NJ Musings: Nucky's Atlantic City Empire
Walking a path of real life vs. fiction in "America's Playground".
Happy Memorial Day 2024!
I am a huge fan of many HBO shows, so when I stumbled upon the Stockton University Atlantic City Walking Tour Series while looking for fun and different things to do for this column, the “Nucky’s Empire” walk immediately caught my eye.
For those of you who may not know who Nucky is, he, “Nucky Thompson” is the lead character, a prohibition-era gangster and politician lording over Atlantic City in the HBO show “Boardwalk Empire” played with aplomb by Steve Buscemi. The real Nucky - Nucky Johnson - was a prohibition-era gangster and politician who lorded over Atlantic City in real life.
So, assuming this walking tour would be covering the combination of the show’s locations and the real place it took place in, I was sold (and for $15 it was a reasonable cost for an afternoon adventure).
The tour group had been directed to meet at the first tour stop, The Knife and Fork Inn, for our two-hour jaunt through the city. About thirty people were gathered on the corner where Atlantic and Pacific Avenues meet, waiting for our guide.
At a few minutes after noon, the crowd started to rustle a bit as we noticed a bespectacled, walking stick-bearing, seersucker-wearing gentleman crossing the street and heading towards the group. I chuckled to myself thinking that this man must really be into the show.
Turns out, all my assumptions were wrong about who the man was and about what the tour would be all about. There was no real intersection of the show and the town, and the man in seersucker was actually our guide, not a show superfan.
What followed for the next two and a half hours was a 2-mile walk through Atlantic City where our host and tour guide, Levi Fox, area historian, Stockton history professor, and Jersey Shore Tours proprietor told the story of the real Nucky, Atlantic City’s start as a health and wellness destination, its evolution into a playground for the rich and famous, its history with bootleggers and prohibition, and its famous history of organized crime and political influence.
Levi guided us through ten historical and influential spots within the city, and although the show popped in and out of the tour information, most of what he talked about was rooted in real history and real people.
Stop Number 1. The Knife and Fork Inn
One of the most distinctive buildings in the area, The Knife and Fork Inn was founded by The Commodore, (played by the sadly and recently departed Dabney Coleman) as a private club - a restaurant on the first floor and a gambling hall and bordello on the upper floors. Atlantic City not only tolerated vices of the time, but it also embraced them - a lot of times in secret parts of places like The Knife and Fork, where Nucky and his contemporaries held court. Today, it’s a venerated restaurant in the area with an old-school, historic vibe.
Stop Number 2. 1890s Mosaic
On Pacific Avenue, between Providence and Sovereign Avenues is the building that has seen multiple hotel turnovers over the years, including the Golden Nugget, the Hilton, Bally’s, and the Atlantic Club. Today it looks like it stands empty, ready for whatever redevelopment idea passes the legislature. The mosaic adorning the full city block showcases life in the 1890s and will hopefully be preserved.
Stop Number 3. The Boardwalk
One piece of information that Levi shared that was new to me was that the boardwalk was initially built as a way to keep sand out of the hotel lobbies and train cars that housed and transported visitors and guests to the seaside. The Boardwalk - first built in 1870 - became the place to be to promenade in your Sunday best, watch parades, or just stroll (or roll) down the boards. The Boardwalk features prominently in the series.
Stop Number 4. John Lennon Memorial Statue
A hidden gem on the Boardwalk can be found on the boards at the Ocean Club between Chelsea and South Montpelier Avenues. Tucked in the Ocean Realty building outdoor atrium, the 8-foot cast bronze statue “John Lennon, Guitar Player and Dreamer”, crafted by artist KC Brady in 2017, the sculpture creatively shows a treble clef when viewed from the front, and a profile of John Lennon when viewed from the side. Not really related to Nucky, but an interesting site, nonetheless. The Ocean Club is Atlantic City’s largest residential building.
Stop Number 5. The Ritz
Possibly one of the “Nuckiest” stops on the tour, the former Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City still sits in its original location on the Boardwalk at the intersection of the Boardwalk and South Iowa Avenue. In both real life and on the show, Nucky lived and conducted “business” from the hotel. The two-story residence he had custom build in the hotel is clearly visible from the Boardwalk. Today, the building is listed on New Jersey’s State Historic Preservation Office’s register of historic places and has been converted to condos. The Ritz was built in 1921 at a cost of 10 million dollars.
Stop Number 6. Boardwalk Billy’s
Prohibition didn’t stop Nucky and his Atlantic City crews from both imbibing and making lots of money. The city was a well-known “open speakeasy”, and alcohol was easily found and regulations were rarely enforced. In 2020, partially in response to the Covid pandemic, open carry laws were loosened, and alcohol was permitted to be sold and consumed in tourist areas, the Boardwalk being one of them. According to Levi, there are still two “warehouse homes” in Atlantic City that were used to smuggle in illegal alcohol through openings in their floors.
Stop Number 7. Boardwalk Hall
Probably best known as the home of the Miss America Pageant, Boardwalk Hall was built in 1929 to host a growing number of conventions and opportunities to position the city as world-renowned destination for luxury and relaxation. Today, it hosts events and performances of all types and is home to the world’s largest musical instrument, the W.W. Kimball pipe organ. Boardwalk Hall’s history is long and storied and more information can be found here and here. Its adjacent span of the Boardwalk, known as Kennedy Plaza, is an area of the boardwalk that features great ocean views, a mini-golf course, an amphitheater, and monuments showcasing important people and events that have defined the city.
Stop Number 8. Pacific Garden Monopoly Mural
Nestled on Pacific Avenue between Texas and South Bellevue Avenues is a pocket park featuring “Pacific Garden” by Shari Tobias, one of the many murals that can be found in the city. The park is an example of reclaimed space that is now used to benefit the neighborhood and the city. It is widely known that the game of Monopoly was based on Atlantic City, but was is not widely known is that Monopoly is based on a game called The Landlord’s Game created by anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie in 1903. You can read more about the history of the game here.
Stop Number 9. Civil Rights Movement Mural
On the side of the Good Dog Bar on Atlantic Avenue between South Boston and South Providence Avenues lives an expansive and eye-catching photorealistic mural featuring Fannie Lou Hamer, Muhammed Ali, and Dr. Martin Luther King. It serves as an homage to Atlantic City’s. involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and was created by artists BK Foxx and Claudio Picasso, and produced by the Create 48 initiative at the Atlantic City Arts Foundation.
Stop Number 10. World War I Memorial
Atlantic City’s World War I Memorial sits within O’Donnell Memorial Park at the entrance into the city from the Black Horse Pike at Ventnor Avenue. The bronze “Liberty in Distress” statue by Frederick W. MacMonnies is housed in a Greek-style rotunda. Built in 1922 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the statue represents Lady Liberty with a broken sword screaming to denounce the horrors of war. The names of the battles fought by Atlantic City-born soldiers is etched around the top of the rotunda.
In all, it was an informative and entertaining tour of a city I’ve visited many times, but had only scratched the surface of historically. If you liked this post, or are interested in booking one of the other tours, here are some other links that might be of interest:
Stockton University Walking Tour Series
Atlantic City Experience Boardwalk Empire Facts and Fiction
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© 2024 Kim Selby & Storm Your Brain, LLC. All rights reserved. All photography © Kim Selby unless otherwise credited.
Circa 1900’s Atlantic City Boardwalk photo credit: Library of Congress.