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Lucy the Elephant

4.7 (104 reviews)
Closed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Lucy the Elephant Landmarks & Historical Buildings Photos

Recommended Reviews - Lucy the Elephant

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Lisa N.

Honestly , this was the highlight of our spring break. We absolutely loved it. Our tour guide Ms Loretta was so kind and so passionate about Lucy. Her stories about Lucy's past were captivating and very engaging. Kids were so uplifted and inspired future the tour. Thank you so very much.

Matthew U.

Not gonna lie, this was the main attraction and reason for my visit to the region. It was the one thing I wanted to see and made sure it was the last thing I saw on my way out of town. I have been obsessing over Lucy for a bit and needed to make a visit. Guess we can go over the history a bit. Built in 1882, this stands as the oldest roadside attraction in the country. Novelty architecture was used to model this building after Jumbo, the famous elephant from Barnum and Bailey's. Also, to note, Lucy is a boy. Lucy was first known as 'Elephant Bazaar' and used for real estate advertising. When Lucy changed hands around 1887, it went through changes of business type. 1902 brought the Lucy moniker. Through the 20th century Lucy served as a restaurant, business office, and tavern on the business side of things. Supposedly during prohibition the 'eyes' of Lucy would let patrons know if they were open or being raided. It also served as a way to get items into the building without detection. Lucy also served as a home for a time. You can see evidence of this when you visit. There are markings on the walls inside that would tell you they added a floor to add rooms. You can also look into an area that is one of the legs where they added a bathtub. Small, but pretty cool. In the 1960s Lucy started to fall into disrepair. Because of this Lucy was slated for demolition, but in 1970 they fought and saved the building. In fact, Lucy had to be moved from its original spot to its current spot. Then fundraising started to restore the building. Speed up to today. I stopped by on my way out of the area for my visit. I got here early and was worried that I might be ticketed or towed if I had stayed parked in the spots immediately in front of Lucy. I decided to park on the street, plenty of parking there without the threat of towing. Currently you have to visit a building across the street to purchase a ticket for admission and this is where the gift shop is. Tours of the inside happen roughly every 45 minutes starting at opening. You go up as a group and get a guided tour. Take it from me, a tour from a local is better than one you might get from part time employee that is a teenager. Our tour guide was amazing and gave us so much interesting information. They give you the details about the time it was a residence and the prohibition thing. Once you see the inside and get all the lowdown on it, you get to venture up to the howdah. This is the carriage portion of Lucy. From here you get some great views of the area. You see the beach and ocean, water tower with Lucy on it, and the condo building that necessitated the move of Lucy. You are basically walking on glass up here too. Although you cannot see through the glass. There is so much care in this building. They recently finished recladding the exterior of the building and plan to do more here in the coming months and years. Give Lucy a visit if you are in the area and explore and very unique building. With that, review 4,100!

Lucy from the front
Suzanne A.

An original road side attraction! If you are in Margate, Ventnor or Atlantic City, Lucy is a must see. It's also worth a detour if you're on your way to any shore points. What's not to like about a giant elephant?! Originally built as a hotel, you can now take a tour to see the inside and learn about the history. You can also go into the viewing area to see Margate and the ocean too. A gift shop is across the street with restrooms and fun souvenirs. If you buy a vintage postcard, the money helps to restore the archives. A snack shop is and a restaurant are next to Lucy. Other restaurants and shops are about a block away in closing Margate Burger and Dairy Bar.

Memorabilia
Karolina S.

This review is a little late, since my boyfriend (who wanted to show me Lucy since we started dating), and I visited Lucy - sometimes in the summer of 2024. Lucy the Elephant is located in Margate City, about 20 minutes from Atlantic City. We went on the weekend, and the limited parking wasn't available, but we ended up finding a spot across the street. You can purchase tickets in the gift shop located right next to Lucy, which are only $8.50 per adult. The guided tours run every 45mins, but even though we came in the middle of one, we just walked around took pictures and looked at souvenirs to pass the time until it was our turn. The gift shop is loaded with all different type of Lucy memorabilia. I was in heaven! Got a pin for my collection, a mini Lucy the Elephant replica and the book on Lucy's history. On tour, you enter Lucy via a spiral staircase in one of her legs into her belly. Once upstairs, you are shown a quick movie about Lucy's history and can look at different related objects from it's history and through it's eyes! After about 15mins, we went up to the howdah, the riding carriage, from where you have 360 views of the beach and Margot City. It also has a glass floor, which made it a little scary for us - as a pair already afraid of heights, but we overcame it. Haha. I really enjoyed Lucy and plan on going again when in the neighborhood. Also if you can, please consider donating. Lucy's rich history should be preserved. Also, it's very fun to drive by a giant elephant you can walk into.

Having fun seeing Lucy!
Matthew L.

Lucy the Elephant is a roadside attraction that was completed in Margate City, New Jersey in 1882. The six-story elephant-shaped wood frame and tin clad building was built by inventor James V. Lafferty. At the time, Margate City was called 'South Atlantic City' and "Lucy" was referred to as the "Elephant Bazaar". Lafferty had constructed the gigantic pachyderm for the purpose of promoting real estate sales and attracting tourists to the area. Lafferty also built two 'siblings' for Lucy: the "Light of Asia" in Cape May in 1884 (torn down in 1900), and the "Elephantine Colossus" at Coney Island in 1885 (burned down in 1896). Lucy was sold to Anton Gertzen in 1887 and she remained in his family until 1970. It was Anton's daughter Sophia who dubbed the structure "Lucy". Today, she stands as the most popular non-gaming attraction in the greater Atlantic City region and is considered to be the oldest surviving roadside attraction in America. My family and I visited Lucy the Elephant this past summer while we were on a road trip. My wife and I were looking for fun family-themed things to do in the Atlantic City area and we soon learned about Lucy. We had a lot of fun visiting! Our two sons were both mesmerized at how large she is. There's also a small museum/gift shop where we learned more about Lucy's history. In 2020, Lucy was briefly listed on Airbnb. Visitors could spend the night inside her for $138 a night. Tours are also conducted where paying visitors can go inside and climb a narrow spiral staircase into her belly. Unfortunately, we arrived later in the day and had missed the last tour. We still had fun regardless. If you're looking for a fun family activity in the Atlantic City area, then you definitely need to see Lucy!

Top view
Oi W.

7/5/24 Cute! Surprisingly big in her belly. Just $8.5 for the tour, history and visit the top for a beautiful view. Cute little gift shop. Only comment is the history is told via a video, I prefer a live person to interact with.

Loryl S.

This place was so cool! You can go inside and take a tour. You get a history lesson about Lucy and can purchase gifts in the little gift shop. It's small but definitely a cute activity

Jason P.

Arrived at about 1pm on a Saturday and it was fairly empty. Unfortunately we were time constrained and couldn't wait around for the next 30-minute tour. I was told visitors are welcome to walk the ground which I did. Would love to return in the future and take the tour, which gives you access to o inside. All staff were very nice and friendly. Parking (street) can be rough in the area.

K H.

After visiting the nearby Lighthouse we got a card that would give us $1 off our tour admission at Lucy, so we decided to go! Our tour guide was very kind and knowledgeable. The history of the elephant is amazing. Definitely worth your time and dollar. I recommend if you are looking for something to do in/around Atlantic City! Very inexpensive.

Chris C.

Still a beautiful site to behold. South of Atlantic City it is always a pleasure to stop by an admire the workmanship and well kept area surrounding her.

Brittany C.

Wasn't able to gain access to the inside, but from the outside she is a beauty. Can only imagine the history within Lucy

Back side
Cherie C.

Lucy gets 5 stars for surviving more than 100 years. It's a silly but fun tourist attraction. I've visited her for decades, and she looks great for her age. I love looking back from the shoreline and seeing her creepin' on the beachgoers. My husband has an I Love Lucy shirt that is sort of silly but also endearing: two very old-timey references. Not much else to say. If you are in the area, you should visit Lucy. If you live in NJ, you need to see it at least once.

Christopher C.

Alright, one more update for the hell of it. As many know, self included, who wanted to visit Lucy last year she was closed for a scheduled renovation that according to our guide took much longer than anticipated due to them finding more outer wood rot which had to be replaced. Fortunately, all of that was dealt with and things are fully reopened (although it was mentioned that work to repair some inner water damage is planned for late this year or early next year). A few notes: As many have mentioned, parking here is tight. Lucy only has a few spaces for parking and if you get a busy/full set of tours it can be a bit of PIA as to where to go especially in season. Lucy's website design is very smart. All pertinent information from prices to operating days to exact tour times are all here: lucytheelephant.org/visiting/ Our most recent visit last month had two new wrinkles we had never experienced here before. One was the video they show regarding Lucy's history wasn't running and it was snowing/sleeting/raining which made me wonder if they would have the outside howdah open. The lack of a video was mostly overcome by our excellent guide who had to also work with a tour that had close to thirty people and was really loud. She did her best and overall made the most of the situation. We were also lucky in that we were the last tour of the day she was letting go outside as the glass floor was getting very slippery to the point of being almost icy. The tour is the tour and neither it nor the information provided changes but it's still great fun to experience something as bizarre and interesting as a 141 year old giant tourable elephant at the beach. 100% must do every time in Margate year round.

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4 years ago

Might be closed for renovations this Summer... but worth going to see... it's a must visit when the Grandkids are down...

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Review Highlights - Lucy the Elephant

Tall ceilings, beautiful woodwork, and a gift shop with more memorabilia than you might think is necessary.

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T Street

T Street

2.8(6 reviews)
3.6 mi
$$

This place shouldn't be dead on a Saturday night in the summer. There was so much potential for T…read moreStreet to be an exciting and popular spot, possibly helping to revive AC. The new nightclub, WAV, was open that night. I had no interest in clubbing, but noticed an email offering free and discounted cover. About a dozen people sat around Monkey Bar. A sign said that the dueling piano bar would be open at 10pm. Everything else appeared closed. Garces is no longer handling the catering. The website sucks so I don't know what the deal with the T Street food is. It should have been a lively, hot scene rather than a desolate ghost town. I'd love to be proved wrong with this review update, but for now I won't be holding my breath.

I went to the soft grand opening for this place held on the Thursday prior to the grand opening…read more My overall feeling about this place is meh. ...meh. They offered sample sizes of some of the food they plan to offer and it was nothing to write home about. In fact so much so that I'll leave the food details at just that. It's what I expect to be overpriced pub food (price list or menu wasn't given to us) and with several locations it didn't feel as if any actually offered a variety of food. Pub, pub, everywhere. The concept is there but T Street offers no form of originality that makes it worth going to in place of similar places. In fact, with the location in a mall I actually felt that the venue and placement was a bit awkward. While there is no place quite like it in Atlantic City I don't find that it'll be a location to really drive in visitors. Let's face it, AC is a dying city and well in need of attractions to bring tourists and money back into the area. Perhaps when it's completely finished it will better represent the vision. I personally felt the venue was one-dimensional and for the amount of space could've offered a greater variety of music/food to fit various preferences. For now, I can say the live music is a nice addition. In some places it was played so deafeningly loud that it was difficult to really sit, eat and converse if that's what you chose to do. However, If that's your scene you'll likely enjoy it but its also worth noting that the majority of music was country/bluegrass. The drinks were okay. There were no specialty drinks/menu offered but the bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable at preparing classics. As of right now this is not on my must do list for when I visit AC and doubt it will ever be. However, I will be fair and return when the venue is completely finished and possibly update my review.

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T Street - Gin Blossoms 7/17/15

Gin Blossoms 7/17/15

T Street - Amaaaazing views!

Amaaaazing views!

T Street - 39N

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39N

Soul Dreams Studio

Soul Dreams Studio

5.0(5 reviews)
4.4 mi

This session of beach yoga was amazing. This was my first time doing a session of yoga with would…read moredreams studio but not my first time doing yoga. I found this studio a few months ago when I decided to reinvent my July 24th for 2025. Last year on this day in 2024 I had surgery to remove the extra skin after losing 165lbs from 311.5lbs and the surgery I came home and unfortunately started bleeding internally and had to go back to the ER for additional surgery in total I lost 4 pints of blood and needed a transfusion. That day I spent most of the day stressed, panicked, unconscious/ in surgery for 10 plus hours unsure of what came next. I knew this year on July 24th I was gonna seize the day and do stuff relaxing and rejuvenating. This yoga session targeted stretching and zen through the class . There was a point where she mentioned to let go of the stuff that's behind us and release it and leave it at the beach. That moment felt great to really zone in the waves and everything at the shore to move past last year. The instructor was very attentive and made sure everyone understood each pose and directed us when to breathe. This was everything I needed for today, the beach setting and the yoga/zen. Beginners or advance levels can take this class. Thank you!

An inviting environment, quick response, Other reviews…read morealready speak to what Erica has to offer in many dimensions (and I'm open to trying many different things), so let me focus on Zoom. Having never been on a web cam before, I am able to use Zoom very effectively my phone or laptop for yoga where Erica and I see each other and speak to each other ... so it is just like having my own yoga instructor right next to me to give me instructions, encouragement, tweaks to my poses. And I can tell her if something hurts or ask her questions ... or just talk. It is so much fun!

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Soul Dreams Studio
Soul Dreams Studio
Soul Dreams Studio - Meet Erica, owner of Soul to Soul

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Meet Erica, owner of Soul to Soul

AC Jitney Association - Ready to serve your private shuttle needs!

AC Jitney Association

3.2(45 reviews)
6.3 mi

During my recent visit to Atlantic City, I had the occasion to take the AC Jitney a number of…read moretimes. While rides were pleasant enough, there were two instances where drivers were exceptionally rude either to me, other passengers onboard or even people passing by. My first experience was taking the free Jitney from the AC train station. After letting some people off at Resorts, a passerby, possibly homeless started becoming aggressive towards the driver as he thought the Jitney was moving too closely to him as it backed up. The driver responded by driving quickly back towards this guy, like he was using the vehicle as a weapon. Then both the driver and the guy both exchanged several curse words, both yelling at the top of their lungs. What made matters worse is that the driver did not take me to my hotel, since it wasn't a casino. Instead, I had to walk with my luggage from near the Absecon Lighthouse to my hotel - the Wyndham Skyline Tower - a distance of almost a mile! My second experience was after The Who show at the Boardwalk Hall. After getting onboard, I tried to use the Jitney app and the extremely rude driver kept yelling at me to show me that I paid for the ride. I ended up paying for two rides as I was unfamiliar how to scan the ticket. While I would like to believe that most AC Jitney drivers are good workers, these two really were among the worst I've ever experienced. That's says something, since I use public transit alot and worked in the public transportation industry for nearly 25 years.

We used the jitney to travel from the Harrahs resort to the boardwalk and had no issues. The fare…read morewas $2.25 one way and I believed I counted 13 seats total. They don't allow people to stand so if the small bus is full you have to wait for the next bus. We saw a lot of different buses throughout our stay in Atlantic city. I thought it would be mostly tourists utilizing the buses but there were a lot of locals which is great for the community. The jitney was cheaper than uber and Lyft and we took advantage of this mode of transportation and would use it again when we're in the area.

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AC Jitney Association - Running on Clean Energy Natural Gas

Running on Clean Energy Natural Gas

AC Jitney Association - Reliable transportation in and around Atlantic City, NJ!

Reliable transportation in and around Atlantic City, NJ!

AC Jitney Association - Side of Jitney

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Side of Jitney

Lucy the Elephant - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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