Atlantic City for non-gamblers

[ChrisGreaves]

I need advice.
I've been offered a trip to Atlantic City in about 3 weeks time for about 5 days by someone who loves to "play the slots".
Except for briefly skimming the cream off a machine, I have no desire to spend 5 days wandering carpeted halls of depressing-looking people punching buttons like Skinner's pigeons, if I got that right.

What is there to do in Atlantic City for someone who will be wandering on foot and/or public transit?
Are there museums? Art galleries?
I sometimes amuse myself by just standing in a downtown street holding a map, to get conversation going.
Any hints would be appreciated.
Thanks.

P.S. I tend not to believe all I read in "what to do in Atalntic city" web pages, but I do have faith in Fellow-Loungers
P.P.S. A cursory search suggests that there is no local public transit system, as in "cruise the city on a visitor's 1-day pass"

[Leif]

Just remember to take plenty of Bean Sprouts. You'll be fine.

[steveh]

I need advice.
I've been offered a trip to Atlantic City in about 3 weeks time for about 5 days by someone who loves to "play the slots".
Except for briefly skimming the cream off a machine, I have no desire to spend 5 days wandering carpeted halls of depressing-looking people punching buttons like Skinner's pigeons, if I got that right.

What is there to do in Atlantic City for someone who will be wandering on foot and/or public transit?
Are there museums? Art galleries?
I sometimes amuse myself by just standing in a downtown street holding a map, to get conversation going.
Any hints would be appreciated.
Thanks.

P.S. I tend not to believe all I read in "what to do in Atalntic city" web pages, but i do have faith in fellow-loungers
P.P.S. A cursory search suggests that there is no local public transit system, as in "cruise the city on a visitor's 1-day pass"

Hi Chris

This seems to be a 'City' sponsored site -Atlantic City, there are listings for the local attractions, free events, eating out etc. HTH

[Bowlie]

Why don't you do a search for Marvin Gardens and Park Place (to name just a couple). Taking a long walk on the short boardwalk may be invigorating! You could cash in your savings and put it all on the double-zero on the roulette table. That will give you 30-40 seconds of excitement, and possibly a heart attack. But enjoy, you never know what adventures will beckon.

[viking33]

Chris,
I don't really know how much AC has changed in recent years but even before and after the casino building boom, once you got off the boardwalk, there wasn't much else to do there, except contact your personal bodyguard to escort you around. The gambling crowd sold the State a bill of goods promising a wonderland of improvements and lots of dollars to help the State's economy. So far as I know, it never happened.
Local transit system? Pushcarts up and down the boardwalk.
I guess you can tell, I'm not a fan of the city.
JMHO.

[ChrisGreaves]

'City' sponsored site -Atlantic City,

Hi Steve, and thanks for the link. On the surface this site seems to indicate that there's enough to keep me occupied/interested for a lifetime, but I look at the city in Google earth and it seems small.
I have the feeling it is a bare-bones version of Las Vegas.
But I've not been there either!

[ChrisGreaves]

Why don't you do a search for Marvin Gardens and Park Place (to name just a couple). Taking a long walk on the short boardwalk may be invigorating!

OK, I get it.
The "foreign" version of Monopoly is based on Atlantic city, right? having grown up on the UK version, I think you are suggesting i do a tour of the monopoly Board in real life. Hmmmm. I've heard of "The Boardwalk" in the US version, but little else (I don't get out much ...)

You could cash in your savings and put it all on the double-zero on the roulette table. That will give you 30-40 seconds of excitement, and possibly a heart attack. But enjoy, you never know what adventures will beckon.

Do they take bets as low as that? My life savings?
I confess to indulging (using someone else's money) in a tactic of skimming-the-cream off the slot machines, but I must also confess to soon getting bored and depressed in those places.

[ChrisGreaves]

... once you got off the boardwalk, there wasn't much else to do there, except ... Local transit system? Pushcarts up and down the boardwalk.

Hi Bob.
Your comments confirm my perfunctory perusal⁽¹⁾ of Atlantic City through web pages.
The city istelf seems small, and might serve as little else as a dormitory town for the casino workers?
Also I've not unearthed any city-wide transit service; nothing that suggests I could ride-the-buses for a day.

⁽¹⁾ I had to look up "perfunctory" in my dictionary to check it was the right word, and was amused to find "perusal" as the adjacent entry!

[Bowlie]

The "foreign" version of Monopoly is based on Atlantic city, right? having grown up on the UK version, I think you are suggesting i do a tour of the monopoly Board in real life. Hmmmm. I've heard of "The Boardwalk" in the US version, but little else (I don't get out much ...).

I grew up in Canada and our version was the US version. Not sure what the Swiss Romande version is like, except that the franc is worth a lot more than those dinarro things. Just remember, do not pass go ...

[Bowlie]

Apparently no Swiss romande version, but some dutchman has a web page on all the versions, including this one: http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/switzerland.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hans, don't you have enough to do in your spare time? Keep this up and you'll have to grow more fingers

[HansV]

I'll be the first to admit that The Netherlands is a small country, but I'm not really the only Dutchman!

(That guy has to be really fanatic to create such an exhaustive collection of Monopoly games and to document them all on a website!)

[Leif]

...but I'm not really the only Dutchman!

You mean, you haven't got the monopoly?

[HansV]

I had it when I was a child, but I lost it somewhere along the way...

[agibsonsw]

Perhaps you've already discovered this site.

You into beach volleyball or surfing? Or you could send an 'ePostcard'

[viking33]

... once you got off the boardwalk, there wasn't much else to do there, except ... Local transit system? Pushcarts up and down the boardwalk.

Hi Bob.
Your comments confirm my perfunctory perusal⁽¹⁾ of Atlantic City through web pages.
The city istelf seems small, and might serve as little else as a dormitory town for the casino workers?
Also I've not unearthed any city-wide transit service; nothing that suggests I could ride-the-buses for a day.

⁽¹⁾ I had to look up "perfunctory" in my dictionary to check it was the right word, and was amused to find "perusal" as the adjacent entry!

What buses? ( I'm serious about the pushcarts )
I don't even think the casino workers actually live in the city.
Hazardous duty pay required.

[ChrisGreaves]

Perhaps you've already discovered this site. You into beach volleyball or surfing? Or you could send an 'ePostcard'

Thanks Andy, and yes, I had checked out a few what-to-do sites.
I'm not into beach volleyball (my left knee, see?) and I don't golf (my left rotator cuff, see?), and while I can walk the boardwalk in the morning, eat a hot dog, then stroll back in the afternoon, I have serious doubts about how many second-hand bookshops I'll see, let alone those with readable editions of histories of the origins of World War One.

Part of my thoughts about getting a day-pass on the local public transit was to check out the local lending libraries.
I'm guessing now that a city without public transit probably doesn't support libraries (They go together; you get the bus to work and read a book on the bus ...)

I did note, he said with rising excitement in his keyboard, that Google Maps says the directest route is 867 kilometres, but if I drag the purple line to the SW I can do the Williamsport-Harrisburg Susquehanna River trip at only 888 kilometres.
As long as none of you guys squeal on me, I stand a fair chance of convincing Ms B that (a) it's cheaper to drive than to fly and (b) Google maps swears that the highway 11 route is the fastest, cheapest, has the best diners etc.
The real challenge will lie in lying to convincing her that what makes the most sense, since I don't like gambling, is for me to drive her down there, drive myself back here, then go pick her up in 5 days time, giving me FOUR (count 'em!) trips up and down the Susquehanna!

So

[ChrisGreaves]

Hazardous duty pay required.

Excellent, thanks Bob.
If the city is unsafe, all the more reason for me to drive Ms B down there and pick her up in 5 days time (my response to Andy 5 minutes ago).
I wouldn't want to risk getting myself mugged ....

[Leif]

...for me to drive her down there, drive myself back here, then go pick her up in 5 days time...

You'd leave her for five days in the middle of Atlantic Avenue?

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[ChrisGreaves]

You'd leave her for five days in the middle of Atlantic Avenue?

Yup.

She gets onto my case again about my Australian driving habits, she's out the door ...

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[steveh]

You'd leave her for five days in the middle of Atlantic Avenue?

Yup.

She gets onto my case again about my Australian driving habits, she's out the door ...

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Hi Chris

Check here for Atlantic City public library

There is another one

libraries near Atlantic City, NJ, USA
Richmond Branch of the Atlantic City Public Library
4115 Ventnor Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ, United States
+1 609-347-1902 ‎

but the little Google Man would not even get out of his box for a street view so that must be dangerous!!