Remembering Atlantic City’s small but mighty Steeplechase Pier
It may have existed in the shadows of the Steel Pier, and it was smaller than the Million Dollar Pier, but during its 86-year existence, roughly from 1900 to 1986, Atlantic City’s Steeplechase Pier was one heck of an amusement pier. Located on the Boardwalk, between...
Prohibition: When Atlantic City was wide open
On Jan. 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, a law that banned “the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States,” went into effect several months after it was ratified under the aegis of President Woodrow Wilson. “The...
Remembering Atlantic City’s Captain Starn’s
When Atlantic City residents and visitors, past and present, talk about the long-gone restaurants they miss, a few names invariably surface again and again. Certainly there’s Lou’s in Ventnor, profiled several times in these pages, followed by Zaberers and perhaps...
Sunshine Park: Mays Landing’s nudist retreat once drew national attention
Ninety-two years ago, Mays Landing made news in The New York Times with the opening of Sunshine Park. Located on a riverfront tract on Mays Landing–Somers Point Road, it became a weekend getaway for as many as 750 practicing nudist families. Men, women and children...
All aboard the Harley Express
South Jersey is known for having some unique and unusual roadside attractions. Notable examples include Lucy the Elephant in Margate, and Mighty Joe, a 25-foot gorilla on Route 206 in Shamong. To add to this list is a piece of history: the 50 ton 0-4-0 Diesel...
