Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America Book

The first half of the book tells a story that is not unique to Atlantic City- a story of a city destroyed by crime and white flight (which was followed by black middle-class flight). Before 1960, it was a leisure-oriented, prosperous resort city. Philadelphians would spend the summer there and entertain themselves on the city's Boardwalk. But the city's popularity collapsed in the 1960s and 1970; crime went up, as it did in many cities. As a result, vacationers chose more suburban and/or warm-weather destinations, causing the city's once-famous hotels to decay or close, making the city even less desirable. Simon tells this story well, although a comparison with more successful towns would have been interesting.

But Atlantic City took a different turn in the 1980s. The state allowed gambling, in the hope that casinos would revitalize Atlantic City. But this turned out not to be the case, for several reasons. First of all, there was a speculative bubble; would-be casino owners bought houses in Ducktown (one of the city's more functional areas) in the hope of building more casinos. But since the demand for casinos turned out to be limited, some of the vacant houses were left to rot, and Ducktown wound up being chock full of vacant lots. Second, casino builders used much of the city's land for parking lots, thus making the city even more unappealing. Third, casinos understandably were built to protect their users from contact with the dangerous and decaying city- but this meant that the benefits from the casinos did not spill over into the rest of the city. Fourth, competition from newer resorts means that even the future of the casinos may not be bright.