SCRAPBOOK: Monopoly Now

I loved playing the game "Monopoly" as a kid. I ruled this game. Other kids, my siblings especially, and adults alike, kinda hated playing with me because I took this game so very seriously.

I preferred to play straight rules, literally as printed in the rule book. No pussy "Free Parking" jackpot. No "gimmies" like forgiving someone a tiny rent payment if it meant they'd go bankrupt just to keep them in the game a bit longer. No friendly deals focusing on fairness and even monopoly distribution. Play like this shit was why people always complained the game was too long. Well it goes fast, my friend, if you play strictly by the rules and forgive nothing.

But I digress...what I really want to focus on here is the fact that I, and I would assume, many players out there, always tried to picture what the various "neighborhoods" on the game board would look like in real life. Would Baltic and Mediterranean be slums? Would Boardwalk and Park Place be mansions?

We've all heard that these are real world places in 1930's Atlantic City and it would be assumed that the neighborhoods then probably were pretty much representative of the relative value as implied on the game board. But how do they look today? Hmm...

Well, with the magic of Google Maps Street View, I thought I'd take a tour of the locations that inspired the names of the famous board game properties and see what they look like now, in present-day Atlantic City.

Let's take a stroll, shall we?

Indigo: Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue

The cheapest properties on the board look today, as seen here, pretty scummy. So far, pretty much what you'd think.

Light Blue: Oriental Avenue, Vermont Avenue and Connecticut Avenue

Still a bit sketchy, I'd say. Looks about right in terms of the game's pauper values.

Purple: St. Charles Place, States Avenue and Virginia Avenue

Well the pic for St. Charles Place is of the area around the Showboat Casino since St. Charles Place proper no longer exists, but it was in this location back then.

Orange: St. James Place, Tennessee Ave and New York Avenue

When I played the game, I loved having this monopoly since it wasn't too expensive so it could be improved rapidly and the odds of landing on them were statistically proven to be the best when compared to any other monopoly, including the railroads.

Red: Kentucky Avenue, Indiana Avenue and Illinois Avenue (Now MLK Blvd.)

These hoods are looking a great deal better, starting to look pretty nice...

Yellow: Atlantic Avenue, Ventnor Avenue and Marin Gardens

Marvin Gardens is actually spelled Marven Gardens and its real world location along with the other yellows is looking like the upwardly-mobile "nice" neighborhoods of my imagination.

Green: Pacific Avenue, North Carolina Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue

Now in the game we're in the upper class areas. Here though, not too high brow but much of what's in these pics could be assumed to be quite commercially valuable so it kinda translates to "high end".

Blue: Park Place and Boardwalk

As in the game, these current-day locations have stately buildings like in the Park Place pic as well as the most prime casino hotels in AC. These fit well with the much-desired rich digs of the game.

So almost 80 years after the creation of the game, I guess the current locations do pretty much reflect similar relative land values. I guess that justifies, in some sense, the old saying..."the rich get richer and the poor get poorer", or, more simply put, some things just never change.