(From "PHILLY.COM & "THE INQUIRER" --June 16, 2014)
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY...
"In a quest to get its historically gay vibe back, Atlantic City's first openly gay mayor on Monday designated an official gay beach.
It's a familiar spot: Park Place, the site of the original gay beach in Atlantic City, the iconic second most valuable spot on the Monopoly board and, now, a beach with a rainbow flag flying at its entrance off the Boardwalk.
With the gaming industry struggling, Atlantic City seemed more than ready to make a case for its gay moment in the sun.
Three major LGBT events - Sandblast, an Asbury Park festival export; Miss'd America, a drag pageant, and StandOut, a gay business expo - are coming to town this year.
"You know, back in the 1960s, long before Stonewall in New York, long before Provincetown, Rehoboth and Fort Lauderdale, Atlantic City was a mecca for the LGBT community," said Rich Helfant, president of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance.
Back before casinos, gays crowded New York Avenue bars, created rituals around the Miss America pageant, and lived and summered in and around Snake Alley, a winding series of side streets that connect New York Avenue and Kentucky Avenue in the city's north section.
Atlantic City and its casinos and hotels have stepped up targeted marketing to gay and lesbian tourists in recent years and especially since gay marriage was legalized last fall in New Jersey.
On Monday, casino executives, LGBT organizers and marketing officials joined to promote the city to a tourism segment that has had dramatic economic and revitalization impact elsewhere.
The beach in front of the Claridge was long known as the gay beach in Atlantic City - for "obvious reasons," Guardian said Monday (not least of which, the phallic architecture of the Claridge as a symbolic designation).
But over the years, the vibrant gay community all but vanished (although Guardian, a longtime resident, stayed). Just one gay bar remains in town. Some blamed the advent of casinos, others the general decline of Atlantic City, and some pointed to AIDS as the reasons.
Jeff Guaracino, a marketing specialist with the Atlantic City Alliance, a casino-funded marketing agency, said the hope is the LGBT community will "not only visit Atlantic City but also open businesses here and also buy primary and secondary homes in Atlantic City."
A survey commissioned by the alliance found that the city, despite its storied gay history, was not viewed as especially LGBT-friendly, he said.
"People just want to know where are the gay people," Guaracino said. "It's like a gay diaspora. We're all around; we just want to know where everyone is. Plus, people think gays go to the next great place. What happened in Asbury Park could happen here."
This year, several of the city's casinos and hotels are marketing under Pride 2014 themes, including Borgata and its Water Club, and Caesars, which sponsored a Win a Wedding promotion after gay marriage was legalized. The newly repositioned Claridge Hotel also has been directing marketing toward the gay and lesbian tourism market and is the official host of Sandblast Weekend.
Sandblast, July 18 to 20, previously had been held in Asbury Park, where the LGBT population bought up properties and revived the resort..."
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