Bally's Atlantic City

Bally's Atlantic City is a luxury hotel and casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey that opened in 1979. It is one of the largest casinos on the boardwalk with nearly 2,000 rooms. Bally's is unique in that two of its four hotel towers are at least 80 years old. The Claridge Tower was opened in 1930 and the Dennis Tower was opened in 1921. The casino is famous for being situated at Park Place and the Boardwalk, an address popularized by the board game Monopoly, which is based on the streets in Atlantic City.

History

In 1977 Reese Palley bought the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel and planned to preserve the Blenheim half of the hotel, along with adjacent Dennis Hotel for his Park Place Casino. Palley was successful in getting the Blenheim part of the hotel placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, while planning to raze the Marlborough to make way for a new modern hotel. However, he stepped aside after the Bally's Manufacturing Corporation purchased a controlling interest in the project. After Bally's took control, they announced plans to raze the Marlborough, Blenheim, and the adjacent Dennis Hotel, despite protests, to make way for the new "Bally's Park Place Casino and Hotel". However, in an effort to offset costs and get the casino opened as fast as they could they chose to keep the Dennis Hotel, which would serve as the temporary hotel for Bally's until a new tower was built.

In November 1978 Bally's demolished the Marlborough-Blenheim, and...
Read More