Lights. But we knew where we really were. We were almost home. Oh, enchanted land of my childhood. A cultural petri dish from which regular issues forth greatness. New jersey, in case you didnt know it, has got beaches, beautiful beaches, and theyre not all crawling with roidraging trolls with reality shows. I grew up summering on the beaches, and they are awesome. Jerseys got farmland, beautiful bedroom communities where that woman from real housewives who looks like dr. Zeus does not live, nor anyone like her. Even the refineries. The endless clover leaves of turnpikes and express ways rolling over the enormous wetlands to me somehow beautiful. To know jersey is to love her. Ft. Lee, you may have heard of it. Some of governor christies minions allegedly conspire sod to jam up traffic conspired to jam up traffic for a few days. A history of corruption and also where my beloved hirams s. Open since 1932 and pretty much unchanged since, my dad started bringing me and my brother chris here in the 50s. They still honor tradition. My happy place. Sometimes i just need that oldtime flavor. It seems like chew food. It is a great point of personal satisfaction. Ive convinced my dhaurt these are the finest hot dogs in the land. She gets excited to come out, which makes me very happy. Thank you. Thank you. Just like 1958. Some things just shouldnt change. My dad used to love picklelily, red relish. Look at that beauty. Oh, yeah. Im here to feed my soul, the cultural wellspring that is new jersey. The cultural antidote to everything else. These dogs are amazing. There are not a lot of people in this world courageous enough to match it. Down the shore, yeah, we actually talked like that. It was what we did, go down the shore. Not just our family from Bergen County near the bridge but middle class and working class families from philly and all over who packed up the kids in the Station Wagon for the seeminglyiner it mteer it jie trip. Will ship bottom, surf city, harvey cedars, love ladies, ticking off the town names until finally, finally barney at light. These are all new. Thats original. Yeah, definitely. I think i know who lived and thats definitely an old school. Look, face it, its been how many years . 40 were old. The lighthouse definitely remember going to that lighthouse a lot of times. The good old days. I want some fried clam strips. Absolutely. Well, our options are limited, shall we say. But holy crap this place is filling up. I think its because its the only place. Still, who lives here year round . Were about to see every single one of them. Lets be honest, when we came in the summers, i was the bad one. I was up to every criminal, antisocial behavior i didnt smoke dope for the first time here. As a 12yearold, it was hard to come by. I vaguely remember you walking off with some kind of cute girl. First kiss, that was an important passage. Good. It is good. I realize now that i hitchhiked regularly. Yeah. Mom, dad, im going to go to ship bottom twoewith some frien. How are you getting there . Hit hitchhiking. Have fun. Cool. Everybody was hitchhiking. Thats how you got places. Summertime. You know that sound just out of the water, ears filled up pressed to a beach blanket, the squeak of sand nearby, classics illustrated comics waiting at the house. Id play with my Plastic Army Men in the dunes. Theres a smell of beach grass in the dunes. You remember it . I love it. And on special occasions, clams and drawn butter. No matter where i find them now, they always bring me back here. I remember this place with nothing but fondness. I mean, i cant remember sanl bad memory here. A single bad memory here. It was great. You would go on the street, your parents didnt need to be with you. Have a campfire on the beach at night. Set off firecrackers. All the stuff they wouldnt let you do at home. Beach would look different. For a couple of days it would be this weird, frothy foam. Now were talking or jellyfish deliveries. Infestation of jellyfish. I tried to block that out. That wonderful feeling that you were with other 10yearolds alone at night on the beach. It was great. Mm. Love clam strips. These are good. This is awesome. So far, so great. Im happy. Properly battered piece of fish, good tartar sauce. Mm. What were your favorite activities . Building time on the beach, overturning the lifeguard stand. Yes. They were representatives of the man. Firecrackers on the beach. Firecrackers on the beach. I put firecrackers in your car, just saying. Is the them off at the casino. Perfect, perfect. It was paradise. Americas first dream vacation. The beach as far as america was concerned meaning bathing suits and swimming in the surf was pretty much invented here. Atlantic city, rich or working class, it was here for you. Back then, you dressed up to walk the boardwalk. It was capitalism at its purest and most assertive, a dream designed for everybody. Flashy, utilitarian, upright, deeply unapologetically corrupt. The knife and fork inn was right there through it all. In many ways, its story, a perfect reflection of changing times. Established in 1912 as a socalled gentlemens dining and drinking club, the second floor originally curtained alcoves and a separate ladies lounge. Private rooms on the third and fourth floor were set aside for games of chance and perhaps other activities. Vicky goldlevys dad was the chief photographer for Atlantic City from the 1930s through the 1960s. He saw it all, and by extension, so did vicki. What was it like as a kid . It was fantastic. Walking down the board walk in the summertime was like walking in a carnival working in a carnival at midway. The noises. There were remnants of the 20s. Yeah. That sensibility, that look. Handle bar moustaches, Graphic Design and illustration, a weird stuckintime feel was very much in evidence, even in my time here in the early 60s. The boardwalk was over six miles of amusements, entertainments, parades, and pageants, and neverending carnival. Every place you went down the boardwalk was Something Else to see, and all the stores were like mom and pop stores, all uniq unique. Yes. I loved it. The worldfamous steel pier. Announcement jar ca arcades, barkers, saltwater taffy. I loved the joke shops. A wonderland of juvenile delinquency. You could buy plastic dog crap and vomit and smoke powder. It was something very sinister and forbidden. My parents indulged me when i was here. The menu has changed somewhat since the original. For me a tasty pretzel crusted swordfish over lump crabmeat. For vicki, panseared scallops. My memories are largely built around the time before gambling, times were good. The marlboro i remember it well, it was largely empty, but it was a magnificent structure. I mean, you and i like the nostalgia. People who like coney island like it. I dont know about the young people. Beautiful buildings are beautiful buildings. You know, a beautiful view is a beautiful view forever. Well, yes. Theres no place with this kind of history and legitimacy. This life has deep, romantic allure. I agree with you. I believe in the transition thats coming. I do with all my heart. The things that used to be here, its not, gee, it would be great if that happened again. It is inevitable that that will happen again. Its worth fixing. Atlantic city could be chic easily. The bones, the skeleton of the city are beautiful. Im glad you feel that way. There was even in very young people, particularly now, beautiful old things. A beautiful old restaurant with really great food. Were eating in now much more interesting than a glass box with good food. Kelloggs® frosted miniwheats®. 8 layers of wheat. And one thats sweet. To satisfy the adult and kid in all of us. Nutritious wheat for the adult youve grown into and delicious sweet for the kid youll never outgrow. Feed your inner kidult with frosted miniwheats®. Try new kelloggs miniwheats harvest delights with Sweet Drizzle and bits made with real fruit. The names of Atlantic City streets were imprinted on generations of americans who grew up playing monopoly. Drive down today, and youll see history. The ebb and flow of americas dreamed playing out in the homes you see as you pass by. Magnificent mansions mixed with inexpensive twofamily houses, cheap takeout, the footprints of a lost world. The riviera of the northeast, still there if you look between. With jet travel in miami and an expanded highway system, things declined as they do. A few visionary geniuses presented a solution. A cure that would overnight make everybody well. Make Atlantic City shiny and new and prosperous again. Men like donald trump. I think its going to be very beneficial to everybody. We look Ford Operating the taj mahal successfully for many years to come. Vast news xanadus would be constructed and would be the rush to Atlantic City, eager to tap to what was sure to be a neverending gusher of prosperity casino gambling. When casino gambling was sold to the state of new jersey, Atlantic City, as the cureall, was going to bring it back to its glory days, did that ever happen . Around today, do you think this place is better than it was then . Do you think it helped . No. I dont. New jersey native Brian Donahue is a reporter with 20 Years Experience focusing on south jersey. Docs oysterhouse, survived the prohibition, great depression, two world wars, numerous declines and rebirths, still here, still great, a symbol of what atlantic was and should be again. Could be again. Its a complicated, hard process. There are no easy answers, and casino gambling was seen as an easy answer. Yes. It sounded like a good idea. The plan in effect, 12 casinos here would bring everybody up from the top down. It hasnt worked. Now were left with just 12 casinos. If youre looking for an example of lemminglike search for a cliff face from which to tumble, look no further than this 2. 4 billion get to rodeo, the revel. It opened in 2012 and closed less than two years later. The most expensive casino in new jersey history. The hubris was incredible. What were they thinking . Short term money. At a time when the other casinos opened all over the east coast. Which is nuts. Its economics 101. Casinos, of course, by design neglect the citys existing assets. Salt air, a walk by the glorious north atlantic, the greatest of all the earths bodies of water. The classic attractions, the restaurants. This is what its going to take for Atlantic City to come back. Its going to be in places like this. Celebrate the ghosts, you know. Nice crab cakes at docs, a big lobster stuffed with crab imperial, souffle, those things are bad for business. The business of taking your money. Thank you very much. Lovely. That will work. I dont want to sound like im down on Atlantic City because i see it a ludicrously hopeful place. Whatevers left should be to my mind hung on to because theyre going to come around. Theres nothing funny about losing all your money. Casinos are hardworking employees of the entertainer. These are two of the hardest working people around. Married to each other and new jersey. I drove three exits on the jersey turnpike. It was 7. If you drive a whole new jersey turnpike, when you get to the end, you have to give them your car. [ laughter ] i want to tell you something that i dont generally tell people right away. Im the inn, passionate about it, crueltyfree lifestyle, no animal or animal byproducts of any kind. I do cheat a little, i eat veal. So tender. How do they get it like that . Im sent. Al about jersey italian, particularly spaghetti and meatballs. Ive been here nearly five to ten times and never had a bad meal. Never. I know exactly i wouldnt get the meatballs. [ laughter ] proud longtime residents of new jersey . No. Ive lived here nine years but only been proud maybe the last two. Its a time to get up to speed . Yeah. Born and bred . My whole life. He wont leave. I had to make peace with it. There was a club at the sands. Many times i would get paid on thursday and lose it all and then have to work for free theres no worse feeling. I know that feeling. A nightmare. You ever watch a couple in Atlantic City . Okay, dear, hold this money. Dont give it to back no matter what i tell you. I dont care what i say. An hour later, give me my god damn money. Im not fooling around. Youre lucky i brought you here. Youre the reason im lose, touching my arm when im shooting craps. Is there a particular jersey sense of humor . Yes. I love jersey audiences so much because ive never one time ever said anything where people have gone, aw. They never get offended. We all have our words, you know, that we dont like. The ones that affect us the most. I have chicagoer words. As a white woman, the word i dont like is no. I dont hear it that often, but when i do, huhuh. Heres the deal with jerseyy people land at north and drive up the turnpike. They dont turn off and go up. Refineries . They think thats new jersey. How sick it that i think its beautiful . Northern new jersey is the embroidery capital of the world apparently. Yon weather it i dont know where thats happening. This is taste of my youth. For all of the marvelous things about new jersey, will people ever come across the bridge and the tunnel in the other direction . No. No. Okay. I did not have to think about that. Lets go to a club in jerseyy no. You know what, its all relative. A 25yearold guy or girl is going, were not going to jersey. A 60yearold is going, im getting out of the city, im moving to jersey. Theres your answer. Never going to be hip where does hipness stop . At what age . Hipness is overrated. It is overrated. You know what, i love living here. I love it. Pine valley, the best golf course in the country. Trump has beautiful course wait a minute. Trump, im not a fan. Please. Every minute that he walks the earth demands a certain complicit to not shout out when you look at that rick pldiculou like a disfigurement, that tacit agreement that im not going to bring it up. Thats too much to ask of me in trumps case, i want to scream. Do you know why he puts his names on the building . So the banks know which ones to take back. At least hes a humble guy. Yeah. Why are you checking your credit score . You dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Im making smoothies so, how can i check my credit score . Credit karma. Dont worry, its free. Hmmmm. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. There are few american cities, plays where things have gone as disastrously wrong as camden, new jersey. Its like the posterchild for everything a city could screw up. Once a manufacturing powerhouse, home to the new york shipbuilding corporation, the campbells soup company, and rca victor records. A company town. About 80,000 people live here today. Thats the same number who were employed during its hayday. Nearly 40 of the citys High School Students dont graduate. The entire police force replaced by the state. More than onethird of City Residents live below the poverty line. Voter turnout, not good. If theres anyplace one could be forgiven for just throwing your hands up in the air and giving up, its here. But no. Cities with Serious Problems need extraordinary people. And Towanda Jones is seriously an extraordinary person. When you give especially to someone who is really in need, you know, i feel it makes me feel complete. Her late grandfather, walter green jr. , was a former military man, an employee of rca, and bodyguard for the great boxer jersey joe wolcott. He was just the protector. If you need anything, you go to mr. Dynamite. That was his nickname. He was also a man who believed in being part of the community. When towanda was 13, she was asked to lead a local drill team. Unfortunateli, it lost its funding. Walter purchased 80 uniforms and three drums to give them a start. [ chanting ] today css, the camden sisters drill team, which includes the distinguished brothers and taps, the almighty percussion sound, have over 320 participants. Good job, babies. Good job. Clap it up for yourselves. [ honking ] we meet a neighborhood stalwart, tony and ruths steaks, still doing what they do. It doesnt get any better than this. What was camden like back in the good old days . Oh, my god. It was so different coming up when i was younger. I didnt have to worry about my life being threatened coming outside. You know, the neighborhood, everyone knew everybody. That sense of community was strong back then. Youre talking about your childhood as if it was a real long time ago. Than long ago. Right. What the hell went wrong . People can blame it on the politics, but i think its too easy. Many have failed our children. Its up to the parents to really start getting more involved in the kids education. Know what your child is doing. Youre putting it principal oh the parents. Absolutely. This is tasty. This is delicious. The conventional wisdom seems to be its time to get out. Why are you still sneer t. Still here . The need is in camden. If every decent person leaves, we never have a chance. In order to be part of the program, they have to maintain a c average or better. Its all about their academics, about nurturing these kids. Whats right, whats wrong . The drill team does that. They have different stands they go with every day. A start without a finish. [ chanting ] they believe this. You know, they stay it so much until its embedded. Shes helped css support itself with Financial Assistance from fellow parents and some fundraising, temporary help and donation was small businesses. Surprisingly for a group with a national profile, no lasting support from official organizations or National Institutions public or private. Yet, she per several ears. A lot of your practice done outdoors. All weather type of situation . Yes. Weve been under bridges, everything. Over 28 years, weve been outside. Their safety is most important to me. Its been a blessing and a curse. Youll have the corner boys come up and ask you, miss wawa, are you having practice outside . Theyre like, todays not a good day. Im like, okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thats nice. Right. You know, i appreciate it. Trust me. How do you keep the kids off the corner . Im quite aware that times are hard. But i try to show them an alternative route, says theres so much more out there than this. Some of them call me major pain, but its out of love. They need that structure and discipline in life, period, to life,ing to to life, period,ing to to school. Because its fun . Right. Its hard. Yeah. Youre asking people to do a hard thing, and theyre doing it. Yeah. I g