[Magdalen] On and On it Goes.

[Charles Wohlers]

Back in the late 70's. early 80's, I worked for a major analytical 
instrument manufacturer and our big conference at that time, the Pittsburgh 
Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, was held in 
Atlantic City. It was one of the few cities with facilities big enough. 
Atlantic City at that time was only marginally better than what Ms. Michaud 
describes. What struck me was the juxtaposition of very rich & very poor - 
lots of limos and lots of homeless people, right together. And lots of 
little old ladies from Philadelphia playing slot machines in rooms an acre 
in size. A horrible place I only went to because I had to. Well, the 
conference part was good - one just had to try to ignore the environment it 
was in.

I think the last time Atlantic City was a beautiful place was in the 1920's.

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com



-----Original Message----- 
From: ME Michaud
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2016 12:29 PM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] On and On it Goes.

It looks like hell. Hell. Hades.

First, the casinos resemble cruise ships set on end. Entirely
self-contained, few windows. You literally drive in (parking garages on the
lower levels). This makes sense, especially regarding security, but it's
very disorienting.

At street level, it's dirty and, except for shift changes, deserted. A few
chain hotels (I stayed at the Best Western and I was the only woman there
... at breakfast, I learned the hotel was occupied by young construction
workers, about half of them Mexican). The room smelled like bug spray. I
pulled up the mattress to check for bedbugs, set my small suitcase in the
tub. Moved the car to a part of the parking lot I could see from the
window. Made sure the iPhone stayed charged.

A couple of convenience stores, no grocery stores. No actual stores. No
fast food joints except for the periphery. Filthy beach, but maybe they
make an effort to groom it in the summer. The side streets had a few bars
and "gentlemen's clubs" (with suggestive murals on the exterior walls ...
scantiy-clad women riding dolphins). And lots of derelict buildings,
boarded up, waiting for "rehab" or perhaps the unfortunate fire.

So indescribably sad. What a desecration of what was once probably a
beautiful place.
-M


On Thursday, July 7, 2016, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com> wrote:

> But it looks so romantic on Boardwalk Empire!
>
> On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:37 AM, ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > Several years ago I stopped in Atlantic City on my way back from 
> > Florida.
> >
> > Figured it would be an interesting place to see, if just that one time.
> It
> > was HORRIBLE. I came away with the sense that if I were writing science
> > fiction (or social criticism) I'd hole up there for the duration.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>