Steel Pier
| Steel Pier | ||||
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| place | Atlantic City, New Jersey | |||
| opening | 1898 | |||
| Visitors | 80,000 in one day | |||
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Coordinates: 39 ° 21 ′ 27 " N , 74 ° 25 ′ 8" W.
Steel Pier is an American theme park on a long pier in Atlantic City .
history
Steel Pier opened in 1898. The $ 200,000 structure at the north end of the Boardwalk at the Virginia Avenue confluence was initially 1,621 feet long and was later extended to 2,000 feet. Steel Pier quickly became one of the most famous amusement parks in the United States. Steel Pier had its heyday in the 1920s to 1950s. Among other things, high wire files with the motorcycle and the diving horses of the carver show were demonstrated there; There were also four theaters that could hold a total of 12,000 visitors, and attractions such as the " human cannonball ", the stake seater Alvin Kelly , who set a world record in the amusement park, performances by Johnny Weissmüller , performances with the Pallenberg bears and numerous other attractions. Many were designed or hired by George Hamid, who worked at Steel Pier from 1925 and bought the building in 1945. Previously, Steel Pier had owned, among others, Frank Gravatt, who bought the facility in 1930 for $ 2 million.
The individual attractions including the appearances of numerous stars cost the visitors nothing beyond the one-time entry fee. Until well into the 20th century, African Americans were denied access to Steel Pier - they were not even allowed to appear there as workers.
Decline
In 1962 part of the amusement park was badly damaged by a tidal wave, and in 1970 the Marine Ballroom went up in flames. In 1973 Hamid Junior sold the amusement park to Sonny Goldberg and Milt Neustadter. The operation was no longer profitable at this point and in 1976 the amusement park, which had gone out of fashion, was closed. In 1978, Steel Pier became the property of Resorts International. In 1982 the building fell victim to a fire. After it was rebuilt, financed by the Trump empire , which took over Resorts International in 1987, the brothers Anthony, Charles, William and Joseph Catanoso as well as Taft Johnson and Edward Olwell again designed an amusement park on Steel Pier in 1993. They initially signed a five-year contract and began operating 14 rides. You put z. Partly on the attraction of nostalgic design and in 1993 even briefly reintroduced one of the former main attractions, horses diving from a diving platform, which, however, called animal rights activists on the scene and was quickly ended again.
The new structure bears the old name, but is made of concrete and is only half as long as its predecessor.
musical
In 1933 a musical called Steel Pier came out.
See also
literature
- Steve Liebowitz, Steel Pier, Atlantic City. Showplace of the Nation , ISBN 978-1593220365
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
