Garden Pier has been standing in the Inlet section of Atlantic City, on South New Jersey Avenue and the Boardwalk, since 1913. Not a lot of residents or visitors have heard of it, and the few that have, know little of its history.
It’s sad and hard to believe that the pier, now closed and almost empty, was once home to a nationally known legitimate theater, an arts center, a ballroom, the Atlantic City Historical Museum, and the very first Miss America Pageant, held in 1921. It was such a popular attraction during its first several decades of operation that companies like Underwood Typewriter, Hoover and Pennsylvania Rubber Company advertised everything from vacuum cleaners to automobile tires on Garden Pier.
“Garden Pier stood apart from the other piers in Atlantic City,” Heather Perez wrote for The Atlantic City Experience website. “First opening on July 19, 1913, its uptown location placed it away from the frenzied activity of the bustling downtown. The red-tiled roofs and iconic architecture style of the buildings, and the beautifully landscaped gardens gave the pier a formal appearance, which attracted an upscale crowd.”
The main attraction, however, was B.F. Keith’s Theatre, which hosted stars like Sophie Tucker and Douglas Fairbanks in first-run plays including “Tobacco Road” and “George White’s Scandals,” which starred a relatively new slapstick comedy team, The Three Stooges.
“Scandals” was a gigantic hit, according to a New York Times story dated Aug. 11, 1931. “Mr. White’s representatives were not backward in announcing that the Garden Pier Theatre, where a $5.50 ticket price was in effect, had broken all records for receipts,” read the Times story.
Despite the pier’s popularity, Heather Perez believes “the uptown location made it less commercially successful.” What she did not say is that, as the city moved into the 1930s, Garden Pier just couldn’t compete with the gaudy flash of competitors like the Steel Pier and the Million Dollar Pier. “George White’s Scandals” ran in the summer of 1931, but about three years later, Garden Pier shut down.
Though the 1944 hurricane caused significant damage, the city bought Garden Pier in that year. Records show that the city did little with it until it reopened in 1954, just in time for the city’s Centennial Celebration. The property was renamed the Garden Pier Civic Center and was totally renovated. The new pier had a fountain, a band, and a concert shell – the sound system was said to be world-class for its time – and was home to the Atlantic City Art Center.
Though it was anything but flashy, the Garden Pier Civic Center thrived, presenting shows like the “Boardwalk Star Revue,” headed up by vocalist Lucille Russo, that rivaled Tony Grant’s “Stars of Tomorrow” at the Steel Pier in terms of popularity.
A fire caused severe damage in 1981, but it was once again rebuilt, and by 1985, it was home to the Atlantic City Historical Museum. With funding coming from the City of Atlantic City, the pier was renovated again in 1994.
In 1999, the MGM Corporation expressed interest in buying and redeveloping Garden Pier, but the offer was turned down by City Council. In retrospect, it was not one of City Council’s better decisions.
In December of 2010, the city closed it down permanently. Not much happened there until February of 2016, when news broke that developer Bart Blatstein of Showboat and The Playground fame bought Garden Pier for $1.5 million.
A February 2016 story in Downbeach Buzz read: “Atlantic City City Council is expected to name Bart Blatstein the redeveloper of Garden Pier and will have 90 days to execute a final deal. Even with Atlantic City in the middle of a non-stop s— storm, Blatstein and other developers keep buying up properties. Smart. Blatstein wants the 100-year-old pier to become an entertainment destination with art, music, food… all within steps of HIS future hotel rooms, retail, food, and gaming operations.”
Nothing thus far has come of the plans Blatstein spoke of back then, but the ideas he had for retail and restaurants on Garden Pier were instituted when he opened The Playground on the site of the Pier Shops mall in 2015. Some diehard Garden Pier fans are not happy that Blatstein continues to sit on what they believe could be a wonderful attraction for the city.
“Why is Garden Pier in AC padlocked ever since Bart Blatstein took over?” wrote Steven Allen on the “Atlantic City Casino Era” Facebook page. “Is it an insurance issue? It’s a waste of a nice resource.”
Bart Blatstein has long spoken about getting a casino license for his Showboat property, and in that he purchased Garden Pier less than two years after he bought the Showboat, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he turned the vacant pier into some kind of family-focused attraction, ala the Island Water Park and Lucky Snake Arcade.
If he did, that would be a good thing. Maybe a real amusement pier is just what Atlantic City needs.
