Stumbled upon this three alarm Boardwalk show last night at Schiff's Central Pier in Atlantic City while attempting to go eat at a Thai restaurant nearby. The fire destroyed several stores in the pier and left a charred facade and made for hours of fire watching for the crowd. And nicely lit, too. The pier, owned by the reclusive and eccentric Schiff Brothers, who have refused to sell or develop their Boardwalk property into much more than is evident above, 99 cent stores and go Karts, was mostly shut down for the season. But the pier had plenty of arcade stuff in its inners to send black plumes of smoke into the air for several hours and bring firefighters from all over the city before it was tamped down. Hoses stretched along New York Avenue, which naturally led to more than one person stumbling out of the Irish Pub to trip over a hose. Was a little bit of an odd way to end a week that started with a trip to New York to see HBO's recreation of the Boardwalk on a Brooklyn lot. The real deal can still put on an excellent show of her own, it seems. 

Here's a video update from the Atlantic City Firefighters, via the Press of Atlantic City website tonight.