Atlantic City “the” place to go!

From the 1880s to 1940s, Atlantic City was a major vacation resort. In the 1920s it was considered the premier tryout town for theatrical productions headed for Broadway and beyond. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing in the next three decades, Kentucky Avenue was renown for its nightlife, with Club Harlem and other venues attracting the best talent and biggest stars from the world of jazz. During World War II, the city offered much more than entertainment distractions, as it served as a training site for military recruits and a recovery and rehabilitation center for wounded soldiers.
In the 1950s, as air travel to vacation spots in Florida and the Caribbean became more widely available, Atlantic City's popularity as a resort destination began to decline. By the 1960s, the city was beset with the economic and social problems common to many urban centers at the time. With an economy entirely dependent on tourists who were now shunning the decaying resort, the city reached its nadir.
In 1976, the "Atlantic City Gamble " was launched when New Jersey voters approved a referendum legalizing gambling in Atlantic City, but not elsewhere in the state. While many critics questioned the wisdom of using legalized gambling as a tool for urban development, many others were convinced casinos would provide the resources needed to rebuild the city and its tourist trade. The first casino, Resorts International, opened in 1978, and no one could have predicted the rapid growth of the gaming industry in Atlantic City, or the tremendous impact it would have on the city, the region and the state. By 1988, a dozen casinos were open and the number of annual visitors had grown from 700,000 in 1978, to over 33 million. By the year 2000, the city's tax base had skyrocketed to more than $6.7 billion, up from $316 million in 1976. The positive impact on Atlantic City residents can be seen in revitalized neighborhoods, new housing projects and public service facilities and in economic, social and cultural programs.
A long-anticipated second wave of development is now underway. The Borgata - the first new casino to be built here since 1990 - opened in 2003. The prospect of increased competition in the gaming market, as well as the success of the Atlantic City Convention Center, have been catalysts for the development of other projects. Several casinos have embarked on major expansions of their hotel and retail spaces, and a public-private partnership built The Walk, a $60 million retail and entertainment complex in the center of the city. In recent years, more than $1.8 billion in new investments were planned or underway, and most of the new projects are devoted to broadening the appeal of the city beyond gambling. Offering visitors a wide range of attractions is considered the key to a successful future - a formula that surely proved itself in the past when Atlantic City claimed the title "Queen of Resorts" continues as Atlantic City invites visitors to "Do AC."
Atlantic City became “the” place to go. Entertainers from vaudeville to Hollywood graced the stages of the piers. Glamorous Hotels like Haddon Hall, The Traymore, The Shelburne and The Marlborough-Blenheim drew guests from all over the world. Atlantic City’s future seemed bright, until World War II. After the war, the public seemed to stop its love affair with The World’s Favorite Playground. Possibly because of the public’s access to national air travel, the shift of the population westward, the general deterioration of the city, or a shift in the public’s taste for more sophisticated entertainment, Atlantic City lost much of its shine; and most of its tourists.
With the passage of the Casino Gambling Referendum in 1976, Atlantic City began an upward battle, not unlike one it had started two hundred years before, to use the glorious resources it has been given by nature, to make it once again a world renowned tourist Mecca.