
I was just in Binghamton NY for a a weekend recently. A very bipolar town. BEAUTIFUL buildings, next to brutalist eyesores (looking at you city hall) downtown was near empty during the day. It looked like a ghost town! Friday night filled up with college kids, but Saturday night was a ghost town again. I liked my time there, and I hope it can continue to improve.
I think the worst is behind. We just took an end of summer, mini family vacation to the Ocean Casino Resort and it is absolutely beautiful! The arcade at the Showboat next door is a lot of fun and the Hard Rock (formerly Trump Taj) has tons of great restaurants. The north end of the boardwalk is actually a great place to be.
That is the only nice part of Atlantic City boardwalk once you past the Resorts Casino hotel there is not too much excitement. They need to make the whole boardwalk like the North End.
I don't think a lot of developers have a soul, I've seen too many core landmarks in an area demolished for me to believe otherwise. They think they're God and will do anything to turn the built environment into their awful vision.
This hasn't even stopped, this summer a developer in New Jersey demolished Brick Church in East Orange. Which was the building that the neighborhood was named after! They named *their development* "Brick Church" and then had the audacity to *Illegally* (!!!) demolish the building! They just can't get away with demolishing a whole city anymore (I hope...)
Brick Church - the oldest church in the city; in fact, it predates the city itself - had a crane-made gash in the rear of the sanctuary, revealing that the owner, David Scharf, never even bothered to salvage the religious relics left inside.
In terms of tourism they are trying to make place more family oriented. They added Dave IN Busters and Indoor Water park in Showboat hotel. Many people still go to shop at outlets too.
Could you do Kansas City next ? It had the 2nd most extensive streetcar system in the first half of the 20th century. Once the interstates were constructed and redlining took effect, entire high density blocks were demolished to make room for parking lots, highways and car dependent infrastructure.
I’m from Melbourne Australia, and while other cities around do the world were busy dismembering their tram/streetcar networks we managed to keep ours, due to a combination of being too broke after the war to replace it and some solid campaigning by far sighted public servants.
Today we enjoy the largest tram network in the world, with 160 miles of double track tramways and 1800 stops across 24 interconnected lines traversed by a fleet of around 500+ modern trams, plus a few of the old ones for nostalgic value. And we wouldn’t dream of shutting it down - it’s brilliant. I wish Kansas City had been able to keep yours too.
I went to Kansas City for the first time this year from the northeast to see a baseball game and the city. The people were extremely nice but my goodness it's scarcely a city at all. Because we were from the northeast our first inclination was to walk between places and so we often did, but it was usually a 30 minute walk with nothing along the way. And failing that you had to uber everywhere.
And those two stadiums right next to each other and absolutely no way to get there but by car? I shudder to think what it's like when the Royals and Chiefs play on the same day. I know even the Northeast cities pale in comparison to some others around the world, but it definitely made me appreciate having trams and subways that actually go to the stadiums.
We have a street car again and a rebirth in downtown.
@@cloudkitt we like it like that
@@helixator3975 Can you take your bike on the tram?
Thank you for making this video. Living just only around two hours away from Atlantic City on the other side of the Delaware Bay, I have visited Atlantic City a few times before, and it is 100% different than all the other boardwalk towns in the area. It feels so corporate, little to no charm, and dystopian. The suburbs that separate the boardwalk casinos from the ones at the back of the city is honestly one of the saddest things I have ever seen. I hope my beach town never meets the same fate as Atlantic City.
Love the series. Very excited for this.
Minute 6:08. The Chalfont and Haddon Hall, Chalfont on the left. Stayed there with my family at age 9 in the 1960s. I remember climbing up and down the fire escapes. Both buildings were owned by a family of Philadelphia Quaker businessmen names Leeds. They were designed by Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton, also a Quaker. And I remember one night climbing to the rooftop of the Haddon Hall next door. wonderful wind coming off of the sea. The Chalfont was demolished in 1980 and is now a parking lot. Haddon Hall survived (sort of) it is now Resorts Casino.
Excellent video. The old Atlantic City was a delicious extravaganza. Nowadays is a horror. Americans have a several problem about heritage's preservation.
Americans don’t have that problem. I guess you’ve never visited San Francisco, historical sections of Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, etc.
“Americans didn’t save every bit of cool architecture they could have” isn’t the same as “Americans have no respect for history”
Like your low-key style, and unique topic! Thanks
Thank you. The destruction still continues around the world and architecture snobs are still in power in the important institutions, demanding minimalist city deserts.
I grew up near AC during the casino boom of the 80s. For years, the city was nothing but a mess of demolition and construction. That's not even taking into account the casinos that failed before they even opened, leaving empty husks of girders and beams.
I was a sailor in 1961; took a bus to Atlantic City and walked along the beach, past the center filled with people, past a mile long row of three story residences, all wood frame with wrqp-around porches, old, decaying, with many empty lots between the houses still standing. Relics of a bygone era. The city has reinvented itself before, probably will do it again.
Great work great video that truly captures what was of this city
I moved to A.C in 1980 to work in the casinos. I moved away in 1993. At the time A.C had 1/3 of the U.S. population within a 6 hour drive. 4 mayors in a row got in trouble ( and prison ) for accepting bribes, embezzlement and a lot more. The handwriting was on the wall in the late 80s when Foxwoods opened, paving the way for out of state casinos in Connecticut, N.Y ,P.A Baltimore and more. In the dozen years I lived there, Atlantic and Pacific Ave were pothole laced and never ONCE paved. When Hurricane Bob came through in the 80s, the boardwalk was damaged and easily fixable . Mayor Ursey diverted funds and the Miss America pageant had to break off the boardwalk and drive the contestants though undesirable neighborhoods where they were pelted by bottles. The A.C Police were as corrupt as the day is long and I have personal stories about that. And lastly, after they opened gaming in Pennsylvania, they STUPIDLY approved the Revelle casino, which was doomed from its conception.
I could go on all day long. They got what the deserved by mismanaging and squandering casino profits .
Sometimes casino's are approved in certain locations to be a road block. I'm in Mass. MGM in Springfield Mass. has never done well. But, when it was going through the process of state approval, Connecticut approved a casino on the site of an old movie theater property about 12 miles south. They did the whole golden shovel, move the dirt thing. MGM has never done gangbusters business and the Connecticut site never built the casino.
If MGM had done well, that casino would have been built to siphon off gamblers from heading further north. "Everybody" has casinos these days. Because there's so many, they tend to suck up the money of the locals. The whole point in the cities and state's eyes was to suck up the money from people not in the area.
Sounds just like Bruce Springsteen’s song
Urban renewal ran amok in Atlantic City NJ just like it did in New Haven CT. Once something is completely destroyed, there is no bringing it back. Urban renewal, car dependency, and redlining by banks destroyed the older northern US city.
Can’t have “urban” renewal until the demographics shift back. Considering joe biden let 20 million illegals invade the country there is zero chance of that. America is over.
AC can still be a fun place to live, work, and play in. There are great local art and music communities and plenty of good people trying to clean it up and bring it back to life. I have lived in Philly and different suburbs across NJ and NY, but I love living in AC at this time. It can be depressing, but also inspiring. There’s really so much potential. There’s always something fun to do! No shortage of entertainment, amazing restaurants, and top notch bars. Plus the beaches are free!
I think AC still has potential (if they do it right)... for example, they could make a series of canals (one first) heading from somewhere north like flagship resort, or the Claridge hotel to surf city..., make it wide enough for medium sized boats for people to park and reside there, instead of complete cars along the canals, turn it into something of an Amsterdam situation, where there are residential apartments, medium rowhomes(with character), do SOMETHING with Bader Field instead of leaving it as an abandoned airport/ballpark, invite the Hot air balloons to come and dock, more residential towers, borrowing that from Miami(in fact taking much of Miami's tourism because it's just boring now down there), providing waterskiing, sea-doo riding, a lot can be done, with some capital, government ease/assistance, and motivation instead of letting itself rot, there's even space for several impressive water/amusement parks, grand hotels, racetracks, and more, people need to be coaxed into coming outside! why bother being outside if it's boring and unimpressive
Oh yes and have a better train station., current one looks like a utility more than a luxury...
And a well carved monorail system would also do wonders!
Also, the airport needs more airlines and direct flights that arrive and departs from there. They only have one airline and that's spirit airlines. Everybody don't want to travel with spirit airlines. Also, people don't want to always have to fly into Philadelphia either. It's frustrating trying to get there. If they worked on expanding their airport, more people would be willing to travel there.
There are a lot of manmade canal towns on the Jersey shore. People buy houses there to live on the water but they are nothing special and they don't attract tourists.
That idea is passe. Major airlines don't locate to an area without ample first class hotel rooms. Perhaps a few major non casino hotel brands in the city would attract the airlines but that isn't going to happen because the casino industry is a shadow government and won't allow any competition.
Its been like this for decades. At least it was is a real city, not a mirage in the desert like equally horrible Las Vegas which keeps trying to convince people it too is a real city. Atlantic City should never have destroyed it's illustrious history which was pretty glorious.
I know this ‘city’ doesn’t have much magnificence at all left, but I would really like you to make a video on Terre Haute, Indiana. It has a grand court house, a few really nice surviving classical urban buildings, multiple surviving theatres and churches, etc. It has about the same population that Atlantic City had at its peak. But it has no boardwalk to survive off of. It really has nothing to survive off of, except for the interstate, and a few giant industries in the outskirts that nobody knows much about at all. It has probably taken the biggest blow of all of the small American cities, excluding ones that are in actual decay such as Gary.
I went through West Terre Haute. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, not quite up there with Russians pointing Kalashnikovs at me, but close.
@ the town, or the section of Terre Haute?
do Trenton next
I love this series. our cities once were on par with Europe, but we willingly destroy them
We didn't. The capitalists did
@@haraldisdead actually it was government who incentivize the automobile not capitalism
@@haraldisdead It was the free market that made Atlantic City the beacon of the Jersey Shore back then.
@@haraldisdead Wrong. It was the government via eminent domain. Politicians began using it to "revitalize" older cities by taking people's private property by force and building car-centric infrastructure over it.
Sorry, but your cities were never on par with European cities.
It’s sick that your Dad is a patron. Love to see it
New Jersey is a case study in urban decay. Camden, Newark, Atlantic City, Trenton, Elizabeth, and, in the past at least, all the cities in Hudson county.
I-95, I-78, and I-280 decimated the northern cities. In the south, I-676 destroyed Camden.
The "road gang" and the true organized crime groups in New Jersey sold the state away. Hudson county has been an exemplary study of city rebirth, that would perhaps make a great series on your channel about born again cities. Though, I wonder if this rebirth is due to the proximity of NYC and the sheer mass of wealth that exudes from NYC.
NJ politics is the manifestation of corruption, back door dealings, and bureaucracy. A lovely state with so much potential (twin cities to Philly and NYC, entire beach cities), completely crippled for no good reason.
Question, do you actually live in Jersey itself? Or did you watch 3 episodes of The Sopranos and concluded that it was pure fact.
I grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, right along the Hudson County border, in the 70s and 80s. I lived in NJ for 32 years. Hispanic immigration hurt Hudson County tremendously, basically turning most of it into a third world country. Is that racist? Nah. The Cubans and Puerto Ricans, among other immigrants, I went to school with would have told you the same thing. They thought Hudson County was a dump too, and they knew why. We would ride our bikes through towns like West New York, Union City, and Jersey City, and it was like we were in Nuevo Havana, Some areas have been getting better since the 90s, but not for average people. I think the rebirth is precisely due to the proximity of Hudson County to NYC and, in significant part, to the redevelopment of the Hudson River waterfront. As for cities like Trenton, Camden, Newark, etc., Blacks have made those cities unlivable for most Whites.
@@thehighllama8101 Yeah as someone that lives in Hudson County right now, the last time any shooting has happened here was around 2 years ago and that was over some stupid gym beef. Do you still live in Bergen County? Or did you move out because you're scared of people speaking Spanish? By the way, No Sabos that can't speak a word of Spanish don't count as being Hispanic, sorry.
@@PeruvianPotato Lived in New Jersey for 20+ years. Volunteered for two years in Camden. Lovely people who are trying to rebuild. We would build gardens on barren lots (homes that got knocked down). Spent time in Newark, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, etc. Funny enough I have yet to watch sopranos.
A lot of these cities are rebounding. Jersey City is a poster child now for the street safety movement. New Brunswick is building up a lot, drawing in a good amount of business too (Nokia Bell Labs headquarters is moving there).
Been here to see all the bullshit that goes on in our government. Everyone knew Menendez was corrupt way before 2024. Took NJ 2+ years to be able to buy legal weed, even after they legalized it. And they wouldn't even include homegrow. Had to make sure the buddies got their fair share. Maryland made it legal on a Saturday in July last year and sales on Monday. Murphy choosing his donor's expensive building for the NJT headquarters... it goes on.
Drive up to the Meadowlands and all you see is concrete and automobiles all around you. People call NJ a dumping grounds for a reason... And I love my state. I am proud of it. Its got so much to offer, I just wish our government wasn't so sleezy.
@@thehighllama8101 Cool it with the racist remarks man. Blacks didn't do shit to Camden, Trenton, Newark. White people ruined those cities to spite black people. I suggest you read Color of Law by Richard Rothstein.
The proximity to NYC is definitely what is revitalizing hudson county so fast. Case in point, Newark is much farther behind. It has a ton of potential and I am sure it will improve with time. After all, Jersey city started their transition some 30 years ago.
I don't know how you can claim hispanic immigration ruined the county. They were not the ones building the shit infrastructure for the past 100 years.
Here in Louisville when "Urban Renewal" was the rage in the 60's, they absolutely tore everything down. Little did they figure it would take many decades for that bombed out Dresden look to fill in again. Very shortsighted and in the end tragic losses for historic structures like the first skyscraper in 1886 and another one in 1890...both long gone!
Rural America is full of abandoned Civil war era shacks.
If you plan on moving to Atlantic City, Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue have the lowest rents in town...
I would move to Longport, if I wanted to live near AC.
@@1972Ray 🙂 I Googled Longport, New Jersey.
🐘 I'd go there just to see Lucy the Elephant !
And you get $200 every time you walk past GO.
@@MrDino1953 🥺 Not me.
I go directly to jail.
I do not pass go.
I do not collect $ 200....
If you plan on moving and not living too long then those avenues should be fine 😂
ATL city had the coolest go kart track I ever rode. Indoor outdoor multistory with fast cars. Never forget it. Was right on the beach too.
I remember how crazy Atlantic City was in the nineties! Holy crap was it wild!
Crazy how?
My grandmother is from a prominent New Jersey family Lambert. She grew up in a very nice house in Atlantic City in the 1930s. She worked on steel pier as a teenager and she spoke fondly of Nucky Johnson.
The beginning of the end for AC was when that Indian tribe in CT won their court case and were allowed to open Foxwoods. That got the dominoes falling. After that, state after state after state after state legalized casino gambling i order to capture that revenue instead of losing it to tribal casinos or casinos in neighboring states.
Not the case in Maryland, and we have two casinos, one that's draws people from MD and DC, because they don't have to drive to Jersey.
Can you do Rochester, NY next? Place was huge back then
We've progressed in many ways, but have also fallen back to medieval times in other ways
Over here we still have a lot of the medieval City of York & i can tell you without fail that it looks better for 500 yrs than those ginormous gigantic eyesore of AC do for 50 yrs!!
I saw Chicago when they were Chicago Transit Authority in Atlantic City. 68 or 69? Great show. At Steel Pier. Cheers! 🥨
Beware of false promises from politicians and developers.
It's too black to attract residents. If it was 90%+ white, it would attract a lot of elderly people like Cape May.
There is a lot of factors you missed out on. I live right outside the city and also work in one of those casinos. Your wrong in saying no one comes here. All the new or re renovated ones are doing well and people come regularly from Philly, north jersey, Ny, and del. It’s outside the casinos that need help. No one feels safe leaving the resorts. So they don’t and the city suffers.
I was last there in 77'. Even as a 12 year old i found it odd to drive over swamp lands, go through the slums and then get the nice part. Steel Pier was still there.
Casinos didn't open there until 1978.
Please do Springfield ma next!
My dad took me there a few times in the 60s & early 70s. It was in the original rundown. Some stores were closed, and that huge boardwalk had splinters, missing chunks, and loose boards, but it was at least tolerable along the beach.
The casinos made it golden age sparkly again, but it never did much for the areas off the boardwalk that just kept deteriorating.
Then we moved to MD and started going to Ocean City MD, until NY moved in.
This is so very sad, yes all the charm and beauty is gone, AC was a very beautiful place to go to and enjoy. 😮💨☹
Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City 🎶🎵
Just last night in Edmonton, Canada (Nov 19/24) the boss was in town and played that song!
Blame the NBA for not ending their long ago territorial draft one year sooner.
Had they done that,the Knicks would not have been able to draft Bill Bradley,his connection to NJ would have faded, he would not have become a US Senator here,would not have taken a bribe from Las Vegas interests to get passed an anti 49 state sports betting bill,allowing Vegas to get back on its feet.
A side effect of all of this is that Trump would have been making so much money,he never would have ran for President.
And that's the rest of the story.
This series is amazing!
So sad to see all these big cities go down in America 😢
Atlantic City's peak population in 1930 was only 66,000 so it was never a big city. In 2023 it is only 34,000 and still slowly declining.
Online gambling and neighboring states with casinos is what brought down AC.
We had a family home in AC for years. Then, AC began falling apart when the casinos came in. The old family home on Texas Ave is a mess now. The Trump casinos were by far, the ugliest. When I was back in Philly in July 2024, my brothers told me not to visit AC, it would make me cry to see how far down it’s gone. I went to Ocean City instead. It’s become what AC used to be. Family oriented, a beautiful shore town.
The casinos were there long before it went bad. It went bad because white people left. It happens every single time. The lessers are the problem.
Atlantic City fell prey to corruption. Who in their right mind would allow someone to raze such beautiful buildings and replace them with garbage? I'll tell you who, someone who received a hefty pay out under the table.
I was born in Atlantic City and raised in a suburb about 15 minutes outside of the city. Its a sad place i mostly avoid. The casino industry destroyed the city and extracted all of the wealth. They made it impossible for small business to thrive outside of their casinos and continually cut benefits and pay rates for their workers. Like mentioned in the video, the suburbs around Atlantic City are decent and most of the work force live in those towns. The people who were left behind living in Atlantic City are the poorest people that couldnt make it out, hence the high crime rate. This is not surprising for a gambling town, but truly the only thing that Atlantic City offers you is degeneracy. If you want drinking, gambling, drugs and prostitution then come to AC baby!!
At the end you have a photo of Battersea Power station, derelict for years, now it's a place of shops cafe and bars on the river Thames, changed the area around it too. Nice video!
The US should elect one of the heartless developers responsible for Atlantic City's destruction as president. This will only do wonders for the economy!
I saw that on the contract thing stating Trump was selling at the lowest price for an AC casino that was then demolished. Yikes!
What could go wrong!!!
@Kevin-zz9nc only one way to find out!
Great video, showcasing the real truth. I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment regarding "nuking its past history". Atlantic City's grandeur has long been lost.
I was there in 92 and I was in awe the beaches the amount of events all the people…to see what it is now actually broke me in my heart