The Last Good Time
Skinny D'Amato the Notorious 500 Club and the Rise and Fall of Atlantic City
Jonathan Van Meter(Author)
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published on 21. July 2003
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-7475-5920-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the style of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, with the glamour of Ratpack Confidential and the intrigue and sleaze of the Sopranos, Jonathan van Meter has woven a stunning work of narrative non-fiction, set around one family amidst the alternately glamorous, seedy and forbidding Atlantic City. The Last Good Time tells the story of Skinny D'Amato and his daughter Paulajane. A close friend of Cubby Broccoli, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin, and a de facto member of the rat pack, Skinny was the owner of the famous nightspot the 500 Club, and someone who made millions when legal gambling started in Atlantic City. He died in seclusion, smoking five packs of cigarettes a day, after his family became mired in scandal. The author moved to Atlantic City as a young man and became involved in the drama of the D'Amato family and the seedy underworld they inhabited. His portrait of the city moves from its shabby boardwalk to the glittering Trump casinos to the faded, upper-class Bay Club and the gay bars on New York Avenue, haunted by the spectre of the Mob.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Illustrations, ports.
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
Weight
656 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7475-5920-7 (9780747559207)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jonathan van Meter is a contributing editor of American Vogue, and a regular contributor to the New York Times magazine. He has written for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Tatler, Esquire and the Sunday Times magazine. He has appeared regularly on US TV as well as appearing on the Ruby Wax Show in the UK, and started his writing career with a job on the Atlantic City magazine.