The future is finally looking brighter
Possibly the least known and most troubled of Atlantic City’s famed amusement piers, past and present, is Central Pier. Though it’s been standing and in operation in various incarnations at 1400 Boardwalk and Tennessee Avenue since 1884, when city residents and visitors are asked about Central Pier, the frequent reply is, “Never heard of it.”
Sadly, if this historic, Art Deco-styled venue is known at all these days, it’s because the area under the pier has long been a homeless encampment, while the structure itself has been plagued by fires, hurricane damage, numerous changes in ownership and almost a century of simply being ignored by the city and the hundreds of thousands of people who have walked by it through the years.
Over the decades, it’s been home to go-kart and kiddie rides, arcades, souvenir stores, various business offices, an aquarium, a roller skating rink and even a sky tower known as the Space Needle. And, although it seems to open and close almost at will, it’s still there, fronted by a quasi dollar store.
Central Pier Arcade and Speedway, as it is now known, opened in 1884 as Applegate’s Pier. In 1891, an entrepreneur named “Captain” John Young bought it and renamed it Young’s Pier. After Young left to take over the Million Dollar Pier, in the mid-1920s, it was renamed Young & McShea’s Pier (McShea being one of Young’s partners) and later, simply Central Pier. Brothers Robert and Abraham Schiff, who had owned several motels and pieces of Boardwalk property for years, long owned the venue, which they christened Schiff’s Central Pier. The Schiff name still graces the façade.
The run of bad luck began in 1912, under John Young’s stewardship, when much of the structure was destroyed by fire. The Art Deco building that can be seen on the Boardwalk now is the result of an extensive rebuilding that took place in the 1920s.
I remember it from the 1960s and 1970s, when it existed mainly as an arcade with a kiddie ride or two installed at the end of the pier. Even as an arcade and pinball center, Central Pier was overshadowed by the well-remembered, large arcade in the Italian Village portion of Million Dollar Pier.
But it was never-say-die for Central Pier, and in June 1967 it was hoped that an attraction called the Sky Tower would finally put the venue on the city’s amusement map and help the pier compete with the still-operating Steel Pier, Steeplechase Pier and Million Dollar Pier.
The idea of the ride, often called The Space Needle, was to ride 300 feet above the ground and when it reached the top, it would rotate completely around. I rode it and it was fabulous, though it only lasted until about 1978. It was removed entirely 11 years later.
Central Pier almost closed for good in November of 2009 when two fires occurred a week apart. The first one hit four businesses that were operating on the pier. The second one made headlines when the body of a homeless man was found under the pier.
The Schiff brothers were not out of the game yet. Not long after the fire in 2009, Vincent Jackson, a reporter for The Press of Atlantic City, wrote, “Central Pier, with its NASCAR-style go-karts, wants to remain a place people consider visiting when they’re in the resort, so it is unveiling at least six new arcade machines this summer. It also constantly brings in new merchandise for its arcade, which, according to General Manager David Gorfman, is the largest on the Boardwalk.”
Gorfman, who had been at the pier for 23 years, was optimistic at the time. “I think the city may be actually turning right now,” he said. “I’m starting to see the return of families. The traffic and business are on a little bit of an upward trend. We are seeing a positive trend and that’s encouraging.”
It was enough of a positive trend to keep the pier running, but another headline-making fire that took place on April 18 of last year all but knocked Central Pier out of operation. The city had long been aware of the homeless encampment under the pier as well as the fires that were set by the homeless to keep warm. Sadly, a 67-year-old man named Bruce Eder died in that fire.
Fire Chief Scott Evans told the Associated Press at the time that the space under Central Pier was an area known to be used by the homeless. “A small homeless encampment was observed in the area of the fire,’’ Evans said, adding that a small campfire had been set up near where Eder’s body was found.
Some 50 firefighters battled the blaze for three hours, struggling against winds that came off the ocean and fanned the flame. The fire spread upward from under the pier, which damaged some of the structure and the buildings above it. Hardest hit was a storage building and the back of a 99-cent store. Damage to the arcade portion was estimated to be about 10 percent.
Evans said some repairs needed to be made to the pier itself and some of its buildings, but he was optimistic it could be reopened safely before Memorial Day weekend.
That was optimistic, as the pier remained boarded up for a good part of the season, though it did manage to reopen. However, a recent visit to what is now known as Central Pier Arcade and Speedway was encouraging. The entire venue has been beautifully cleaned up, a number of new arcade games have been installed and there’s a nifty go-kart track, which has proven to be quite popular, installed at the end of the pier, overlooking the ocean.
Central Pier is open for business and it’s busy. Who knows? Perhaps this is the year that everybody – well, maybe almost everybody – who visits the Atlantic City Boardwalk will finally know about Central Pier.
