Looking around the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1924

Let's time-travel to 1924, and look around the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I'll be your tour guide today! But really, I don't know much, so I won't do as much explaining as asking questions. Come on!

This image, as you can see from the watermark on the upper left, is from the Duke University. They have  a site called ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), which is dedicated to the study of historic billboards (yes, that's a thing). And while I'm interested in advertising, as an old graphic designer, I'm mostly interested in just looking around. And the first thing that catches my eye is the guy on the ladder:


Whenever I see someone on a ladder it makes me nervous, so hopefully he is observing all safety precautions required in 1924. Not sure what he's doing? Painting? I don't see a paint can. Anyway, the ladies in the fur coats don't seem to be interested, so I'll just look at something else. Hmmm... Steel's Fudge Shop, sounds good! I've never seen a billboard advertising a pen before, but I suppose in 1924 a Fountain Pen like that would have been impressive!


I can't quite figure out why some of the letters are white, and some are black, and why there's a while "ghost image" of the pen, but maybe if I saw the whole thing it would make more sense. Foun-tain? Anyway, they're sold at best boardwalk stores, presumably where they're not sold isn't a store you want to go into! Since we're looking at billboards, we might as well continue:



Coca-Cola is a popular drink, and has been for decades now. Since it's 1924 it's been around for 32 years now (yes, I just looked that up!). I'm writing this blog post in 2021, so it's like describing something invented in 1989. Let's see, looks like a type of cigarette - ___urad? Then, oddly enough, there's a billboard that seems to just say toasted (unless some other lettering isn't visible).


The next billboard is either damaged, or very vague. Hey, the Chevrolet bowtie! And an ad for Prince Albert, which was a type of pipe tobacco that came in a can. My mom tells me that she used to do prank calls like this: Phone rings, person at a store answers, kid says, "Do you have Prince Albert in the can?", when they say that they do, the response is, "You'd better let him out! He'll suffocate! Ha ha ha ha". Darned kids! Let's go look at the people.


I really have no idea what's going on here, but obviously you could ride around while someone pushed you. I'm guessing it cost a nickel, with maybe a penny for a tip, but I really don't know. I've seen other pics of Atlantic City with these things, usually pushed by someone athletic-looking, like the guy on the right. The other guy pushing looks like he's being asked "What in the world are you doing, George?" by his wife there on the left. And there looks like there were some comfortable benches where you could sit, and people watch:


That's probably what I would be doing today, because my darned ankle is hurting again. It looks like it was a chilly day there on the boardwalk, as the men are wearing top coats and the women are wearing furs. Hang on, there's an exact date on the photo, I'll zoom in on it:


It's April 7th, so it can still be kinda chilly down by the shore, with the wind blowing in. I'd probably be inside one of the shops, I don't like being cold!


I've never tried Salt Water Taffy, I wonder if it's any good? I could go in an get a Coca-Cola, but I have a feeling that if I said "Coke" they'd have no idea what I meant, and would assure me that there hasn't been cocaine in that drink for many years, just sugar and caffeine. By the way, for you young people reading this in the 21st Century, back then if you wanted to make a phone call you had to go find a phone booth.

Hey, a shooting gallery! Now that sounds fun! Isn't it great being on the boardwalk in 1924?



Images from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.
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