{"product_id":"steel-pier-atlantic-city-showplace-of-the-nation-9781593220365","title":"Steel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSteel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation\u003c\/strong\u003e by Steve Liebowitz. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781593220365.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor much of the 20th century Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ, was the center of American entertainment on the East Coast. There were big bands, movies, sideshows, acrobats, flag-pole sitters, Frank Sinatra, Miss America -- and throngs of people lining up to get a seat so they could watch brave horses and riders dive into a pool of water. It was aptly called the Showplace of the Nation and it was all that and more. This all-in-one entertainment mecca on the Boardwalk, novel in its day, has never been matched, not even at latter-day theme parks. Where else could you take the entire family for a day and see fortune-telling parakeets, the World of Tomorrow, John Philip Sousa and his band, a bear on a bicycle, World Famous Diving Horses, take a ride below the sea in the Diving Bell, spend the evening in the marine ballroom, and take in a movie -- all for one ticket? It was a colossal offering of escape, popular culture, fun and fantasy. It was a grand treat served up with gusto and cotton candy, a destination not to be missed -- an empire of grand-thinking impresarios, oddities and glamor that meshed into one cohesive and attainable summer destination. This large-format coffee-table book, published in full color, includes 227 historic photographs, illustrations, and advertising images. Steel Pier evokes a time when more really was more, a time when there was so much invention, talent and industry that it could only be experienced in one place -- at the edge of the continent, in a city that took its name from a vast ocean, on a great pier reaching out into the sea. (Benjamin Franklin Awards 2010 finalist: Regional Book, Cover Design, and Interior Design.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Down The Shore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44953352077365,"sku":"ByrdShop_1593220367","price":29.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781593220365_ee2a4e66-786d-4bf3-b1b6-01cf9a34975b.jpg?v=1781427984","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/steel-pier-atlantic-city-showplace-of-the-nation-9781593220365","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}