The LandShark is elevated and HQ Beach Club is sited on the other side of the boards, but each adds a new element of excitement to A.C.’s popular beach-bar scene.
As if acting in spite of the storm that submerged most of Absecon Island more than seven months ago, the beach-bar scene that began in Atlantic City just over a decade ago is thriving more now than perhaps ever before.
The whole scene has had a bunch of peculiar twists and turns since it started, rooted back in the city’s wrangling with the state D.E.P. for years before the first one could ever be built. A primary concern was that beach bars would create more problems than they were worth, which largely proved unfounded.
Instead the beach bars have been a boon to the summertime bottom line of the casinos that have them, which now includes the LandShark Bar & Grill at Resorts (part of the $35 million Margaritaville complex), and the long-awaited HQ Beach Club at Revel — a 45,000-square-foot “adults-only playground” that is attached to the mega-resort’s Boardwalk level, and not literally sited on the A.C. beach.
HQ features amenities like 14 daybeds on a crafted sand beach, six luxury bungalows outfitted with private cube-shaped pools and other opulent creature comforts, two large bars and a centrally located triangular pool. Like its indoor counterpart HQ Nighclub, Revel’s beach club has a state-of-the-art sound system and top-tier DJ talent performing weekly from an elevated DJ booth and dance floor beneath a gigantic LED screen.
“It’s a world-class VIP experience,” says Matthew Minichino, Revel’s director of venue operations. “The blueprint is similar to one of [Revel partner AMG’s] sister properties in Las Vegas [called Wet Republic], but ultimately this is a venue that is unique in its own way. It’s something that has the kind of luxury amenities you won’t find anywhere else on the East Coast, or anywhere else in the country outside of Las Vegas, which is basically the inventor of the day-life experience.
“Ultimately the idea was to create a venue that will keep people at the hotel throughout their entire stay in Atlantic City, enjoying the restaurants and entertainment and other hotel amenities, because this is hands-down one of the prettiest hotels on the East Coast.”
HQ Beach Club is fully operational now, but its official weekend-long grand opening party will be June 28-30.
Spectacular on a smaller scale is the LandShark, which officially opened Memorial Day weekend (visit acweekly.com for details) and is located on 200 linear feet of beachfront on the rebuilt Steeplechase Pier. Encompassing about 8,000 square feet and featuring nightly entertainment all summer, LandShark became the only year-round full-service bar and restaurant on the sand side of the Boardwalk.
Also returning this summer is the Beach Bar at Trump Plaza, which, while smaller in total scope than HQ, can still claim to be the largest beach bar on the sand at 21,500 square feet. It remains a Friday through Sunday operation until June 17, when it is open every day, weather permitting, from 11:30am-midnight weekdays, and until 2am Friday and Saturday. DJs and live bands perform at the Plaza Beach Bar throughout the summer.
“The Beach Bar at Trump Plaza has been a major tourist attraction at the center of the Boardwalk for years, and we are thrilled that we were able to bring it back this summer,” says senior vice president of marketing for Trump Entertainment Resorts Kathleen McSweeney.
Bally’s Bikini Beach Bar is also back and is already into its everyday schedule. Bally’s does a different themed night each day of the week, and will have a free concert series featuring Fuel on June 14, Howie Day on July 19, and the Sugar Hill Gang on July 27. Themed nights will be Industry Night Sunday, Latin Night Monday, Special Guest Tuesday, Reggae Night Wednesday, Rockstar Karaoke Thursday, Rock ‘n’ Roll Friday and Top-40 Saturday.
If the latest outdoor social spot at Atlantic City’s newest casino is more a rollicking party zone for youth on the north end, the south-end A.C. beaches will soon have a somewhat more subdued space where people of all ages can gather under palm fronds, lounge on padded chairs and daybeds, and enjoy a fun, al fresco day at the beach. And admission is free.
The beach bars reopen Memorial Day weekend with, of course, Revel’s HQ Beach Bar and Margaritaville’s LandShark Bar & Grill taking center stage as the latest additions east of the Boardwalk.
Put into meteorological terms, the summer showroom forecast would probably read something like this: "Mostly funny throughout the three-month period, with occasional breaks for music in between. "
“I think Jimmy and Morris were brilliant in their forethought because, clearly, the first thing that comes to mind when you visit the Jersey shore is the beach and ocean."
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1. Anonymous said... on Jun 5, 2013 at 04:48PM
“... and the casinos will still be crying about all the money they are losing over the same period last year...! Why isn't this new revenue source included in their bottom line? What about hotel room revenue? Can't get a room for one night on a weekend.... "sold out". Isn't profit measured as... "profit"? Yet they continue to get property tax appeal reductions. **I love the Sandshark restaurant on the beach and the new Margaritaville theme now at Resorts.”