The last time I visited Atlantic City, my experience was inconsistent. On one hand, the room I stayed in was wonderful; on the other, service was so bad it was almost funny. The piece was not received well in "Vegas by the sea." A New York Times Sunday Business lead story coincided with this past weekend's revisit. I was there to scope out the Chelsea Hotel once again. I am doing the Halloween decor and needed to take photos and measurements and such.

My last visit talked of a buttter pat getting kicked around the hotels dining room and generally nitpicked at service and other shortcomings that you don't normally see in Vegas but are all too common in AC. The Times piece dwelt on the stagnation of the boom that hurdled AC, from the grandma-and-grandpop era of penny slots to the Borgata-and-Chelsea-fueled new era. The recession was particularly hard on gaming. My last piece celebrated the Chelsea as a boutique offering without a casino on premise. Its sleek interiors are designed by Boom Boom Room (or QT or whatever they end up calling it) genius Shawn Hausman; the newly completed restaurant, Chelsea Prime, rivals the Boom. Five floors up, facing a mad ocean, I was again stunned.

As in the Boom, at first you notice the view, then the room, then the people. Same here -- the room is beyond great. Its Hollywood golden era chic captivated me while the crashing waves reminded me I wasn't in New York or the desert. The crowd was beautiful. The Chelsea has worked hard to correct what were perceived by me as flaws. I asked hotel management if they had been offended by my criticisms. "Absolutely no," was the reply. I think it was obvious to all that what I said was accurate. Management of the hotel has reached out to Philadelphia more and more to hire more experienced and sophisticated staff. The Chelsea is two hours away by car, and the Aces train will get you there and back the on the weekends. The ginormous full-service hotel/casino Tropicana is 50 feet away if you need to roll the dice. There, despite the shopping and entertainment wing "the Quarter" promised, it was still mostly a South Jersey crowd. Cuba Libre and Brulee offered some class, along with Red Square. The place never lived up to the potential it had under the rule of casino czar Dennis Gomes. AC is a hop skip and a jump away, and I had a blast there this weekend. Oh yeah, my Halloween decor is "hotel horror," and I'm channeling Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick for a Shining, or maybe some Bates Motel shockfest. Be afraid ... be very afraid.