For much of the twentieth century Atlantic City's hotels dominated the skyline, a concrete embodiment of the resort as a fantasy world. These architectural confections provided much more than a good night's rest. Their dining rooms offered dishes from the standard to the exotic, to the sublime. The elegant interior spaces provided comfort, service, and entertainment to make the visitor's stay a memorable one.

Five hotels opened when Atlantic City was founded in 1854. They all were back from the beach, mostly along Atlantic Avenue. Before the Boardwalk and amusement piers, the hotels were the center of life in Atlantic City providing dances, amateur theatrics, concerts, billiards, and even roller skating. During the 1870's many hotels were established near the Boardwalk including the Dennis, the Traymore, the Shelburne, the Brighton, the Chalfonte, and the Haddon House. The Dennis, the oldest beachfront hotel, and the Traymore started as modest cottages. Both kept pace with Atlantic City's growth and reputation. By 1915 the Traymore boasted 600 elegant rooms in fourteen stories with a "Grande" ballroom that accommodated 4,000. The genuinely fantastic Blenheim, which was designed in 1906 by noted Philadelphia architect William Price, and was constructed of reinforced concrete from Thomas Edison's company; it was the first hotel to have a private bath in every room, with hot and cold fresh water and sea water. Who needed the beach?

The Ambassador Hotel built in 1919 was the largest on the Boardwalk. Here, Enrico Caruso, President Warren Harding, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle vacationed. The Brighton, the first Atlantic City hotel to entertain guests year round (steam heat), was considered the resort's "classiest" hotel with a reputation for turning away the "wrong kinds" of people. Indeed, if the Boardwalk hotels had become the haven of the elegant, if not the rich and famous, the many smaller hotels, like the Channel and Attuck's, which lined the city's streets, accommodated very comfortably the urban masses for whom this resort had been established.

Several of the old hotels survive to this day, retooled as gambling resorts. Haddon Hall is now Resorts Casino Hotel, a portion of the Dennis is incorporated into Bally's Park Place, and the great old Claridge still operates just a block from the Boardwalk.