Atlantic City Hotel and Non-Hotel Retail

Mr. Today says:

When I was in middleschool, the cool place to go shopping in Atlantic City was the Ocean One Mall which is now the Caesars Pier. The Ocean One Mall offered everything from Skidz to ZCavaricci. Basically, everything that any middle school kid would want to wear so they wouldn't be made fun of at school.

Today the Ocean One no longer exists. Instead, there is The Walk outlet located right when you get off the expressway into Atlantic City. It's the best place to go around here for cheap prices and great clothing: Nautica, Ralph Lauren, etc. The Walk also offers great family restaurants too such as Apple Bee's (although the service did lack common courtesy when my family and I went to eat there - I guess I shouldn't expect much from Atlantic City restaurants that haven't been located in Atlantic City a long time)

Other more expensive places to shop would be the stores inside the casino as well as the Caesars Pier. The prices in the casino shops are over OVER OVER retail price becase they expect you to pay with your comps. The Caesars Pier is a bit different. It's more like a regular upscale mall offering most of the common stores you'd see at any other mall but with a few exceptions. Overall, I would recommend any family to go to The Walk and for rainy or bad weather days, to go to the Caesars Pier.

Mr. Yesterday says:

I remember when I was growing up in the Atlantic City area, one of the only places to shop were at the stores located on Atlantic Ave in Atlantic City. There was also Garwood Mills, which was kind of like a K-Mart located in the Inlet right next to the Bus station and Captain Starn's. As far as eating, there was Hackney's restaurant and the Knife and Fork. My favorite was Carsons which was located on New Hampshire Ave. I loved that place. My mom would take me there all the time when I was a kid. Unfortuatly, in the mid 70's a delivery truck was backing out of the parking lot an snagged an electical line the the restaurant burned down, never again to reopen. When I think about all of the great stores that Atlantic City has right now, it's nice to know that Atlantic City is on the right track on becomming a shopping meca destination for all. It will only get better in the following years.

Everyone Wins On The Holidays!

Mr. Today says:

Well I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. I sure did. It was quite restful but this year, I didn't head to the casinos like I did last year. However, this coming New Year's eve (although it will be packed packed packed packed packed, I still intend to hit the casino floor). Last Thanksgiving, like all major holidays, the casinos tend to be "very giving" to their customers. If you choose the right table game (also slots but I don't like slots because it's more luck than skill), and you play your hands right, you could turn out to be a winner.

Last Thanksgiving, I went to Tropicana and played roulette. Some may think that roulette is also just pure luck but it's not. It has a lot to do with how the dealer throws the marble. If the dealer is on a steady rhythm, the marble will tend to land on one side of the wheel. How can I know this? Simple, memorize (or have a score card) of where the numbers on the table coorespond with the numbers laid out on the wheel. Figure out one half of the wheel's numbers and where it's laid out on the table. Then as you see the dealer keep the marble continuously landing on a certain side of the wheel, that's the set of numbers you bet on. Does this work? Yes ofcourse it does. That's how I walked out with over $700 last Thanksgiving. Thanks!

PS. If too many people are winning at a table, sometimes you'll see the pitboss whisper something into the dealer's ear. That's a red flag. He's probably telling the dealer to change the marble-throw consistency. At that time, you should just play the bare minimum of the table requirement to see if there is any change. Also, do not bet when the dealer changes. Every dealer has a slightly different throw (ie. pressure, swing, flick, amount of strength used, wheel spin speed, etc)

HAPPY WINNING! Remember, Christmas and New Year's is coming up!

Mr. Yesterday says:

Well, well, well. Thanksgiving and gambling. What a great combination. Here is something that Mr. Today does'nt know about me.
Years ago, around the late 70's when casinos came to Atlantic City, well I was only 18 and Resorts had just opened. It was packed. Money was flying all over the place. My friends and I tried playing roulette. First let me say, I agree with Mr. Today about his thoughts on the game. My friends and I could kind of figure out where the ball was going to land within 6 to 8 numbers by the speed of the ball and where the dealer dropped the ball. I must admit that most of the time we won. We would wait till new casinos opened up and they offered play night with fake chipsw. We made a killing. My friends and I bought a toy roulette wheel and for hours would spin the will and log what numbers came out. Red -black, odd - even, which section of the table. After months of this, we were going nuts. We had a system. :-)
We went back to Resorts with over one thousand dollars and we even pawned our hight school rings. We were set. We rolled into resorts and found a really good roulette table, got into position and starting playing. After about 5 minutes, all of our money was gone. We looked at each other in dismay and said "what the %#*&^%$ just happened". We had about ten dollars left. We walked down to Bally's and got two sodas inside where the old Dennis hotel is located. At the end of the day, we had one dollar left. We tore the dollar in half and each of us put our halves in our wallets and said this way we will never be broke. That was 25 years ago. I still have my half, I wonder if my friend still has his.
Like I said before, I agree with Mr. Today about his roulette theories but the truth of the matter is, the system to roulette is that there is no system. Dealers may still try to control the ball but your greed in winning will basically make you lose. Have a great Happy Thanksgiving.

Atlantic City - Fun For Kids?

Mr. Today says:

So writing yesterday's blog made me think more about what I did during my childhood in Atlantic City. Well in the early 80's there were amusement parks across the boardwalk from Resorts, The Horseshoe kid's slotmachine arcade on the boardwalk, a video game arcade in every casino and so much more! When I was in middle school and during my highschool years we'd play chase/cops-n-robbers/hide-n-seek through Showboat, Trump Taj Mahal and Resorts since those three casinos are connected by skywalks. I also remember taking the bus to Atlantic City with friends to go bowling at Showboat Casino which now there exists a buffet. Naturally, one of my strongest memories, like any teen in the early 90's, was going to Ocean One Pier Mall every weekend and waiting in line with my quarters up on the arcade machine to play Street Fighter II. hmm... are there any arcades in Atlantic City anymore at all? I think the place kids should go now is Ocean City if they wanna have fun. However, what kind of parent is going to leave their kid 25 miles away from Atlantic City?

Mr. Yesterday says:

My childhood memories start about in the early 70's. My friends and I would bus it up to Atlantic City to Million Dollar Pier. They had a really cool arcade. You also can't forget the amazing Ape Lady. Steel Pier was also fun. Ranging from the Diving Bell (the bell is still in Atlantic City, located at Gardners Basin) to concerts in the big gold dome. One of my favorites was the Atlantic City Skytower located at Central Pier which would take you about 300 feet above sea level. You also can't forget Captain Starns. It was fun feeding the seals at the main entrance. My Grandparent's lived in the Inlet so I would always head down that way for fun. It's kind of a shame that there is barely nothing to do these days that would bring the entire family to Atlantic City. You have more family oriented activities in Ocean City or even Wildwood, but just like Mr. Today says, what parents would leave their kids so far away while they gamble in Atlantic City. Till next time.

Caesars Pier, Ocean One, and Before

Mr Today says:

As many people know, Caesars Pier took over the Ocean One Pier Mall and converted it to a high end retail shop mall under Caesars Casino Hotel name. It has no arcade like the Ocean One Mall did so it's not going to be 100% fun for you to take your kids at. I understand that Caesars is aiming to make it's Atlantic City location much more similar to that of it's Las Vegas' location by adding the "indoor mall" thing, but come on, where's the fun for the kids now-a-days?

Mr. Yesterday Says:

I remember growing up as a kid, taking the bus into Atlantic City to Million Dollar Pier. Million Dollar Pier was truley on of the best piers around on the east coast along with the other piers in Atlantic City. During the 70's, the pier was just getting run down and by the time casino gaming came around it was pretty much closed from what i recall. Caesars decided to build a 3 story mall with 150 stores in the shape of an oceanliner. Good idea at first but it truely never took off. Now that Atlantic City is turning into a shopping meca, Caesars decided to remodel th Ocean One Mall by tearing it down to the ground and rebuilding it into The Pier Shops At Caesars. I must agree with Mr. Today. With the exception of the water fountain water display, there really isn't much going on for the kids. When is Atlantic City goiing to open their eyes and realize that if you want a family destination resort, you need family oriented attractions!!

Atlantic City Hotel: REVEL

Mr. Today says:

Another casino in Atlantic City is going to form. This time, it's going to be located next to Showboat. I guess it's nice to have another casino in that spot beucase that location was quite the dump. Just run down homes, shops and maybe a few residentials located there. Hopefully, Atlantic City will start building other newer, nicer buildings to compliment the Revel perhaps between Pacific and Atlantic Ave.


Mr. Yesterday says:

I must agree with you. From what i remember, the lots next to the Showboat Casino were just run down homes. While most of Atlantic City was rotting away, it wasn't until recently, meaning the past so many years, that Atlantic City has been redeveloping parts of the city. Revel Entertainment Group is not the only company building a casino on the boardwalk. Pinnacle Entertainment plans to build on the old Sands Casino site which should be nothing but spectacular.






Atlantic City REVEL Specs:
$2 billion dollar Vegas-style casino complex, to be built next to Showboat on the Boardwalk. The complex, which will have 2 towers lined with silver/blue lights will add 1,900 hotel rooms, 168,000 square feet of casino space in a two story venue, 90,000 feet of dining space and 120,000 feet of retail shops and nightclubs. A spa, indoor and outdoor pools and a fitness center round out this impressive resort. The complex will take full advantage of the glorious views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Boardwalk with many of the ocean facing walls being glass. The complex will also have Atlantic City’s first Vegas style wedding chapel. The ocean themed complex should be a great addition to Atlantic City when it opens about Fall 2010.

Atlantic City Casino Smoker

Mr. Today says:

I don't smoke and I never enjoyed the smell as it soaks into my clothing. I konw a lot of smokers are bothered by the no smoking sections that have formed in all the Atlantic City casinos. "OMG the damn casino took away my lucky area by adding in the no smoking section!" Well, I got news for you, get over it! If they made your section you play into a no smoking section, then it wasn't your lucky section. From another view, I can see the casinos losing customers due to this but I'm sure its such a small fraction that it probably doesn't even bother them.


Mr Yesterday says:

Unfortunately I did smoke for a long time. But then I quit and moved on with my life. I also don't like my cloths smelling like smoke. I don't understand what the big deal is with the smoking ban in Atlantic City. Smoking here, no smoking there. It's like there is an invisable wall that doesn't let the smoke from one corner of the room to the other. I think you should be able to smoke in casinos in Atlantic City hotels. People have been smoking inside casinos since the casinos opened in the late seventies. Also by not letting people smoke in the casinos, it's taking away from market share with the other close by states that offer some king of casino play. Just last month alone (October 2007) the casinos took a hit of 7.5 % loss due to other states promoting gaming and I'm sure that the smoking ban had a little to do with it. So for me, I also say get over it, but smoking should be allowed in casinos.