USAF Thunderbirds

ATLANTIC CITY — The 10th annual Atlantic City Air Show, dubbed “Thunder Over the Boardwalk,” will take place for the first time on a Friday — this Friday, in fact, August 17, with an Armed Forces Parade slated for the A.C. Boardwalk on Wednesday, August 15.

Reports indicate that the air show organizers expect the biggest crowd yet for the resort’s annual show, with the 1 million number being tossed about. Last year’s air show drew about 750,000 people, with about 100,00 less the year before.

In preparation for this year’s big, free event in the sky — and over the Atlantic City beach and Boardwalk — here are some highlights from previous years, including video and photographs.

2011 Video Highlights

2011 Photos Part 1

2011 Photos Part 2

2010 Video

2010 Photos

2009 Photos

More 2009 Photos

2009 Video Highlights

2008 Video Highlights

See who’s playing in Atlantic City this weekend and click here for Atlantic City casino promotions and deals.

Photo: Donald Kravitz

You have seen them on the Atlantic City Boardwalk — including this year’s new Royal fleet, launched during Revel’s “preview” phase in April (see photo at bottom of this post) — in the movies, on Boardwalk Empire and lined up against the A.C. Boardwalk railing, with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, with rollers waiting for passengers.

Perhaps you’ve even taken a “chair ride” up or down — or both — the historic Atlantic City Boardwalk. (If not, haven’t you always wanted to?)

What are we talking about? Rolling chairs, Atlantic City’s unique mode of transportation dating back 125 years to June 11, 1887 and first debuted at an 1876 convention in the seaside tourist town.

Can you imagine all of the people, including entertainers and celebrities, who have taken a ride on a rolling chair? Not to mention all of those men and women who have pushed rolling chairs for a living over the past 125 years, including many East European students who work summers in Atlantic City.

A few bits of fun rolling chair facts for you: Lou Kessel, who would become Nucky Johnson’s right-hand man, as portrayed by actor Anthony Laciura as the Boardwalk Empire character Eddie Kessler on the hit HBO drama series, had a connection to Atlantic City’s rolling chairs. At the age of 24, soon after moving to Atlantic City from his native Austria, and before being hired by Nucky, Kessel built rolling chairs.

Find out how did rolling chairs play a part when the Atlantic City “Beach was Mobbed“?

Vintage rolling chairs were on display at the Atlantic City Antiques and Collectors Show held last March at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

There have also been songs written about rolling chairs, including the ditty “Why Don’t You Try (The Rolling Chair)”; here is the cover of the sheet music, courtesy of Princeton Antiques in Atlantic City:

Finally, of course, the Miss America parade on the Boardwalk just wouldn’t have been the same without rolling chairs for the world-famous Miss America Rolling Chair Parade, in which contestants were rolled along the wooden way and the whole “show us your shoes” thing got its unlikely start.

Read More:

• Part one and two of local historian Allen “Boo” Pergament’s “A Stroll Down the Atlantic City Boardwalk” two-part historical article.

• Interview with Boardwalk Empire creator Terry Winter on old Atlantic City, with mention of rolling chairs.

• Local History and historical “Waltz Through Time” pages.

• Boardwalk Empire Notes page

• LIKE! Boardwalk Empire Fan Club on Facebook

Photo Captions:

TOP Picture: (L to R) Vin Lucpezio (blue shirt & bow tie),  Ellen Cohen (yellow dress & hat), Lee Karlock (red & white stripes) and Stewart Norton (black & white stripes)

Below: The Royal Rolling Chair 2012 on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in front of the new Revel resort. The new chairs debuted in April as part of Revel’s preview opening and the ongoing push to boost tourism in Atlantic City:

Due to the expectation of bad weather this Saturday, March 31, the planned rally and march on the Atlantic City Boardwalk — which was due to start at 10am in front of Boardwalk Hall, according to organizers — for Trayvon Martin has been postponed.

The new date is Saturday, April 7, 10am on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Organizers and community leaders plan to hold a meeting on Monday, April 2, at 7pm in Atlantic City, after which more details will follow.

Watch this space for more details.

Southern New Jersey’s Corey Anderson, author Marte’ King and Niko Morton of the Atlantic City-based vocal group 120, are planning a Saturday, March 31, rally and march in relation to the Sanford, Florida fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, an event which has dominated the headlines in recent weeks bringing the topic of “justice for all” in the national spotlight.

In a statement, the rally coordinators say: “We the people of South Jersey are a people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and religious beliefs joining hands for a common cause. The purpose of this is event is not merely to morn the tragic loss of Trayvon Martin. Our mission is to address the injustices in the judicial system as a whole. It is time to examine the prejudices that are inherent in the law and in the community and find a viable solution to the social ills that plague the community.”

The Rally & March in remembrance of Trayvon Martin will take place this Saturday, March 31,  (10am to 2pm) on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Entirely … according to a post on the Curbed LA (Los Angeles) site, which states that:

“The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved a master plan from Venice [California]-based Jerde Partnership (working with real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle).”

OK, so what does Jerde have in mind?

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ATLANTIC CITY — According to the New York Times‘ blog ArtBeat, HBO ordered a third season of Boardwalk Empire on this Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Not too surprising considering the overwhelming response the drama series based in Atlantic City during Prohibition has received around the world since kicking off in September 2010.

That first season earned the show 18 Emmy nominations and several Emmy wins in addition to more awards in other global contests.

Terence Winter, the show’s creator, told AC Weekly in early September that he was already set to start writing the third season, which, if the current second season is any evidence, should be an intense continuation of this half-real/half-fictional tale of the origins of Atlantic City as we know it today; political corruption; the early stages of the Mob and notorious gangsters such as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Myer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein; the roots of racism in America; how relevant the world of 1921 is to today’s modern world, and how Prohibition affected the course of both Atlantic City and the country.

Rich with characters whose back stories could make for their own future seasons, Boardwalk Empire is one of the most popular cable TV dramas in history and it’s not even halfway through its extraordinary second season, which began Sept. 25 with the much anticipated episode “21.”

The 2010 pilot episode, which reportedly cost $18 million to make, earned an Emmy for Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot and who has continued to play a key role as one of the show’s executive directors.

Steve Buscemi, who plays bootlegger and political powerbroker Nucky Thompson is the show’s star and his story gets meatier and meatier with each episode.

Expect a DVD of season one out in time for the holidays (maybe with the bonus documentaries that HBO aired in conjunction with the series premiere in 2010, and featuring many Atlantic City locals and historians).

Whether or not HBO releases the DVD with this bonus material, fans of Boardwalk Empire (based in part on the book by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Nelson Johnson) should check out the Atlantic City History: Conversations & Storytelling Web video series, which was filmed at the Atlantic City premiere screening in 2010, held at Caesars. All 13 episodes of the series, produced by Atlantic City Weekly, can be seen here.

For Boardwalk Empire interviews, news, videos, photos and more, bookmark the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Notes Page and join the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Fan Club Facebook Page.

Finally, if you would like to win a full-size season two Boardwalk Empire poster, click here to enter.

FURTHER READING:  5 Questions with NPR TV critic David Bianculli on ‘Boardwalk Empire’

FURTHER READING: “All Mobbed Up”

Atlantic City could use more of this kind of fun promotion as Bally’s has constructed a giant Monopoly Board on the Boardwalk in front of the Dennis Courtyard.

That’s right, a giant Monopoly Board in the city that was actually the inspiration for the game’s original streets and layout. Needless to say, it’s a tourist photo op made in heaven.

The construction was made to highlight Bally’s “Pass GO! Collect $200” promotion which started  Sept. 1.

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ATLANTIC CITY — The second annual Atlantic City clean-up, as part of Atlantic City Clean-up Day, took place Friday morning, June 10, at 8:45am on the Atlantic City Boardwalk between Wild Wild West at Bally’s and Caesars.

Devoted to keeping the Atlantic City region as clean as possible, the morning clean-up was completed by several members of local government, businesses, community organizations and schools.

For the second straight year, Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City took part in the festivities.

Caesars Entertainment’s eastern division president Don Marrandino and Bally’s GM and Senior VP Joseph Domenico, as well as HERO volunteers from Showboat, assisted with cleaning the area.

Additionally, Caesars Entertainment donated food items to a cook-out intended for all of the participants. The cook-out took place following the cleanup at Gardner’s Basin at noon.

Click here for a photo gallery from the morning event.

— Nate Mulberg

With Friday’s royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton across the pond on a lot of people’s minds today around the world, we look back at another royal wedding with a Jersey shore link.

It was about 55 years ago when Prince Rainier married Ocean City beach and boardwalk lover, and future  film star, Grace Kelly.

Read all about their fairytale marriage here.

Gov. Christie speaking on the Atlantic City Boardwalk Wednesday, July 21. (Photo by Donald B. Kravitz)

A lot of ink has been spilled in recent weeks and months on the State of New Jersey’s takeover of certain elements within southern New Jersey’s long-time resort destination and cash cow for other state uses — Atlantic City.

Here’s a rundown of recent moves related to the new Tourism District in The City That’s Always Turned On, which “national republican spokesperson” Gov. Chris Christie, standing in front of Boardwalk Hall last summer, said he wanted pieces of put in place by July 2011.

That’s in about two months.

First, just today, it was announced that local union boss Bob McDevitt “urged the 10,000-plus members of Unite-HERE’s Local 54 to support the new district. He said it’s time to put politics aside and realize that Atlantic City has problems that were decades in the making.”

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