The upcoming HBO series based on the book by local judge Nelson Johnson has spawned a number of exciting events in Atlantic City over the next few months.
It's a little over three weeks away, but Atlantic City is getting fired up about HBO's upcoming new series, Boardwalk Empire, which debuts 9pm on Sunday, Sept. 19, on the cable station.
Among the many city-wide and area-wide events in relation to the new series, which looks back on Atlantic City's Prohibition period during the 1920s, Atlantic City Weekly is proud to announce that it has partnered with the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority(ACCVA), Caesars Atlantic City, and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, to co-present a free community panel discussion, which will take place just prior to the Viewing Party for HBO's Boardwalk Empire, both of which will take place inside Caesars' Circus Maximus Theater on Sunday, Sept. 19.
The event, "Conversations & Storytelling - Plus Viewing Party," will feature a riveting panel discussion and Q&A segment with local historians and Atlantic City experts including Vicki Gold Levi, Allen "Boo" Pergament," Ralph Hunter, Pinky Kravitz, Israel Posner and James Waltzer.
The panel will discuss the past, present and future of Atlantic City and will field questions from the audience. Atlantic City Weekly editor Jeff Schwachter will moderate the discussion, which will be directly followed by a Viewing Party celebrating the premiere of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, based on the book of the same name by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Nelson Johnson.
Doors open at 6:30pm for the "Conversations & Storytelling" event, which is open to the public and free of charge. The event will begin at 7pm sharp and seating is available on a first come, first served basis. The public is encouraged to RSVP to acweekly.com/empire by Monday, Sept. 13.
The public is also encouraged to bring old photos and stories to share prior to the Viewing Party.
The Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter (The Sopranos) produced HBO series not only revolves around the effect of Prohibition on Atlantic City, but also traces — with some fictional elements — the city's political history during the 1920s.
(Read an interview with Terence Winter here, conducted by AC Weekly's Mike Pritchard)
Again, the series is loosely based on the book of the same name by Johnson — who appears, along with Scorsese, Winter and others in HBO's fantastic 15-minute documentary The Making of Boardwalk Empire, which can be viewed on HBO's outstanding Boardwalk Empire site — and deals with only a few chapters of the book, published by the New Jersey-based company Plexus Publishing.
The book has been reissued in connection with the new series.
The first 50 people to come to the event at Caesars on Sunday, Sept. 19, will receive a goodie bag including a copy of the reissued book.
According to the ACCVA, "Guests of the iconic seaside destination will have the opportunity to experience new city-wide promotions in the spirit of Boardwalk Empire ... in the 'throwback' style of the Roaring '20s." As reported by acweekly.com in June, "for a limited time, 28 Atlantic City-area restaurants are offering 'Prohibition Priced Menus' of two- or three-course meals for $19.20, and Boardwalk Empire-themed cocktails featuring Canadian Club Whisky. Dates and features vary for each restaurant."
For a list of restaurants participating click here.
Here is a rundown of Atlantic City events and specials occurring in connection with the HBO series Boardwalk Empire:
• For starters, stay up-to-date with Boardwalk Empire-related news, history and trivia by joining Atlantic City Weekly's "Boardwalk Empire Fan Club" page on Facebook. Click here to join and you may be eligible to win a prize from AC Weekly.
• Aside from the huge billboards and adverts on The Pier at Caesars and on Caesars Atlantic City's facade, new signs throughout the city, including banners at Boardwalk Hall, light-pole banners near the Atlantic City Expressway and messages on video marquees, will be promoting the premiere of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.
• Caesars Atlantic City is also offering 1,920 rooms at the rate of $19.20 per night. According to the ACCVA, "Caesars and HBO are promoting the Boardwalk Empire Sweepstakes (www.boardwalkempireac.com), where one lucky grand prize winner will have the opportunity to 'live like the king of the Boardwalk,' with access to a personalized suite at Caesars Atlantic City for a full year. Five first-place prize winners will receive Boardwalk Empire weekends at Caesars Atlantic City including airfare, limo transportation to/from New York to Atlantic City, suite accommodations, a stocked bar, a Bloomingdale’s shopping spree and dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant."
• The Atlantic City Free Public Library will be all about old Atlantic City for a while. Following the launch of its amazing "Flying Fearless" exhibits,chronicling 100 years of air shows in New Jersey, the A.C. library will feature a photograph and costume exhibit with photos of Atlantic City and its key movers and shakers of yesteryear. The library is also presenting a series of related programs, including:
• A "Meet the Author" event on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 6pm, featuring Karen Schnitzpahn (The Roaring 20s at the Jersey Shore) and dance teacher Melanie Brough performing a flapper dancing demo.
• THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, INSTEAD A 45-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY ON NUCKY JOHNSON WILL BE SHOWN -- On Saturday, Sept. 18, at 2pm, the library will host another "Meet the Author" event with Nelson Johnson (Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City). Nelson is also reportedly working on a new book about the history of Atlantic City's North side.
• On Saturday, Oct. 9, at 2pm, local historian Allen “Boo” Pergament — who will be on the Atlantic City Weekly/ACCVA/Caesars Atlantic City/Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey "Conversations & Storytelling - Plus Viewing Party event on Sunday, Sept. 19 at Caesars — will present an interactive seminar about the real 1920s in Atlantic City.
• On Saturday, Oct. 23, at 2pm, the library will hold a 1920s jazz concert with the Shenole Latimer Quartet.
For more information, join the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Fan Club on Facebook, check acweekly.com for new features and news and bookmark AC Weekly's "Atlantic City Central Blog."
Additionally, text EMPIRE to 47201 for a chance to win a copy Nelson Johnson's book Boardwalk Empire.
Click here to read about a concert performed at Dante Hall by award-winning singer Beth Tinnon based on the "Roaring 20s."
With grandparents from South Carolina, I felt a strong connection to the people of this Lowcountry area of the eastern U.S. when I visited years ago on a Gullah-Geechee tour.
The famed wooden way can boast not only a rich history but a promising future as well. Originally commissioned solely to keep beachgoers from tracking sand into oceanfront hotels and railroad cars, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk has grown into a highway of entertainment and one of the country’s most noteworthy shore-side playgrounds.
he two clubs planned a nine-game series and came up one short. Player-manager Joe Cronin, a future Hall of Famer and American League president, sent right-hander Rex Cecil to the mound to face the Yankees on March 29, and the winning Red Sox backed their second-year pitcher with a dozen runs in the opening exhibition game before a crowd of more than 5,000 at Bader Field.
Dozens of Atlantic City area restaurants are going back to the Roaring '20s, offering vintage fun and deals, including a $19.20 menu special, in connection to the weeks and days leading up to the debut of 'Boardwalk Empire'.
I have no idea if Gov. Christie is a Phish fan. But even if he’s not, it’s time for him to go trolling for some money so that the world knows that Phish, which could have played its Halloween shows anywhere, decided to take Atlantic City’s bait.
Early in the premiere episode of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, a crowd of dapper Atlantic City movers and shakers, partying well into the night in a spiffy supper club, make a familiar countdown, cocktail glasses held high...
It was a windy and rainy mid-September night for the Atlantic City premiere of the much anticipated new HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Regional storms pounded the beach and Boardwalk with crashing ocean waves and assaulting wind gusts. We're talking not only hold onto your hat, but everything else, too.
"There have been so many great performances by guys like Stanley Tucci and Andy Garcia. And they play him as this slick guy and you see what he became. And you certainly don’t want to betray the popular image. But through the research you have to kind of work backwards. You have to go back to the beginning and try to understand where he came from and all the events that shaped his life."
A huge audience of 4.8 million people watched the Sunday night premiere, which ran against a big football game featuring the New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts, more than any other HBO premiere episode in more than five years...
In real life, Nucky Johnson, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk emperor during the 1920s, did eventually marry a former showgirl and actress, a local woman named Flossie Osbeck. But that didn’t happen until one day before Johnson began serving a four-year prison term for tax fraud in 1941. There’s little historical evidence to support the fact that Lucy is patterned after Osbeck.
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to Stockton
1. ACboytoy said... on Aug 27, 2010 at 12:54PM
“OMG!! I can't wait for this !!”
2. Seagull said... on Sep 1, 2010 at 07:45PM
“Glad so many businesses have decided to jump aboard this event.
Great for AC.”
3. B4real said... on Sep 2, 2010 at 11:32PM
“What is city hall doing, if anything, to clean up A.C.? I don't see anything being done and with all of the HBO press, I predict many 'Tale of Two Cities' articles, and rightly so, about how Atlantic City is 11 casinos surrounded by crime ridden slums and empty lots.”
4. reg said... on Sep 4, 2010 at 05:16PM
“The public is encouraged to RSVP to acweekly.com/empire by Monday, Sept. 13. How exactly is that done? I found no link by which to respond.”
5. American Gaming Guru said... on Sep 9, 2010 at 03:33PM
“B4real....right on! Too bad they could not film this in AC!”
6. AlphaWire said... on Oct 7, 2010 at 10:21PM
“Fantastic episode, Great symbolism and dark complex roles that are just beginning to be explored.
Jimmy obviously left to join forces with Al Capone in Chicago after a semi-confession of infidelity by his girlfriend.
Anyone else see the blatant symbolism of Nucky confidently walking down the corridor only to witness that he's been followed by his own track of footprints?
Great episode to say the least.
ALPHA_WIRE”