By Levi Fox
While my passion is local history, I have also been an adjunct professor at Stockton for a decade. When a colleague approached me about working with the Continuing Studies department to create a September walking tour series covering three different Atlantic City neighborhoods, I was eager to do it. I had previously created a tour in collaboration with Stockton during the spring semester 2017, and that was a great experience. In 2017, I put together a walk through the historic African-American Northside neighborhood of AC, which I offered twice to Stockton students and members of the general public as a part of that program. That tour was inspired by the African-American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey’s exhibition “A Time For Change,” which is currently on display at Atlantic City’s Main Library Branch through the end of August. While you should definitely check out that exhibition if you can, these upcoming tours also will shed light on important facets of our local history.
Stockton’s walking tours will run for three Sundays at 10 am to noon. A Veterans Heritage Tour will kick off the tours on Sunday, September 15. Next will be the Ducktown Revitalization Tour on Sunday, September 22. The three-part tour series will end with Louise Mack’s LGBT Tour on Sunday, September 29. Some of the primary goals of the three-tour series are to cover as much territory as possible and walk through three distinct historic Atlantic City neighborhoods. Therefore each tour will be approximately two to three miles, so wear your walking shoes! The cost will be $25 per tour, or $65 for all three. Whether you do every tour in the series or only catch one, you can expect to learn something new about Atlantic City’s rich history.
The first of my three-tour series for Stockton this September will honor veterans. WWI To Korea: A Veterans Heritage Tour starts at Stockton’s Atlantic City campus, then heads across the street to O’Donnell Park, passing by the iconic and century-old Knife and Fork Inn. After exploring the World War I Memorial that Nucky Johnson pushed for in 1922—though the statue in the middle of the monument was only installed in 1929—the tour heads to the other end of the park, to see the memorial area that honors locals who died in various twentieth-century wars as well as the Civil War. This Soldiers and Sailors Monument was built during WWI. The tour next stops by public art sites like the Olde Atlantic City Mosaic on the Pacific Avenue side of the former Atlantic Club Casino, as well as the sculptures and pictures in the open-air lobby of the Ocean Club Condominiums along the Boardwalk. After heading to a few more sites like the old Ambassador Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton, the tour stops by Boardwalk Hall to visit the new Atlantic City Experience Museum and learn about the role of the town in World War II, when it was turned into Camp Boardwalk. The tour ends at the official New Jersey Korean War Memorial, where I will explain how the state memorial came to be in AC. While this first tour formally ends there, I will walk people back to the Boardwalk before everyone goes their separate ways.
While the first tour starts at Stockton’s Campus and heads through what can be called the “Greater Chelsea” area of AC, the second tour starts at the Noyes Arts Garage and circles through the city’s historic “Little Italy.” The Ducktown Revitalization Tour first heads down Mississippi Avenue stopping by historic eateries like the White House Sub Shop, which has accumulated quite the collection of photos featuring famous folks since it was founded in 1946. We will then head over towards the site of Christopher Columbus that was unveiled in October 1958 on the corner of Arctic Avenue and Christopher Columbus Boulevard, but was moved to its current location in 2013 to make way for new construction. Next, we’ll stop by the site of Skinny D’Amato’s 500 Club and briefly discuss the role of organized crime in Atlantic City in the 1980s. Then the tour will turn back toward the historic neighborhood, heading to Dante Hall and St. Michael’s Church as we discuss the Catholic faith traditions of the community. The tour runs past Texas Avenue to the Our Lady Star of the Sea Church before heading back to the start. This tour will focus on ongoing community redevelopment.
The final tour in the series will be Louise Mack’s LGBT Tour, which will focus on local LGBT history. The tour will start outside the current site of Bourré. The restaurant was once the home of Saratoga, one of many gay clubs on New York Avenue and Westminster Avenue (called Snake Alley because of its curved shape) that thrived from the 1920s to the 1970s. Louise Mack’s LGBT Tour, named for the longtime owner of the Entertainer’s Club, will cover much of the neighborhood that is being revived as part of the Orange Loop Project and will stop at the sites of closed clubs like the Brass Rail and Lark Inn. This informative tour will end at “Gay Friendly” Park Place Beach. In 2014, mayor Don Guardian declared the beach officially gay-friendly.
It’s an honor to put together tours that celebrate our local history. Whether you would rather see sites honoring local veterans or learn more about community redevelopment, Stockton’s walking tours are sure to make you look at Atlantic City from a new perspective.
To register for a tour or get more information, check out Stockton’s Continuing Studies webpage: www.stockton.edu/continuing-studies. Click “Personal Enrichment” for the registration link so you can enrich your understanding of AC history through these tours. You can also call (609) 652-4227.
Dr. Levi Fox holds a PhD in History from Temple and teaches at
Stockton. Levi is also Secretary of the Somers Point Historical
Preservation Commission and President of Jersey Shore Tours
