Steel Pier details the history of this historic "Showplace of the Nation" in "America's Playground"--Atlantic City.
Atlantic City has worn the tag of "America's Playground" since its earliest days, so it is only natural that its biggest and most well-known icon, the Steel Pier, would be known as the "Showplace of the Nation." Over the course of 80 years, from 1898 to 1978, Steel Pier developed from a quiet, genteel amusement that featured light classical music and cakewalks to a vast entertainment complex that offered movies, big-name vaudeville acts, exhibits, big bands, rock bands, and the Water Circus with its famed diving horse. What makes this even more compelling is that one could spend the entire day on the pier and take all of this in for one small admission fee.
