"Fun City" & "Go Fight City Hall" & "You can look it up"

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 08/20/2002 2:14:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:

> SALT WATER TAFFY
>     The first citation is a 29 May 1897 ad for the stuff.  I expected
earlier.
>
>   New York is not far from New Jersey's Atlantic City.

Harold F. Wilson _The Jersey Shore_ New York: Lewis Historical Publishing
Company Inc., 1953.  Volume I page 549 says that one day in 1883 high surf
overran an Atlantic City candy shop run by one David Bradley.  The next
morning a little girl asked for a taffy, pointing to one of the taffies that
Bradley had rescued from the sea.  "You want salt water taffy?" he asked, and
the name stuck.  During the 1884 season he advertised "salt water taffy"
which however had no salt water in or on it.

Sounds conclusive, but the author qualifies the story by stating, "According
to one version...."

     - Jim Landau
       Atlantic City Int'l AIRPORT  New Jersey 08405 USA