PAVLIK FIGHT | POSTCARD FROM ATLANTIC CITY

Atlantic City is sort of like an aging starlet. She looks pretty from afar, but once you get up close, you can see the wrinkles.

And if you get REALLY close, you can see the sign for the breakfast buffet on the bottom floor of your casino charging $12.99 per person for chewy pancakes and foul-tasting sausage while pumping in “We should be dancing” by the Bee Gees.

As you may have heard, Youngstown middleweight Kelly Pavlik is in town for a WBC title fight with Jermain Taylor on Saturday. He’s staying at Bally’s (so, you know, don’t ring the fire alarm or anything), which is a hotel/casino that’s about a 10-minute walk from Boardwalk Hall. (Which, as you’ve probably guessed, is on the boardwalk.)

One of the things people tell you about Atlantic City is to stay on the main drag. What this means is, stay on the boardwalk next to the ocean. There are shops on either side. If you walk a block or two away from the casinos, you’re going to feel like you’re on Belmont Avenue on Youngstown’s North Side.

Except, of course, you can’t get Avalon Gardens pizza here.

(Side note: Why doesn’t Avalon Gardens franchise itself, or at least expand? Every time I try to get a takeout pizza, I end up waiting between one and two hours.)

One of the things people tell you about Las Vegas is that everything -- drinks, meals, etc. -- is cheap because the casinos want you to spend your money on gambling. Either this is a lie, or that rule doesn’t apply in Atlantic City. To get a sliced banana via room service inside Bally’s will set you back $3.50. You can get an oyster appetizer for $52.

Of course, if you go outside, you can choose from a wide assortment of cheaply-maid souvenirs for 99 cents. The Atlantic City boardwalk consists of casinos, massage parlors, psychic reading shops, pizza stands (not the good kind, the “heat up the slice in the oven” kind) and souvenir stands.

There are also a lot of street beggars, many of them missing limbs (or, in the case of one man, everything from the waist down). Some of them work for their money -- one guy had a magic show, another played his guitar -- and some just sit there. Last night, I saw a woman in her early 20s sitting on the ground next to a casino holding a sign that said “Homeless and pregnant” with an ultrasound photo on her lap.

One other warning: on weeknights, the city shuts down after 9 p.m. (Except for the casinos, of course.) My fellow reporters and I walked the boardwalk for a mile Wednesday night searching for a decent restaurant, only to end up eating lousy pizza for $4 a slice on a germ-infested outdoor lawn chair at 10 p.m.

On the plus side, the beach is nearby, the fight is approaching and, well, it beats being in the office. Pavlik-mania is about to hit.

Check back often. Vindy.com will have stories, photos, videos and blogs all weekend.

Joe Scalzo