Thursday, October 26, 2000
Visiting Atlantic City, an update
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
To visit Atlantic City, you must learn about buses. There are the gambler buses who pick you up all along Second Avenue around 9 AM, at candy stores, and bring you back, on a schedule that gives you six hours at the gaming tables. At least that is what the sponsoring casino hotels hope you will do. Or you go to the Port Authority Terminal and take a Greyhound or Academy scheduled bus, there is one roughly every half hour, starting at 7 AM, with dropoffs varying between the 12 casino hotels. You pay $24 for the round trip, 2 2 hours each way, and receive, at the destination, a $18 chit that you use to gamble, or you cash it in and walk out, to spend a day at the beach. That is what the casinos hope you will not do.
I was there for a business conference at the Harrah’s Hotel, so the casinos lost on me, their serious gambling money gift was frittered away on transportation, souvenirs and snacks. Harrah’s was a 15 minute bus trip away from my dropoff, Resorts, and I had to take a $1.50 ride on a white 10-seat jitney bus that comes every 10 minutes along the main drag, Pacific Avenue, and stops at all hotels.
If you play Monopoly, you know that the game borrowed its street names in AC. The E/W are named after states, the N/S are seas and famous venues (Fairmount, Wabash, Melrose, Madison, even a mangled Grammercy Avenue). Pacific Avenue, which runs parallel to the Boardwalk, is the Strip. At the north end, Resorts is part of a cluster of casinos, which includes the gaudy Showboat, a Mississippi gambling sidewheeler style Technicolor hotel, right out the stage set of the eponymous Ferber/Kern musical, and the Trump Taj Mahal, which features the Orient of Mughal Agra. One expects to see Anna and the king emerge riding on an elephant.
About 10 blocks south, the middle cluster of casinos includes the Sands and the modest Claridge, which advertises its home-like virtues on radio. The spread-out Bally’s Park Place with its Wild Wild West casino is quite the opposite. The gambling hall interior has Western themes, a bunch of dancing girls couuld emerge any moment and throw a wild cancan, and John Wayne would not be out of place. No such luck, the place is inhabited by the usual losers.
I should not be uncharitable about the AC regulars. The casinos provide entertainment and thrills for thousands of retirees on low budgets. You see wheelchairs, walkers and canes aplenty in the huge halls inhabited by gaudy one-armed bandit machines, today operated by pushbutton action, the mild athletic exercise value having been eliminated. There are no delicate old ladies, hiding their calloused and bandaged hands under white gloves, as the legend once had it. But the glitter has increased, the simple three-in-a-row game has been expanded to complex and exotic varieties, and the betting ranges from 5 cents to $5 a toss.
The real gambling, at least during the day, is not of the bet-a-million variety. Only one of the blackjack tables at Harrah’s had a green-chip$25 player, the rest were modest red-chip $5 bettors. The high roller played a progressive game, starting at $25 and doubling after every loss. I saw him finally cash in at the $400 level. (Arnold Levy, what’s the odds here?) The roulette and dice games were not of the high-flyer caliber. A new variety seemed to be a modified baccarat game, with the dealer placing the cards for both the house and the player, and the gamblers betting either side. Baccarat is the real gambler’s country - Lyle Stuart, the intrepid publisher of outsider books, which are a real gamble every time, is the world’s champion of this game.
But I digress from my hotel tour. Next to Bally’s is Caesars, with a theme of ancient Rome (they also have a Nero’s Grill and a Pompeii Pasta, a Bacchanal , a total of eight restaurants on Italian themes, the rhythm broken only by a lone intruder offering teriyaki and sushi. Japanese are big gamblers, and need to be catered to.)
The southern outflyers along the Boardwalk are the Tropicana and Hilton, both within a 10-block distance. Below that are some residential hotels and condominium buildings. Summer residents get their walking exercise by traversing between the hotels, dropping in here and there, catching a free concert, going to a Broadway show, or trekking along the sandy beach, accompanied by terns and gulls. My Harrah’s marina, which is on a peninsula at the northeast corner of AC, had a lunchtime singer, doing Sondheim and oldtime show tunes. Come to think of it , all AC is solid oldtime Broadway. On the other hand, Las Vegas builds its structural decorations out of styrofoam, so which is more typical of us?
To explain the AC geography, think of it as a boot, toe pointing south. The sole is the Boardwalk, and the ankle bone is Harrah’s and its neighbor Trump Marina Casino. The Donald has three locations in AC, which makes him the main man here. That is a good reason for his objections to opening casinos in New York state, unless, of course they carry that ubiquitous gold lettering.
The buses come in through the shank of the boot. There is a railroad, but no direct New York City connection.
I left on the 7:10 PM bus from Trump’s Plaza, which has a bus terminal. If you wonder where this current intelligence was gathered, on a 12-hour trip, I did have a two-hour visit to the Boardwalk, after the meetings, and there were breaks and lunchtime opportunities to watch the action. Every activity in AC is within a few feet of a gambling opportunity. I have to admit, the few quarters I high-rolled into the machines did come back, a return rate which must account for the faithfulness of the regular visitors. The technique is to set a line for the visit, and stop, when it is reached.
How one sets a line, I don’t know. While waiting for the return bus, I stood next to an old gent in a grubby car coat, who was grumbling to himself (not too many smiles in AC). "Did you go swimming?" I broke the silence. "Nah, I have atheritis," was the answer. My "win a lot?" elicited a story. "I won 2400 quarters and lost 550 dollars." "So you’re $50 ahead?" "Nah, I lost the quarters too." "You must be a Rockefeller?" "You kiddin’ - I dont know if I can make the busfare," a remark I discounted, since he was clutching the return ticket. "I don’t know why they are not sendin’ me a free room chit at Bally’s, I used to get them at Sands." "So, why don’t you go to Sands?" "Ah, I got out of the habit. I’ll come back for Columbus Day, maybe I’ll go to Sands." He flashed me a bunch of "comp" cards, the electronic records the casinos use to track your wagering, good for meals and room discounts. " Look, I’m single, I’m 84 years old, whom am I gonna save it for? My sons are on their own, they have families." A long pause. "They gamble too. All Italians gamble." I was lost for a response, but the bus came and saved me.
My knees had hurt on the outbound trip, and I asked the courteous driver taking tickets: "Are there any seats with more legroom?" "Stay on the right," he whispered, and I grabbed the first bench, across from and old lady, who instantly started telling the driver how to avoid construction on upper East Side. "Where do you live," he asked several times, in a mild voice, to no avail, the hard-of-hearing passenger carried on. Finally I leaned over, shouted the question and got an answer. "I’ll drop you at 86th Street," the driver spoke, now more firmly: "They give me a route to follow, I’m not allowed to change it." His route of good manners also did not allow for shouting questions at ladies.
Wally Dobelis expects to continue discussing today’s manners in some upcoming entertainments.
Blockwatchers, look out! You may have seen swirly white graffiti tags seemingly painted on store windors and bus shelters. Those are not innocent painted tags, you are seeing real damage to $1,000 plus display plate glass through etched hydrofluoric acid vandalism. The "artists" fill the acid into small shoe polish bottles with nice plastic brush tops, and voila! The result is artistically worthless, it drips. Ugliness has been perpetrated, and damage. The cops are photographing the tags, and will charge the perps with a felony (a $250 offense) for each window. Liberty Travel, CVS, Flushing Savings Bank, Cabrini, Corrado Bakery, the Rosicrucians and bus shelters have been hurt. Call 911 when you see somebody swirling what looks like water on a display window, do a good description. 3-5 AM is usually the time.
To visit Atlantic City, you must learn about buses. There are the gambler buses who pick you up all along Second Avenue around 9 AM, at candy stores, and bring you back, on a schedule that gives you six hours at the gaming tables. At least that is what the sponsoring casino hotels hope you will do. Or you go to the Port Authority Terminal and take a Greyhound or Academy scheduled bus, there is one roughly every half hour, starting at 7 AM, with dropoffs varying between the 12 casino hotels. You pay $24 for the round trip, 2 2 hours each way, and receive, at the destination, a $18 chit that you use to gamble, or you cash it in and walk out, to spend a day at the beach. That is what the casinos hope you will not do.
I was there for a business conference at the Harrah’s Hotel, so the casinos lost on me, their serious gambling money gift was frittered away on transportation, souvenirs and snacks. Harrah’s was a 15 minute bus trip away from my dropoff, Resorts, and I had to take a $1.50 ride on a white 10-seat jitney bus that comes every 10 minutes along the main drag, Pacific Avenue, and stops at all hotels.
If you play Monopoly, you know that the game borrowed its street names in AC. The E/W are named after states, the N/S are seas and famous venues (Fairmount, Wabash, Melrose, Madison, even a mangled Grammercy Avenue). Pacific Avenue, which runs parallel to the Boardwalk, is the Strip. At the north end, Resorts is part of a cluster of casinos, which includes the gaudy Showboat, a Mississippi gambling sidewheeler style Technicolor hotel, right out the stage set of the eponymous Ferber/Kern musical, and the Trump Taj Mahal, which features the Orient of Mughal Agra. One expects to see Anna and the king emerge riding on an elephant.
About 10 blocks south, the middle cluster of casinos includes the Sands and the modest Claridge, which advertises its home-like virtues on radio. The spread-out Bally’s Park Place with its Wild Wild West casino is quite the opposite. The gambling hall interior has Western themes, a bunch of dancing girls couuld emerge any moment and throw a wild cancan, and John Wayne would not be out of place. No such luck, the place is inhabited by the usual losers.
I should not be uncharitable about the AC regulars. The casinos provide entertainment and thrills for thousands of retirees on low budgets. You see wheelchairs, walkers and canes aplenty in the huge halls inhabited by gaudy one-armed bandit machines, today operated by pushbutton action, the mild athletic exercise value having been eliminated. There are no delicate old ladies, hiding their calloused and bandaged hands under white gloves, as the legend once had it. But the glitter has increased, the simple three-in-a-row game has been expanded to complex and exotic varieties, and the betting ranges from 5 cents to $5 a toss.
The real gambling, at least during the day, is not of the bet-a-million variety. Only one of the blackjack tables at Harrah’s had a green-chip$25 player, the rest were modest red-chip $5 bettors. The high roller played a progressive game, starting at $25 and doubling after every loss. I saw him finally cash in at the $400 level. (Arnold Levy, what’s the odds here?) The roulette and dice games were not of the high-flyer caliber. A new variety seemed to be a modified baccarat game, with the dealer placing the cards for both the house and the player, and the gamblers betting either side. Baccarat is the real gambler’s country - Lyle Stuart, the intrepid publisher of outsider books, which are a real gamble every time, is the world’s champion of this game.
But I digress from my hotel tour. Next to Bally’s is Caesars, with a theme of ancient Rome (they also have a Nero’s Grill and a Pompeii Pasta, a Bacchanal , a total of eight restaurants on Italian themes, the rhythm broken only by a lone intruder offering teriyaki and sushi. Japanese are big gamblers, and need to be catered to.)
The southern outflyers along the Boardwalk are the Tropicana and Hilton, both within a 10-block distance. Below that are some residential hotels and condominium buildings. Summer residents get their walking exercise by traversing between the hotels, dropping in here and there, catching a free concert, going to a Broadway show, or trekking along the sandy beach, accompanied by terns and gulls. My Harrah’s marina, which is on a peninsula at the northeast corner of AC, had a lunchtime singer, doing Sondheim and oldtime show tunes. Come to think of it , all AC is solid oldtime Broadway. On the other hand, Las Vegas builds its structural decorations out of styrofoam, so which is more typical of us?
To explain the AC geography, think of it as a boot, toe pointing south. The sole is the Boardwalk, and the ankle bone is Harrah’s and its neighbor Trump Marina Casino. The Donald has three locations in AC, which makes him the main man here. That is a good reason for his objections to opening casinos in New York state, unless, of course they carry that ubiquitous gold lettering.
The buses come in through the shank of the boot. There is a railroad, but no direct New York City connection.
I left on the 7:10 PM bus from Trump’s Plaza, which has a bus terminal. If you wonder where this current intelligence was gathered, on a 12-hour trip, I did have a two-hour visit to the Boardwalk, after the meetings, and there were breaks and lunchtime opportunities to watch the action. Every activity in AC is within a few feet of a gambling opportunity. I have to admit, the few quarters I high-rolled into the machines did come back, a return rate which must account for the faithfulness of the regular visitors. The technique is to set a line for the visit, and stop, when it is reached.
How one sets a line, I don’t know. While waiting for the return bus, I stood next to an old gent in a grubby car coat, who was grumbling to himself (not too many smiles in AC). "Did you go swimming?" I broke the silence. "Nah, I have atheritis," was the answer. My "win a lot?" elicited a story. "I won 2400 quarters and lost 550 dollars." "So you’re $50 ahead?" "Nah, I lost the quarters too." "You must be a Rockefeller?" "You kiddin’ - I dont know if I can make the busfare," a remark I discounted, since he was clutching the return ticket. "I don’t know why they are not sendin’ me a free room chit at Bally’s, I used to get them at Sands." "So, why don’t you go to Sands?" "Ah, I got out of the habit. I’ll come back for Columbus Day, maybe I’ll go to Sands." He flashed me a bunch of "comp" cards, the electronic records the casinos use to track your wagering, good for meals and room discounts. " Look, I’m single, I’m 84 years old, whom am I gonna save it for? My sons are on their own, they have families." A long pause. "They gamble too. All Italians gamble." I was lost for a response, but the bus came and saved me.
My knees had hurt on the outbound trip, and I asked the courteous driver taking tickets: "Are there any seats with more legroom?" "Stay on the right," he whispered, and I grabbed the first bench, across from and old lady, who instantly started telling the driver how to avoid construction on upper East Side. "Where do you live," he asked several times, in a mild voice, to no avail, the hard-of-hearing passenger carried on. Finally I leaned over, shouted the question and got an answer. "I’ll drop you at 86th Street," the driver spoke, now more firmly: "They give me a route to follow, I’m not allowed to change it." His route of good manners also did not allow for shouting questions at ladies.
Wally Dobelis expects to continue discussing today’s manners in some upcoming entertainments.
Blockwatchers, look out! You may have seen swirly white graffiti tags seemingly painted on store windors and bus shelters. Those are not innocent painted tags, you are seeing real damage to $1,000 plus display plate glass through etched hydrofluoric acid vandalism. The "artists" fill the acid into small shoe polish bottles with nice plastic brush tops, and voila! The result is artistically worthless, it drips. Ugliness has been perpetrated, and damage. The cops are photographing the tags, and will charge the perps with a felony (a $250 offense) for each window. Liberty Travel, CVS, Flushing Savings Bank, Cabrini, Corrado Bakery, the Rosicrucians and bus shelters have been hurt. Call 911 when you see somebody swirling what looks like water on a display window, do a good description. 3-5 AM is usually the time.
