Atlantic City casinos about to go bust, but baby don't need shoes at the Shore
Filed under: Real Estate, Travel, Recession
Celebrity Foreclosures
New Jersey's first casino, Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, filed for foreclosure on February 17, 2009.
Donald Kravitz, Getty Images
DMX's Arizona home is under foreclose as the rapper is in jail on charges of animal cruelty, drug possession, and theft. He paid $600,000 for the house in 2003, which was put on the market by a local bank for $429,000. Police raided the property in August 2008 to find an illegal dog fighting kennel and graveyard of burned and maimed pitbulls.. DMX will be sentenced on January 30, 2009.
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images
Judy Vardon, who was featured in a 2004 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with her husband and blind, autistic son, may be facing foreclosure because the family cannot afford the mortgage payments on their home.
Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images
'Extreme Makeover' House I
Sadie
Holmes of Altamonte Springs, Fla., does charity work from her house remodeled
two years ago on ABC's 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.' Early October reports
said Holmes could lose the house over a $29,000 county lien placed on the
property after months of code violations racked up.
Hilda M. Perez, Orlando Sentinel / MCT
'Extreme Makeover' House II
The
Harper family home in Clayton County, Ga., which was rebuilt on an episode
'Extreme Makeover' in 2005, went into foreclosure this summer after the family
used the house as collateral for a $450,000 loan and couldn't meet the
payments.
Michael Buckner, Getty Images
American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino is not facing a bank foreclosure, but may nonetheless lose her $1.3 million Charlotte home when a company she owes money puts it up for auction in January.
Leon Bennett, WireImage
Damon Dash
Foreclosure proceedings
began in August against the hip-hop mogul over unpaid mortgages on two
Manhattan apartments. Eastern Savings Bank says the Roc-A-Fella Records
co-founder and his wife owed more than $7 million on the
properties.
Gary Gershoff, Wire Image
Ed McMahon
The former "Tonight Show"
personality made "a confidential deal" in August to sell his Beverly Hills
home after falling behind on payments.
Matt Sayles, AP
Scott Storch
The hip-hop producer
went into foreclosure in July on his $10 million Miami mansion, according to
The Palm Beach Post.
He also had his Ferrari Scaglietti and his prized motorcycle, a Bones Bike,
repossessed.
Wilfredo Lee, AP
Vin Baker
The former NBA player has
also been stung by the wave of foreclosures sweeping the U.S. Baker's
9,300-square-foot Georgian brick colonial Durham, Conn., home -- which has six
bedrooms, a two-lane bowling alley, basketball court, guest house and pool --
was auctioned for $2.5 million in July.
Charles Krupa, AP
What has happened since Resorts opened as the first casino outside of Las Vegas in 1978? The casino ushered in an era of gambling expansion that has still not stopped. It set the tone for the building of the strip that was to come, and for the last 31 years has stood in the middle of all the glitz and glamor.
You can blame a lot of things for the downfall of this quiet giant, not just the sour economy. Resorts, and the rest of the casinos in Atlantic City, are throw-backs to an era when the notion of a "strip" seemed to work: All you had to do was stack up a bunch of casinos next to each other and try to create a destination out of it.
But that never really worked in Atlantic City. As Vegas learned to expand and create family attractions, lavish shows and concerts and celebrity dining experiences, Atlantic City did not. While A.C. has the advantage of the beach, Vegas has the advantage of land mass. It could expand beyond one street and create a kind of suburban destination that could support a lot more clout as a destination. The strip in A.C. stayed right along the boardwalk, however, and the rest of the little town suffered greatly. Walk even 50 feet from the bright lights of the casino lane and you are in a desolated area full of Cash4Gold shops and peep show halls.
My family is from the area, and we've gone through every iteration of Atlantic City. My mom went to the illustrious Atlantic City High School, which sounds like a joke to most people who don't know the area. I spent a lot of my childhood standing on the beach watching old hotel after old hotel being blown up for new construction. My brother worked at Resorts to help put himself through college. I worked at Bally's Park Place. My grandmother was a bookkeeper for the casino workers union, and she died holding onto many secrets. Let's just say that when we took her to see Hoffa, she came out white as a sheet.
As a long-time resident, I'm not so upset to see the downfall of these iconic casinos, even Resorts. Atlantic City has always been at its best as a family beach resort, where local people converged in the nice weather to enjoy the waves. The casinos, to me, were simply a place where you could stop for a bathroom break on boardwalk bike rides. I won't be sorry to see them go.
So go home, shoobies. All I need to keep me happy is a few fudge shops and some skee-ball arcades.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-17-2009 @ 2:39PM
bobby said...
Yes your memories are valid. But New Jersey should be upset with it's politicians they could have taken a strong look at the gambling business and moved it throughout the state to allow people a choice of destination. The Casino operators were very much at fault also they wanted nothing other then to keep a captive audience inside it's four walls, buffet's and space in front of the ocean.Until they gave passage to Trump to expand into other properties and Harrah's to buy up all the others. They all share the same response as to suffer from there Greed. You will get your beach back and very soon go back to a five month town. Good Luck!!
Reply
2-17-2009 @ 2:50PM
BHarrison said...
Having been to Las Vegas many, many times during the last 15 or so years, I am really not a gambler, which is a losing proposition for more than 90% of the gamblers. The problem is that after decades, the economy of these areas becomes entrenched in and dependent on the casiono business . . . employees, contractors, vendors, hotel industries . . . an entire industry of many thousands of individuals structured to support the casinos. The loss of these "businesses" will require difficult and painful adjustments by all of these people. Then Atlantic City's shore line will be blighted by these monstrous empty white elephants that have no other practical, functional use.. Then looking back to the orginal promises of the prosperity that all of this was supposed to deliver, one can only lament the gullibility of the citizens to approve it all from the outset. In the long run, was tehre ever enough profitability to justifyany of it for the good of society . . . especially when they have filed banruptcy so many times in the past?
Reply
2-17-2009 @ 2:52PM
carmen said...
As a lifelong NJ resident I know firsthand what is happening to the casinos. Atlantic City is one of the most corrupt city governments ANYWHERE in America. You need a powerful computer to track all of the mayors, city councilmen, inspectors, etc who have either been indicted, gone to prison or just disappeared over the last 35 years.
The casinos are over regulated, and with the passage of the non-smoking bill that essentially eliminates smoking on the casino floor, the death knell has been rung. There were non-smoking areas before, but now there are only tiny smoking areas while the vast floor is non-smoking. I do NOT smoke, but when at a casino I know what to expect; people gambling, drinking AND smoking. The government just sent all these players out to PA, Foxwoods, Mohegian Sun with these regulations; and they wonder what is going on.
I laugh at the author who MUST be about 100 years old, because Atlantic City was not relevant for 30 years BEFORE the casinos came. Yes, there is still blight in the city, BUT there were many plans to bring the casinos off the ocean into the city, ALL of which were shot down be corruption. Yes, you'll get your boardwalk back, but the only people who will visit are those who can't go anywhere else, and those living under the boardwalk. Hope it brings back memories.
Reply
2-17-2009 @ 3:17PM
stew said...
one of the biggest problems with atlantic city is the failure to have sports gambling. this would have brought untold amounts of revenue to the gambling halls. but, besides this, the writer is correct when he talks about the failure to improve the rest of the city. i've been to vegas many times, and to atlantic city numerous times. the boardwalk in atlantic city is rife with beggars. you can't walk 50 feet without being harrassed by them, or the "performers" looking for a donation. you don't see any of that in vegas. atlantic city could have become a destination for families....but, there is nothing besides the ocean (in the summer) and a few arcades for the kids. its pitiful that over-regulation has made atlantic city what it is.