Thousands Used to Park Here for Atlantic City’s Casinos, Now it’s Empty

Someone brought this up on an Atlantic City-based Facebook group the other day, and it's worth looking back on, if for no other reason than it's a fun trivia question to ask those who aren't locals.

What's up with this weird parking lot out in the middle of nowhere before you get into Atlantic City?

We often think of how the World's Play Ground was "back in the day" — the Steel Pier was king, casino gambling was new and exciting, and Atlantic City was the place to be seen. And it certainly still is, to an extent.

And it's casino gaming that has not only defined AC for generations now, but it has also employed tens of thousands of people since the 1970s.

In fact, not that long ago, there were so many people working at Atlantic City's casinos that they couldn't all park in the city itself.

A Massive Parking Problem Solved

The solution was to build a giant, elongated parking lot, about a mile long, in the median of the Atlantic City Expressway, between the Pleasantville toll plaza and Exit 2.

Those who had jobs at any of the casinos would park in the middle of the Expressway, and they'd hop on a shuttle bus and be taken to and from where they were working.

The Lot Through the Years

But that was then.

Today, and for the past many years, that parking lot remains standing, but absolutely no one parks there now.

Case in point, check out this series of Google Maps pictures. The first (and it's rather low-quality) is from 2008 when that lot was full every time you drove by...

When the Google Maps car drove by again in 2013, the sign was still up (with a Jerry Lewis billboard in the background!) but all of the cars were gone...

By 2017, the casino employee parking sign had been taken down...

And in its most recent pass in 2021, a new sign had been installed that bluntly said the once-bustling parking lot is now closed and don't even think about going in.

Why the Lot Is No Longer Needed

In today's casino era, just about all of the properties allow their employees to park at their buildings, so this lot really isn't necessary any longer, but it's also a sign of fewer people being needed. And I'm certainly not bashing any of the casinos -- just about every job sector has fewer employees these days. Between computers and now AI seemingly being worked into our everyday lives, that's just how things are these days.

A Fun Reminder of Atlantic City's Past

So, the next time you find yourself reminiscing about Atlantic City's past and thoughts of throwing a few quarters into a slot machine at the old Atlantic Club Casino are crossing your mind...

...don't forget about one of South Jersey's more unusual landmarks: a parking lot out in the middle of nowhere that thousands of people used to use every day.