Atlantic City

"Atlantic City is the new Williamsburg," former Siberia bar owner and sometimes Fox contributor Tracy Westmoreland told me as the wind whipped through his long goatee at a rest stop somewhere in New Jersey.

He might not be wrong.

While Williamsburg has spent the last decade getting a face lift, Atlantic City did the same, with developers putting up towers on the waterfront. While Brooklyn got luxurious condos, Atlantic City got luxurious hotels: the Chelsea, the Borgata, the Water Club and, tallest of them all, Harrah's. Crime and drugs are still busy in both, but hidden a few blocks in from the unsuspecting eye, and developers are falling over themselves to draw the young and the hip to the waterfront in both locations.  read more »

Today marked the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the hugely hyped Chelsea hotel in Atlantic City.

Hotelier Curtis Bashaw recently sat down with The Observer to discuss the $110 million project, which aims to lure more young, hip New Yorkers to South Jersey's gritty gaming town and otherwise restore some of the ancient seaside destination's long-lost glamour.

"We do a lot of real estate projects -- we've done ground-up buildings in the city and all sorts of other stuff -- but these hotel renovation projects are among the most challenging and rewarding and pleasurable projects," said Mr. Bashaw, 48, who, alongside his Cape Advisors partner Craig Wood, has combined an old Howard Johnson and Holiday Inn into a single 330-room boutique hotel on the boardwalk.  read more »

Apparently when the chips are down, people start gambling. Consumers may be clutching tighter to their purse strings these days, but neither the rumblings of a recession nor the recent smoking ban have kept gamblers from spending in Atlantic City.

After casino profits plummeted throughout 2007, causing New Jersey’s gaming revenues to register the first year-over-year decline in Atlantic City’s history (widely attributed to the introduction of slots in Pennsylvania), Memorial Day gave Jersey Shore casinos a much needed boost.

In May, the state’s gaming revenue increased 1.61 percent to $415.348 million, according to Fantini’s June Gaming Report published today (for subscribers), after dropping steadily since January.  read more »

• The new 64,000-square-foot Park Slope Whole Foods is supposed to open next summer, though the construction site [above] isn't looking so good. Why does the place appear toxic? Because it is toxic. [Gowanus Lounge]
• Rochester is so hot right now: It's the only city in New York State to make it into the top-five list of hottest cities. [CNN/Money]
• Poor Atlantic City won't make it into that rarefied group anytime soon, but at least it's getting some help. An entire block of the famous Boardwalk will get facelifted, with new features recalling "seaboard pier architecture" and "art modern of the 1930's." [Interior Design]
• Trump's favorite designer, Costas Kondylis, is building a petite Upper East Side condo, whose glassy facade cost a cool $1 million to build. Better yet, something called "computer brains" will control each condo apartment's audio-visual components. [Real Deal] - Max Abelson
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TEDDY: Many people scoff at the prospect of two lovers eloping to a place like Atlantic City to exchange matrimonial vows--and that's fine--but the truth is, these same killjoys probably wouldn't be too keen on signing a few documents at City Hall and calling it a wedding either. Sadly, it seems like killjoys are everywhere these days, because a City Hall marriage just isn't good enough anymore. Most people have a pretty clear vision of the idyllic wedding: Outside, overlooking a beach. Canoeing down the aisle on the lake of your childhood summer camp. Hawaii. All I need is a judge, a municipal court and a few witnesses.  read more »

AIMEE: "I beg you!" I pleaded to Brian's best man, Mike, last week when we all went out to dinner. "Think of sweet little me when you're picking up the phone to order the strippers!" And then I turned to a celebrity cautionary tale as a last resort: "Do I have to remind you what happened to Mario Lopez and Ali Landry? They called off the wedding because of the bachelor party! I'm just sayin'!"

"Don't worry," he finally said, sensing my desperation. "In our old age we've gotten boring. We got the stripper stuff out of our system back in college." Ah, reassuring. At the very least I'm hoping that what happens in Atlantic City stays in Atlantic City.

Now Brian's off on his bachelor party weekend and I'm taking advantage of the alone time to catch up on wedding tasks. The phone rings in my apartment. It's almost midnight.

"Bri??" a male voice asks yelling over a noisy background.

"Um, no this is Aimee, who's this?"

"Hi Aimee! It's Sid," Brian's college buddy says, caught off guard. "I thought I was calling Brian's cell." Now he changes the subject, his tone of voice chipper and upbeat. "How're ya doing? Can't wait for the wedding in two weeks." What's going on here? Something fishy.  read more »

"I thought Brian was with you..."

From 'Page Six' in today's New York Post:

WE HEAR... that former White House pastry chef Thaddeus Dubois has left D.C. to become executive pastry chef at the Borgata Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City . . .

From Pastry Chef to Leave White House Post, The New York Times, March 14, 2006:

Mr. DuBois is returning to his previous job, executive pastry chef at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, calling it a "lifetime opportunity." He said it was also an opportunity to almost double his current salary of $120,000 a year.

$240,000! That's a lotta dough! (Rim shot!)

• State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is trying to make company-sponsored open bars illegal. (Page Six)
• And one more point for the demolishers of fun: The State Liquor Authority rejected an application for a liquor license to EU in the Lower East Side. (New York Sun)
• April 15 is quickly approaching, but your real-estate tax deductions just multiplied by eight. (Inman News)
• Should you win the lottery, here are the most expensive private islands to throw your new money around on. (Forbes)
• Developers eye Atlantic City—again. "Atlantic City has the highest potential for appreciation…" Is there anywhere else to go but up? (The New York Times)
• Crain's says it's going to happen: Madison Square Garden is moving one block west. (Crain's)
• But some people aren't so sure.
• Adolfo Carrion wants to see more homeownership in the Bronx, but residents lack the "time and stamina." (Metro)
• Sietsema feels part of the 'hood at Carroll Gardens' 457 Spuntino restaurant. (The Village Voice)
• Renovated club Element has a new gay party. More interesting, Tatum O'Neal is still making the rounds. (The Village Voice)
• Mixed-use residential and commercial developments are blooming in the Flower District. (New York Sun)
• Write "I Love You" in a card; a public display just deflates real estate. (Curbed)
• The Domino's Pizza founder and anti-choice crusader, Thomas S. Monaghan, wants to build a little Catholic theocracy just outside Naples, Florida, where he controls the commercial real estate. Lots of pizza; no condoms, porn or abortions.(CNN)

- Riva Froymovich

It's like The Facts of Life Go to Paris, but really it's The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Goes to Atlantic City.

Their purpose? To participate in an automobile trade show!

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation today launched “Personal Tributes,” a digital repository which will highlight tributes created in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and February 26th, 1993. “Personal Tributes” is an extension of the “Story Builder” digital archive which the Foundation launched in January. The Foundation will showcase the inaugural personal tribute, a custom-built 1957 Chevy Bel-Air with the World Trade Center etched into the back window, at the Atlantic City Classic Car Show on February 24th and 25th, 2006.

And here, Gretchen Dykstra struggles with the indignity:

“Our website will give voice to the thousands of people who created personal tributes, highlighting the decorated automobiles, motorcycles, flags, handmade quilts, murals, and tattoos. Through ‘Story Builder’ and ‘Personal Tributes,’ we are forming a comprehensive historical record which will honor the story of September 11th. We hope that people around the world will log-on to www.buildthememorial.org to share their own photographs of tributes and to view others,” Dykstra said.

Features include:

 632 C.I.D. highly-modified Big Block Chevy engine

 High performance 4L80E transmission, with custom manual shift valve body with overdrive

 Narrowed Ford 9-inch rear axle with strange axles and center section, braced housing with 456 gear ratio

 Custom red, white and blue pearl paint by Dupont with silver pearl metallic stars on front end, custom fiberglass tilt nose which opens and closes automatically by compressed air

 Customized etching of the World Trade Center detailed by hand and finished in gold metal flake with frosted accents dedicated to the memory of the 9/11

In seriousness, and with all due respect to Aldo McCoy of Brick, N.J., whose customization of this car mirrors the many personal remembrances of Sept. 11 so many made in the helpless-feeling aftermath of the attacks: Doesn't it seem as though personal tributes have their meaning precisely because they are personal? Done on a small scale, and liable to pop up anywhere--like in Brick, N.J.? Something about bringing the show to Atlantic City seems wrong.

- Tom McGeveran

(Full press release after the jump.)  read more »

From A PRINCE OF A GUY IF THERE'S PUBLICITY, by Cindy Adams, The New York Post, February 9, 2006:

VALENTINE gifts: When your guy/gal/significant other/wife/husband/other person's wife/husband isn't around to scratch your back, there's a back scratcher that extends to 26 feet with a six-finger head for fast itch relief. Call Healthy Living 1-800-800-0100 . . . If you can't get to Atlantic City, how's a mini machine to play all casino games including the sound effects of a card shuffle, dealer talk, crowds yelling? Call "Things You Never Knew Existed," 1-800-843-0762. The Virtual Casino costs $29.95, batteries not included . . . No? So how about a lamp replica of a female leg complete with fishnet stocking that lights up. Call Spilsbury 1-800-772-1760 . . . Or just go get your feet massaged by Dr. Joe Horan.

Reminder: Pulitzer Prizes Guidelines & Forms —Matt Haber

At 22, fashion designer Zac Posen has only been legally able to drink or gamble for a little over a  read more »

Asbury Park, N.J., en route to Atlantic City.  read more »