Is Canal's still right over the Ben?
It's actually back a bit, probably 2/3rds the way to the Cherry Hill Mall. They did open a new Canals, somewhere on the way down the shore (New Jersey is a frightening and mystical land of Wawas and traffic circles that one can get caught in forever with no escape, best only looked at from the banks of the Delaware to me), and this place is as big as a friggin' Home Depot. Thing of beauty to those who are off the wagon.
Tell you what, though, in the run up to the RNC Convention here, in 2000, they completely... well, I don't want to say renovated, renewed, they essentially hit Admiral Wilson Blvd with a MOAB. All the BYOB Strip joints with parking and showers for truckers, the ladies "plying their wares", and other unseemly activites have been scrubbed out and are merely a bad memory. There's still some liquor stores that make you consider the ramifications of ending your life there as an unwilling participant of a hostage situation, and I'm not saying it's a delight to the eyes, but it sure ain't what it was.
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,