The Ritz-Carlton

After enjoying the television series Boardwalk Empire, Marty and I drove to Atlantic City to explore some of the places connected with its history. The former Ritz-Carlton Hotel was one of our stops. Standing at its entrance brought us closer to the real city behind the drama and to a surviving building from its celebrated, and complicated, 1920s resort era.

The Ritz opened in June 1921, when Atlantic City’s grand hotels offered visitors an elaborate seaside experience. Its amenities included freshwater and saltwater taps in bathrooms, elevators providing convenient access to the beach, and a dining terrace overlooking the ocean. These features reflected the expectations of guests who came for comfort, entertainment, and the pleasures of a fashionable resort.

The hotel also became associated with Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, the influential political boss whose life inspired the fictional Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. Johnson occupied a suite of rooms on the ninth floor during the 1920s and 1930s. His residence at the Ritz connected the hotel’s luxurious surroundings with the political power and corruption that helped define the city during Prohibition.

The television series uses a fictionalized version of the Ritz as an important setting. Its portrayal blends historical inspiration with invented characters, events, and architecture. Visiting the actual building offered a way to connect our interest in the series with the surviving places associated with Johnson’s Atlantic City.

Many of Atlantic City’s earlier hotels have disappeared, but the Ritz survives as a condominium building. Its continued presence on the Boardwalk preserves a connection to the city before the casino era, when grand hotels formed a defining part of the waterfront.

For Marty and me, the series prompted the trip, and the trip gave us an opportunity to look more closely at the history. The Ritz became a tangible link between the story we had watched and the place that helped inspire it.