Walking the famed Boardwalk on a gorgeous summer evening in 2007, the liveliness and diversity of attractions was impossible to miss. Above the now-shuttered Sands's ‘People Mover’ moving sidewalk, a brilliant purple billboard implored Boardwalk denizens to wait a few years for the Pinnacle casino to open, and indicated that the advertisement was approved by the mislabelled ‘New Jersey Gaming Commission’. At the Boardwalk junction of Trump Plaza and Caesar's, a young rock band filmed a video. The souvenir stands, hot dog counters, pizza joints, fortune-telling stands and garish clothes stores did brisk business, as they always did on warm summer nights. Yet, now some of them looked different than they had ten years earlier, when I had first experienced Atlantic City: their canvas awnings had been replaced by stucco and brick facades with cupolas on their roofs, a CRDA sign here and there taking credit for the improvements. Parts of the Boardwalk were in the midst of a major facelift and it seemed poised, even eager for a more radical makeover. Now, the Pier at Caesar's was open, and walking through it one experienced something very different from the Boardwalk. The Pier had smooth, glowing aisles, elegant restaurants and lounges upstairs, a coordinated music-light show, and a multi-layered candy store teeming with families designing customized candy bars and learning about candy through the ages. The Pier opened in 2006, no less opulent than advertised, though two years behind schedule. Was this the new Atlantic City? Would the candy store still be here in five years, or would it go the way of so many non-gaming establishments that have come and gone during Atlantic City's casino era? Was this another Planet Hollywood or Ocean One Mall (its geographic ancestor), or would it last, would it remain commercially viable in the casino town? Would new stores like ‘IT'sUGAR’ or the Banana Republic outlet in the Walk, cool nightclubs and Borgata style, finally transform the casino community into the long-desired ‘destination resort?’

As always, the Atlantic City casino community is in a state of flux, heading towards the second decade of the twenty-first century.