0155. East Coast Sin City (USA 082--revisit)

Atlantic City is a city of irony--only one block away from the colossal, luxuriously decorated casinos is a rather decrepit Main Street that looks like the ugly side of any big city.  Go a little farther and you'll see entire city blocks with only one or two houses left--the rest have been demolished.  Clearly, gambling did not bring the prosperity to the city that it promised to bring.

All the same, the casinos are pretty fun to explore.  The Quarter at the Tropicana, with it's ceiling painted like an evening sky and neo-Havana vibe has got to be one of the coolest phony places I've been to (and that includes EPCOT).   In fact, I think it's the only time I've taken a video clip indoors.  Other thematic casinos like Ballys and the Taj Mahal also have their charm.

Along the boardwalk you see the contrasts--For entertainment options, you can go to a Mariah Carey concert or you can listen to a guy tapping on a plastic bucket a few hundred feet away... You've got rich folks, homeless folks, locals and foreign tourists wandering past endless fortunetelling joints and mini massage parlors...

All the same, after Sadao, Thailand, "Sin City" USA feels pretty tame...

Quite a few buskers along the boardwalk--including a wannabe opera singer... they all looked a bit depressed... Doesn't look like a good place to make a living for a freelance musician, despite all the tourism...

Folks passing by seemed to enjoy my songs--probably due to their high alcohol level...