Here’s one sign that Atlantic City may finally realize Paul Sevigny and Governor Chris Christie’s shared vision of an ironic-seedy Hamptons for cash dispensing hipsters: Men’s lifestyle newsletter Thrillist is launching an Atlantic City edition. It will be published once a week from May 17 until Labor Day, said parent company Thrillist Media Group, which is calling the seasonal food and entertainment curation—what else?—“a pop-up.”
“I went to school in Philadelphia and we would go to Atlantic City quite a bit,” Thrillist founder and editor-in-chief Adam Rich, a UPenn alumnus, told Off the Record. “The whole sort of operation has become much classier.”
With the launch of Atlantic City, Thrillist will reach 3 million subscribers in 22 cities. On Friday, Thrillist Media Group—which now includes e-commerce sites Jack Threads and Thrillist Rewards—celebrated the seventh anniversary of its first ever email blast, a tip for a good Cinco de Mayo margarita spot (El Rey del Sol, now closed), which went out to about 600 people.
According to Mr. Rich and new Thrillist Atlantic City editor Adam Robb, a critical mass of cultural events (Boardwalk Empire, the Food + Wine Festival, James Beard Award-winners in The Borgata hotel) means Atlantic City is now happening enough that the discriminating visitor needs a filter.
“That’s always my worry, just to make sure there’s enough going on that we can publish something that’s up to our standards,” said Mr. Rich.
It appears there’s nothing to worry about. The Beatrice Inn-affiliated Chelsea hotel—which once had to bus in and board its New York hipster clientele gratis—is filling up for the weekend of June 23, when the first-ever Orion Festival will bring the incongruous fans of Metallica and Best Coast to the spiritual home of Snooki and The Situation.
Speaking of whom, Mr. Robb, who has written for Time Out New York and AC Weekly and was the author of Fake Restaurant Girl, told Off the Record that he has been moonlighting as a paparazzo since the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore moved in down the block from him in Jersey City.
“In the course of a day, in a pack with 20 other guys competing with you, you really learn how to shoot and edit really quickly,” he said.
In addition to selling images to Getty, Mr. Robb used his photos to bust JWoww for parking illegally.
“It’s the community I live in and parking is really tight,” he said.
Asked if Jersey Shore had been good for the Jersey Shore, Mr. Robb was dubious.
“Snooki was pregnant so she didn’t drink that much,” he replied. “Jersey City really lost out on some business.”
