ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - It's 4 1/2 miles of souvenir shops, storefront psychics and pizza stands. It's where temptation beckons from neon-trimmed casinos and where no one is safe from the sea gulls. There's something special about the Atlantic City Boardwalk — even now, 135 years after the first one was built here, a crude effort to keep beachgoers from tracking sand into hotel lobbies.
The world-famous wooden way, a pedestrian-only avenue flanked by casinos and storefronts on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, remains the heart of Atlantic City, in all its kitschy, dime-store glory.
"It's the nicest Boardwalk there is," said Brigitta Wagenhoffer, 79, of Lansdale, Pa., taking a break recently from the slot machines to sun herself on a Boardwalk bench. "It's always clean, and that's the most important thing."
The promenade's recent topping of a list of America's best "seaside strolls" is merely the frosting on the funnel cake.
To Reader's Digest, it was the Boardwalk's status as the granddaddy of seaside promenades that prompted its listing this month as first among seven "seaside strolls." The distinction appears in the magazine's "America's 100 Best" issue.
The other boardwalks listed were in Virginia Beach, Va., Santa Cruz, Calif., Santa Monica, Calif., Ocean City, Md., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Rehoboth Beach, Del.