Claridge Casino at Bally’s

The Claridge Casino at Bally’s is a casino located at Bally’s Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Formerly known as the Claridge Hotel and Casino, the resort was officially acquired by Bally’s on December 30, 2002. Located between Park Place and Illinois Avenue, the Claridge is set off the Boardwalk behind Brighton Park. As of present the hotel is part of Bally’s Atlantic City.

History

The Claridge is different from most Atlantic City resorts, since it did not grow out of a modest boarding house. It was the idea of Philadelphia architect John McShain who designed the twenty- four story, 400 hundred room hotel. Opened in 1930, during The Great Depression, the Claridge became the last of the great hotels built in Atlantic City near the Boardwalk; no new resorts rose in the city until Howard Johnson’s built a hotel there in the 1960’s. Due to the hotel’s tall, slick, slender appearance it gained the nickname “The Skyscraper By The Sea.”

The Claridge was a successful hotel during the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Marilyn Monroe was a special guest there in the fifties when she was grand marshal of the annual Miss America Pageant. Despite Atlantic City’s downturn as a premiere vacation resort in the 60’s the hotel continued to operate and survived in to the casino era.