Qualla: Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk https://qualla.com/atlantic-city en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/tpc/at/la/nt/ic/atlantic-city/a-sunset-view-of-the-beach-in-.jpg Qualla: Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk https://qualla.com/atlantic-city Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: Introduction https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Shinya Suzuki, CC BY 2.0. The wooden boards started it all. In 1870, a hotel owner named Alexander Boardman convinced Atlantic City to build a walkway above the sand so guests wouldn't track beach into the lobbies. The Boardwalk became the template for every seaside resort in America, and Atlantic City became the nation's playground. By 1900, the city was welcoming millions of vacationers from Philadelphia and New York who came for the beaches, the Steel Pier, and the saltwater taffy. Charles Darrow walked these streets during the Depression, naming Monopoly's properties after what he saw - Baltic Avenue, Mediterranean Avenue, the Boardwalk itself. When the casinos arrived in 1978, Atlantic City became the only place east of Nevada where you could legally gamble. The boom was spectacular; the bust that followed nearly destroyed the city. But the Boardwalk remains - America's original, four miles of wooden planks between the casinos and the sea.

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Shinya Suzuki | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: The Boardwalk Empire https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Daniel Barcelona, CC BY-SA 3.0. Atlantic City's rise began with the railroad. The Camden and Atlantic Railroad connected Philadelphia to Absecon Island in 1854, bringing city workers to the shore for day trips that became weekends that became the American beach vacation. The grand hotels followed - Traymore, Ma...

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Daniel Barcelona | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-the-boardwalk-empire.mp3 0:06 2 full Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: Miss America and the Steel Pier https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Richard Weil, CC0. The Steel Pier jutted 2,000 feet into the Atlantic, offering amusement rides, circus acts, and the famous diving horse - a horse and rider plunging from a 40-foot platform into a tank of water. The spectacle ran from 1929 to 1978, controversial even then, drawing crowds who could...

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Richard Weil | CC0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-miss-america-and-the-steel-pier.mp3 0:06 3 full Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: Gambling's Resurrection https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Lisa Andres, CC BY 2.0. By the 1970s, Atlantic City was dying. The grand hotels had closed or deteriorated; the Boardwalk was seedy; the tourists had moved on. New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in 1976, restricted to Atlantic City alone, as an urban renewal strategy. Resorts International opene...

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Lisa Andres | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-gamblings-resurrection.mp3 0:06 4 full Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Connection https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Adam E. Moreira, CC BY-SA 3.0. Charles Darrow was an unemployed salesman during the Depression when he created (or, more accurately, adapted) the game that would make him wealthy. The street names came from Atlantic City - the progression from Mediterranean and Baltic (cheap lodgings near the inlet) through th...

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Adam E. Moreira | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-the-monopoly-connection.mp3 0:06 5 full Atlantic City: America's Playground on the Boardwalk: Jersey Shore Forever https://qualla.com/atlantic-city/ Photo credit Adam E. Moreira, CC BY-SA 3.0. Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) is 10 miles northwest, though most visitors fly into Philadelphia (PHL), 60 miles away. NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line connects to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. The Boardwalk runs four miles from the inlet to Ventnor, lined with ca...

Read more: Atlantic City on Qualla

Image: Adam E. Moreira | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/g/p/atlantic-city-wk/dqgp-atlantic-city-americas-playground-on-the-boardwalk-jersey-shore-forever.mp3 0:06 6 full