Entrance to Loop-the-Loop Ride, Surf and 10th. Built in 1901. National Roller Coaster Day on Aug 16 commemorates the date the patent was issued in 1898. Photo © Coney Island History Project Archive The Coney Island History Project exhibition center on Surf Avenue under the Cyclone will join in Saturday’s [August 28] celebration by sharing [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Attractions, Coney Island Cyclone, coney-island, Organizations, Recreation, Roller Coaster, Theme Parks, Tornado (Coney Island)
Coney Island is one of the most photographed areas of NYC. Second only to Times Square, according to the New York Times, it has inspired “not just chapters, but also whole picture books, like Peter Granser’s “Coney Island” (2006) and Harvey Stein’s “Coney Island” (1998).” But just when you had thought that there couldn’t possibly [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Andy Levin, Arts, coney-island, new york city, new york times, Photograph, Photographer, shopping
In the latter part of the 19th century, going to the beach at Coney Island was a big deal; even so much as getting one’s feet wet on the shoreline was a supreme endeavor. While established New Yorkers may have dressed elegantly (or profusely) in that era of staid if dubious mores and morals, sportiness [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: coney-island, Metro Areas, new york, new york city, Recreation, United States, Water, Working class
Coney Island’s Cyclone would never be the most dynamic roller-coaster in the world but it was destined to be one of the most beloved, most esteemed… in short, the most legendary roller-coaster in the world. Indeed, on July 12, 1988, as most of Coney Island was crumbling into oblivion, the 61-year-old coaster was declared a [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Coney Island Cyclone, coney-island, Cyclone, New York Aquarium, new york city, Recreation, Roller Coaster, Theme Parks
Professional eating-machine Joey Chestnut has, for the fourth year in a row, won the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island today. Chestnut devoured 54 dogs in 10 minutes to the appreciative delight of crowds of spectators and connoisseurs of the bizarre. Among the spectators was former six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi who hasn’t [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Competition, Competitive eating, coney-island, Joey Chestnut, Major League Eating, Nathan, Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, Takeru Kobayashi
In our desire to rush accomplishment over progress, we sometimes put the cart before the horse. Here in NYC, when it comes to profitable enterprises, developers not only put the cart before the horse but oftentimes before the road as well. Even though business is booming at Coney Island’s Luna Park (NOT to be confused [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge Park, coney-island, Empire State-Fulton Ferry Park, Empire–Fulton Ferry State Park, Luna Park, memorial-day, United States
Last Sunday, the annual Mermaid Parade took place in Brooklyn’s Coney Island. Presided over by Lou Reed and wife Laurie Anderson, who served as the parade’s King and Queen, the usual-unusual assortment of drag queens, scantily-clad women, classic automobiles, elephants, and other colorful curiosities strolled down spectator-crowded Surf Avenue. The outlandish fete, normally lighthearted and [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: brooklyn, Coney Island Mermaid Parade, coney-island, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Mardi Gras, Mermaid Parade, United States
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is tented in Coney Island and thrilling audiences with some rather exceptional yet throttled entertainment. The animal acts are dazzling if minimalistic, the acrobatics thrilling if less ostentatious, and “Illuscination” which features magic acts (something new for a major circus) is very good but rather bounded if you’re [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Animal Welfare, Britney Spears, Circus, coney-island, Earth, Entertainment and Sports, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, United States
Why allow a famous if decaying boardwalk to be reduced to sawdust when it could be transformed into some neat and unusual décor? The boardwalk at Coney Island days as a walkway are ending but its days as furniture may be just beginning. Uhuru Designs, a design firm in Red Hook, Brooklyn, has reclaimed pieces [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Boardwalk, brooklyn, coney-island, DUMBO Brooklyn, Furniture, Home and Garden, Red Hook, shopping
A boardwalk is hardly a boardwalk when it’s made of concrete; the famous and constitutional, if old-fashioned and rickety, boardwalk at Coney Island could be subjected to such a technical misnomer. The ambitious restoration project occurring there, with the emphasis on high-tech attractions and voguish appeal, will apparently result in wood planks being replaced with [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Boardwalk, brooklyn, Business, Concrete, coney-island, Fifth Avenue, Materials and Supplies, Ocean Parkway
Despite being closed for 37 years, Coney Island’s Shore Theatre has never been forgotten. The theatre was one among numerous Brooklyn movie houses that died as a result of variegated technology and diminished audiences in the 1960s/ 1970s: high-tech televisions and multi-screen theatres replacing the stately with the dynamic. Opened in 1925, the Shore Theatre [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Al Jolson, Arts, brooklyn, coney-island, film, Marcus Loew, Movie theater, Shore Theatre, theatre
On the afternoon of August 10, 1884, a relatively minor earthquake hit New York City. Estimated to have been 4.9 to 5.5 in magnitude, with its epicenter off the coast of Coney Island or Far Rockaway, the quake lasted for about 10 seconds but caused little damage. Nonetheless, it was felt as far south as [...]
Filed under: Postings | Comment (0) Article tags: Building code, California, central park, coney-island, Earth science, Earthquake, Fault, manhattan, Natural disaster, new york city, Richter magnitude scale, United States