From the Back Cover --

Think of the Boardwalk, saltwater taffy, Mr. Peanut, Miss America, and the Steel Pier. You're thinking of Atlantic City; the great resort that has fired the imagination of young and old for more than a hundred years. Near the turn of the century, Atlantic City's fortunes rose like the tide. Six great ocean piers - the Heinz, Garden, Steel, Steeplechase, Central, and Million Dollar - competed with miles of bazaars, theaters, amusement arcades, restaurants, and the roller chairs for the visitors' attention and business. During the great years, there were over 1,200 hotels, mostly of the rooming house variety, but the list was headed by names like Marlborough-Blenheim and Chalfonte-Haddon Hall. People came and went by the hundred thousand. When the street plan for the city was laid out, the surveying engineer simply labeled his map "Plan of Atlantic City." No better name was suggested, and Atlantic City it became on May 1, 1854. Streets running lengthwise on the island are named for the seas, the cross streets primarily for the colonies and territories that had achieved statehood at the time. The Depression-born game of Monopoly has immortalized a few of these avenues named for seas and states plus some of the elegant place names that abut the Boardwalk. The importance of the railroads was not overlooked in this most popular of parlor games.