It was finally renovated in 2001 and is now used by Stockton College as a library center.Ītlantic Ave: As far as I can tell, Atlantic Ave is the longest street on the island, running over 8 miles from Atlantic City to Longport. The building was abandoned in 1994 and remained that way for seven years. Founded in 1903, it was used as a public library until 1984, when the library moved to a larger space. The deed holder of Illinois can count one of the most beautiful buildings in Atlantic City among his properties: the Carnegie Library. Illinois Avenue: Illinois Ave still exists but was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Photo by Flickr user Paul Lowry – Click for the original! Indiana Ave: Indiana Ave nets you the backside of Bally’s. Closed since 2006 (yes, I would love to explore those empty halls), it was purchased in 2013 for $4 million with plans to reopen. Kentucky Ave: Lots of parking here for the historic Madison Hotel, which dates to 1929. New York Ave: The plethora of vacant lots waiting for development is pretty depressing, especially when you consider that a lot of original buildings were probably torn down to make way. Property owners can count a Super 8 and the NJ Casino Control Commission among their possessions! Tennessee Ave: Tennessee Ave runs pretty much the whole length of Atlantic City. James Place is considered one of the most valuable properties in Monopoly (the oranges are the most landed-on group in the game). James Place runs for just a few short blocks, but has some really classic buildings along it that feel like Atlantic City of old. Virginia Ave: Lined by mostly new residential developments, Virginia Ave ends directly at the Trump Taj Mahal. States Ave: Just a single block of States Ave remains today, running along the west side of the Showboat Casino. Charles Place is gone forever, built over by the Mardis Gras-themed Showboat Casino in 1987. You can now tour a recreation of the keeper’s house, as well as climb to the top of the lighthouse (only 228 steps!).Ĭonnecticut Ave: The most expensive of the light-blue properties runs straight to the boardwalk and nets you the new Revel Casino, which opened in 2012. Built in 1854, it was officially deactivated in 1933 but still lights up every night. Vermont Ave: The centerpiece of Vermont is the Absecon Light, the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey at 171 feet. Stephen Conn – Click here for the original! The one on the end even has an over-sized Monopoly deed card hanging above the porch! Oriental Ave: Running a scant 10 blocks in the southeastern-most corner of Atlantic City, the selling point is probably the Revel casino at the south end, but I personally like this strip of row beach houses. Crew on the corner of Baltic Ave? Thought it might be second cheapest property on the board, Baltic today actually has a thriving strip of retail stores right as you enter the city. On Hoskins’s original board, this was named Arctic Avenue it was later changed to Mediterranean by Charles Darrow (once popularly considered to be Monopoly’s sole creator) because he liked the warmer feel of the name.īaltic Ave: Who would expect to find a J. Mediterranean Ave: Running northeast through the city, Mediterranean Ave mostly consists of low-rise residential properties. This past weekend, I was driving through south Jersey, and decided to make a quick detour through Atlantic City to see what the Monopoly board looks like in real life. Hoskins had learned a version of the game in Indianapolis, and upon moving to Atlantic City in 1929, made her own copy from scratch naming properties after streets where her friends lived. Monopoly itself has a long and complicated history, but the addition of Atlantic City-based street names can be traced to one Ruth Hoskins. What I didn’t know back then was that the properties in Monopoly were in fact named after the streets of Atlantic City. I remember thinking of Mediterranean and Baltic as being these short, run-down alleys ala West Side Story, while Pennsylvania Ave and the other greens as Fifth Avenue-style apartment buildings. Whenever I played Monopoly as a kid, I used to love imagining what the game’s city would look like in real life.
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