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Wikipedia

Coney Island

Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to the north and includes the subsection of Sea Gate on its west. More broadly, the Coney Island peninsula consists of Coney Island proper, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. This was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island, but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula, connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill.

Coney Island
Coney Island beach, amusement parks, and high-rises, as seen from the pier in June 2016
Nickname: 
"Playground of the World"[1]
Location in New York City
Note: red area overlaps with Sea Gate.
Coordinates: 40°34′30″N 73°58′57″W / 40.5750°N 73.9825°W / 40.5750; -73.9825Coordinates: 40°34′30″N 73°58′57″W / 40.5750°N 73.9825°W / 40.5750; -73.9825
Country United States
State New York
CityNew York City
BoroughBrooklyn
Community DistrictBrooklyn 13[2]
Settled17th century
Founded byDutch settlers
Area
 • Total1.790 km2 (0.691 sq mi)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total24,711
 • Density14,000/km2 (36,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
11224
Area code718, 347, 929, and 917

The origin of Coney Island's name is disputed, but the area was originally part of the colonial town of Gravesend. By the mid-19th century it had become a seaside resort, and by the late 19th century, amusement parks had also been built at the location. The attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century. However, they declined in popularity after World War II and, following years of neglect, several structures were torn down. Various redevelopment projects were proposed for Coney Island in the 1970s through the 2000s, though most of these were not carried out.[3] The area was revitalized with the opening of MCU Park in 2001 and several amusement rides starting in the 2010s.

Coney Island had around 32,000 residents as of the 2010 United States Census. The neighborhood is ethnically diverse, and the neighborhood's poverty rate of 27% is slightly higher than that of the city as a whole.

Coney Island is part of Brooklyn Community District 13, and its primary ZIP Code is 11224.[2] It is patrolled by the 60th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.[4] Fire services are provided by the New York City Fire Department's Engine 245/Ladder 161/Battalion 43 and Engine 318/Ladder 166.[5] Politically, Coney Island is represented by the New York City Council's 47th District. The area is well served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes, and contains several public elementary and middle schools.

Geography and climate

 
Viewed from the air; the Coney Island neighborhood occupies the western end of the Coney Island peninsula.

The Encyclopedia of New York City considers the area west of Ocean Parkway (including Sea Gate and Nortons Point Light) to be part of the Coney Island neighborhood.[6] The neighborhood is situated on the western portion of the Coney Island peninsula, located on the western end of Long Island lying to the west of the Outer Barrier islands along Long Island's southern shore. The peninsula is about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide. It extends into Lower New York Bay with Sheepshead Bay to its northeast, Gravesend Bay and Coney Island Creek to its northwest, and the main part of Brooklyn to its north. At its highest it is 7 feet (2.1 m) above sea level. Coney Island was formerly an actual island, separated from greater Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, and was the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands. A large section of the creek was filled in the 1920s and 1930s, turning the island into a peninsula.[7]: 200 

The perimeter of Coney Island features manmade structures designed to maintain its current shape. The beaches are currently not a natural feature; the sand that is naturally supposed to replenish Coney Island is cut off by the jetty at Breezy Point, Queens.[8][9]: 337  Sand has been redeposited on the beaches via beach nourishment since the construction of Riegelmann Boardwalk in 1922–1923,[10] and is held in place by around two dozen groynes. A large sand-replenishing project along Coney Island and Brighton Beach took place in the 1990s.[9]: 337  Sheepshead Bay at the peninsula's northeast corner is, for the most part, enclosed in bulkheads.[9] Two major parks, Kaiser Park and Coney Island Creek Park, are located on the northwest side of the peninsula along Coney Island Creek.[11][12]

Coney Island has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) and the hardiness zone is 7b.

Climate data for Coney Island, Brooklyn
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 70
(21)
73
(23)
83
(28)
93
(34)
98
(37)
99
(37)
105
(41)
101
(38)
98
(37)
91
(33)
80
(27)
75
(24)
105
(41)
Average high °F (°C) 39
(4)
42
(6)
50
(10)
60
(16)
70
(21)
79
(26)
84
(29)
83
(28)
76
(24)
65
(18)
54
(12)
44
(7)
62
(17)
Average low °F (°C) 25
(−4)
27
(−3)
34
(1)
43
(6)
53
(12)
63
(17)
69
(21)
67
(19)
60
(16)
49
(9)
40
(4)
31
(−1)
47
(8)
Record low °F (°C) −4
(−20)
−2
(−19)
7
(−14)
19
(−7)
35
(2)
44
(7)
51
(11)
50
(10)
39
(4)
29
(−2)
17
(−8)
−1
(−18)
−4
(−20)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.86
(98)
2.99
(76)
4.07
(103)
4.03
(102)
4.40
(112)
3.61
(92)
4.45
(113)
4.16
(106)
4.12
(105)
3.41
(87)
3.86
(98)
3.63
(92)
46.56
(1,183)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 6.7
(17)
7.5
(19)
3.9
(9.9)
0.7
(1.8)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0.3
(0.76)
3.6
(9.1)
22.7
(58)
Source: [13]

Name

The original Native American inhabitants of the region, the Lenape, called this area Narrioch, possibly meaning "land without shadows"[14] or "always in light"[15] in reference to its sunlit south-facing beaches. A second possible meaning is "point" or "corner of land".[16] The "island" was originally several smaller historical islands, each being given a name by Dutch settlers, with the westernmost sand spit or point being given named Conyne Eylandt in early-17th-century Dutch maps, starting with the 1639 Manatus Map.[17][18]

There is no clear historical consensus on how the island got the name "Coney Island", in regular use in the first half of the 19th century with the advent of regular ferry service to the island, but several theories have been put forward.[14][19][20]: 27  One possible etymology is from a Native American tribe, the Konoh or Konoi (the "Bear Band"), who once inhabited the island.[14][19][20]: 27  A second theory suggests that it was distortion of the name of Henry Hudson's second mate on the Halve Maen, John Colman, who was slain by natives on the 1609 expedition.[19][17] A third posits that late 18th century Irish captain Peter O'Connor named it after Coney Island in County Sligo, Ireland.[19][21] Yet other theories suggest a Dutch etymology: one theory holds that the name had come from Conyn, the surname of a family of Dutch settlers who lived there,[19] and another suggests that it came from the Dutch word for rabbit, "konijn", derived from a purported large population of wild rabbits on the island".[19][22][23]

There is little evidence for each origin theory, and there are conflicts between the pieces of evidence that do exist.[19] The most popular idea is the translation of the Dutch word for "rabbit" into the English word coney, but that has its detractors and counter explanations. In 1816 politician and U.S. Founding Father Egbert Benson presented a treatise on New York place names and said it was "Conyn's Island", after the Dutch surname, and noted "there are already symptoms of the beginning of a tradition that it once abounded in Rabbits".[19][24][25] Other historians claim that rabbits were introduced to the island only after it was settled.[20]: 27–28  The 19th century also saw the heavily Irish New York Tammany Hall political machine controlling development of the island, and they may have gotten the name from the island in County Sligo rather than any tale of a rabbit population.[19]

History

Early settlement

Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European explorer to sight the island of Narrioch during his expeditions to the area in 1527 and 1529. He was subsequently followed by Henry Hudson.[26]: 34  Anthony Janszoon van Salee was the first New Netherland settler to acquire land adjacent to Coney Island, in 1639.[27] The Native American population in the area dwindled as the Dutch settlement grew and the entire southern tier of present-day Brooklyn, from Gowanus Creek to Coney Island to Gerritsen Creek, was "purchased" in 1645 from the Native Americans in exchange for goods.[28] The goods were not recorded in the deed, but later accounts mention a gun, a blanket, and a kettle.[29][30]

In 1644, a colonist named Guysbert Op Dyck was given a land patent for 88 acres of land in the town of Gravesend, on the southwestern shore of Brooklyn.[31] The land patent included Conyne Island, an island just off the southwestern shore of the town of Gravesend, as well as Conyne Hook, a peninsula just east of the island. Both became part of Gravesend when its first town charter was granted a year later, in 1645.[26]: 4 [32] East of Conyne Hook was the largest section of island called Gysbert's, Guysbert's, or Guisbert's Island (also called Johnson Island), containing most of the arable land and extending east through today's Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach.[26]: 34 [33][34] This was officially the first official real estate transaction for the island.[32] Op Dyck never occupied his land, and in 1661 he sold it off to Dick De Wolf. The land's new owner banned Gravesend residents from using Guisbert's Island and built a salt-works on the land, provoking outrage among Gravesend livestock herders. New Amsterdam was transferred to the English in 1664, and four years later, the English Governor created a new charter for Gravesend that excluded Coney Island. Subsequently, Guisbert's Island was divided into plots meted out to several dozen settlers. However, in 1685, the island became part of Gravesend again as a result of a new charter with the Native Americans.[26]: 36 

 
Detail of a 1776 nautical chart showing the collection of islands and shifting sand that eventually became present-day Coney Island

At the time of European settlement, the land that makes up the present-day Coney Island was divided across several separate islands. All of these islands were part of the outer barrier on the southern shore of Long Island, and their land areas and boundaries changed frequently.[26]: 34  Only the westernmost island was called Coney Island; it currently makes up part of Sea Gate. At the time, it was a 1.25-mile shifting sandspit with a detached island at its western end extending into Lower New York Bay.[17] In a 1679–1680 journal, Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter noted that "Conijnen Eylandt" was fully separated from the rest of Brooklyn. The explorers observed that "Nobody lives upon it, but it is used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen, hogs and others."[17][26]: 36 

By the early 18th century, the town of Gravesend was periodically granting seven-year-long leases to freeholders, who would then have the exclusive use of Coney Hook and Coney Island. In 1734, a road to Coney Hook was laid out.[26]: 37  Thomas Stillwell, a prominent Gravesend resident who was the freeholder for Coney Island and Coney Hook at the time, proposed to build a ditch through Coney Hook so it would be easier for his cattle to graze. He convinced several friends in the nearby town of Jamaica to help him in this effort, telling them that the creation of such a ditch would allow them to ship goods from Jamaica Bay to New York Harbor without having to venture out into the ocean.[26]: 37  In 1750, the "Jamaica Ditch" was dug through Coney Hook from Brown's Creek in the west to Hubbard's Creek in the east.[26]: 34 [35] The creation of the canal turned Coney Hook into a detached 0.5-mile-long (0.80 km) island called Pine Island, so named due to the woods on it.[26]: 34 

Each island was separated by an inlet that could only be crossed at low tide. By the end of the 18th century, the ongoing shifting of sand along the barrier islands had closed up the inlets to the point that residents began filling them in and joining them as one island. Development of Coney Island was slow until the 19th century due to land disputes, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812.[34] Coney Island was so remote that Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick on the island in 1849, and Henry Clay and Daniel Webster discussed the Missouri Compromise at the island the next year.[36]

Resort development

 
Railroad station in Coney Island, Brooklyn, c. 1872–1887

In 1824, the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company built the first bridge across Jamaica Ditch (by now known as Coney Island Creek), connecting the island with the mainland. The company also built a shell road across the island to the beaches.[34][37] In 1829, the company also built the first hotel on the island: the Coney Island House, near present-day Sea Gate.[37][38]: 8 [39]

Due to Coney Island's proximity to Manhattan and other boroughs, and its simultaneous relative distance from the city of Brooklyn to provide the illusion of a proper vacation, it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, assisted by carriage roads and steamship service that reduced travel time from a formerly half-day journey to two hours.[40]: 15  Most of the vacationers were wealthy and went by carriage. Inventor Samuel Colt built an observation tower on the peninsula in 1845, but he abandoned the project soon after.[39] In 1847, the middle class started going to Coney Island upon the introduction of a ferry line to Norton's Point—named during the mid-1870s after hotel owner Michael Norton—at the western portion of the peninsula. Gang activity started as well, with one 1870s writer noting that going to Coney Island could result in losing money and even lives.[39] The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad became the first railroad to reach Coney Island when it opened in 1864,[41][42] and it was completed in 1867.[43]: 71  Over the next 13 years, four more railroads were built specifically to transport visitors to Coney Island; this was part of a larger national trend toward trolley park development.[44]: 14 

In 1868, William A. Engeman built a resort in the area.[45] The resort was given the name "Brighton Beach" in 1878 by Henry C. Murphy and a group of businessmen, who chose the name as an allusion to the English resort city of Brighton.[46][42] With the help of Gravesend's surveyor William Stillwell, Engeman acquired all 39 lots for the relatively low cost of $20,000.[47][38]: 38  This 460-by-210-foot (140 by 64 m) hotel, with rooms for up to 5,000 people nightly and meals for up to 20,000 people daily, was close to the then-rundown western Coney Island, so it was mostly the upper middle class that went to this hotel.[48] The 400-foot (120 m), double-decker Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion was also built nearby and opened in 1878, with the capacity for 1,200 bathers.[49][38]: 38 [42] Hotel Brighton, also known as the Brighton Beach Hotel, was situated on the beach at what is now the foot of Coney Island Avenue.[45][50]: 248  The Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway, the predecessor to the New York City Subway's present-day Brighton Line, opened on July 2, 1878, and provided access to the hotel.[51][38]: 38 [52]

Simultaneously, wealthy banker Austin Corbin was developing adjacent Manhattan Beach after being interested in the area during a trip to the beach to heal his sick son.[45][53] Corbin, who worked on Wall Street and had many railroad investments, built the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway for his two luxury shoreline hotels. These hotels were used by the wealthy upper class, who would not go to Brighton Beach because of its proximity to Coney Island.[45] The 150-room Manhattan Beach Hotel—which was designed by J. Pickering Putnam and contained restaurants, ballrooms, and shops—was opened for business in July 1877 at a ceremony presided over by President Ulysses S. Grant.[53][54] The similarly prodigal Oriental Hotel, which hosted rooms for wealthy families staying for extended periods, was opened in August 1880.[53][55]

Andrew R. Culver, president of the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad,[56] had built the Culver Line steam railway to West Brighton in 1875,[50]: 248  before Corbin and Engeman had even built their railroads. For 35 cents, one could ride the Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad to the Culver Depot terminal at Surf Avenue.[45] Across the street from the terminal, the 300-foot (91 m) Iron Tower (also known as the Centennial Observatory), bought from the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, provided patrons with a bird's-eye view of the coast. The nearby "Camera Obscura" similarly used mirrors and lens to provide a panoramic view of the area.[45][57]: 22–23  Coney Island became a major resort destination after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s, followed by the Iron Steamboat Company ferry to Manhattan in 1881.[38]: 29 [43]: 64 

The 150-suite Cable Hotel was built nearby in 1875.[51] Next to it, on a 12-acre (4.9 ha) piece of land leased by James Voorhies, maitre d' Paul Bauer built the western peninsula's largest hotel, which opened in 1876.[45] By the turn of the century, Victorian hotels, private bathhouses, and vaudeville theaters were a common sight on Coney island.[58]: 147  The three resort areas—Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and West Brighton—competed with each other for clientele. By the early 1900s, West Brighton had gradually become the most popular destination, and as such, became associated with the lively amusement area of Coney Island.[59][44]: 14–15 

In the 1890s, Norton's Point on the western side of Coney Island was developed into Sea Gate, a gated summer community that catered mainly to the wealthy.[60][61] A private yacht carried visitors directly from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Notable tenants within the community included the Atlantic Yacht Club, which built a colonial style house along the waterfront.[62]

Amusement park era

 
One of the large parks, Luna Park, Main Lagoon, 1907

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. Its development as an amusement area was concurrent with the erection of urban amusement parks elsewhere in the United States, which changed amusement from a passive to an active concept.[63]: 7, 8  Of these amusement areas, Coney Island was the largest. At its height, it contained three competing major amusement parks—Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park—as well as many independent amusements.[58]: 147–150 [64]: 11 [63]: 4  The area was also the center of new technological events and innovations including electric lights, roller coasters, and baby incubators.[58]: 147  By the first decade of the 20th century, Coney Island was seen as a top getaway and "a symbol of Americans' increasing pride".[64]: 21–22 

19th century

 
First Coney Island Charles Looff carousel

By the late 1870s, Coney Island's hotels had drawn people from many different social classes, and attractions were being built.[57]: 30  When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements.[51][65] Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver, built the first carousel and amusement ride at Coney Island in 1876, at Lucy Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. Looff personally hand-carved the designs into the carousel.[66] Looff subsequently commissioned another carousel at Feltman's Ocean Pavilion in 1880.[57]: 88  Another early attraction was the Seaside Aquarium, which operated from 1877 to 1887 and included aquatic exhibits, aviaries, zoo attractions, and various sideshows.[57]: 31 [44]: 15  The earliest rides, including Looff's first carousel and the Seaside Aquarium, were located at the Centennial Observatory's site.[57]: 32  The first sideshows and fireworks displays came to Coney Island in 1883, and combined with constant musical performances, brought increased excitement to the area.[57]: 34–37 

The very first roller coaster at Coney Island was the Switchback Railway, a gravity coaster installed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson at West 10th Street in 1884. Nearby was the Elephantine Colossus, a seven-story building (including a brothel) in the shape of an elephant, which opened the following year.[57]: 38–39  Until its demolition in 1896, the elephant was the first sight to greet immigrants arriving in New York, who would see it before they saw the Statue of Liberty.[57]: 40–42 [67] Next to be developed were horse-racing tracks, and by 1890, Coney Island had three tracks: Sheepshead Bay Race Track, Brighton Beach Race Course, and Gravesend Race Track.[57]: 46 [50]: 248  Julian Ralph described Coney Island in 1896 as "the first made-to-order resort in America", with many businesses having "leaped from nothing into full fledged perfection".[50]: 248  However, crime and corruption in Coney Island were prevalent. The main leader of this corruption was John Y. McKane, who ran prizefighting rings behind the elephant until he was arrested and sentenced in 1894.[57]: 48–51 [68]

The development of amusement rides in Coney Island intensified in the 1890s with the opening of amusement parks. The first such park was Sea Lion Park, which operated from 1895 to 1902 and was the first amusement park to charge entry fees. Sea Lion Park's opening spurred the construction of George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park, which opened in 1897.[64]: 12 [50]: 249 [69] The Coney Island "Funny Face" logo, which is still extant, dates to the early days of Steeplechase Park.[70]

 
Map of Coney Island in 1879

Early 20th century

 
Dreamland, one of the three large parks, c. 1905
 
Coney Island, c. 1914, by Edward Henry Potthast

The first decade of the 20th century saw two more large amusement parks. Luna Park opened in 1903 on the site of Sea Lion Park, which had closed the previous year.[71][50]: 249 [57]: 60–61  The park contained a variety of attractions and exotic landscaping, lit by electricity at night;[50]: 249–250  its flagship ride was A Trip to the Moon, an attraction based on Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon.[57]: 62  The following year saw the opening of Dreamland, which reproduced many attractions at Luna Park, but at a grander scale, with a large central tower and lagoon, a sunken plaza, and one million electric lights.[50]: 250 [57]: 68–69 [72] Additionally, the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue in an effort to reclaim the beach and create a boardwalk, though the local amusement community opposed the move.[73] Eventually, the city government and the community reached an agreement mandating that the beach did not begin until 1,000 feet (300 m) south of Surf Avenue and that the territory would be marked by a city-owned boardwalk. In return, the city would demolish any structures built upon public streets to reclaim beach access.[74]

The original resorts lost patronage after horse racing in New York state was outlawed in 1909, but the amusement areas still saw significant patronage.[50]: 249  In 1915, the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the Stillwell Avenue station in 1919 ushered in Coney Island's busiest era.[51][65] On the busiest summer days, over a million people would travel to Coney Island. This created tensions between longtime New York City residents and more recent immigrants who liked to patronize Coney Island.[64]: 23  One of the entrepreneurs who took advantage of the increased visitor counts was Nathan Handwerker, who in 1916 started selling hot dogs at Coney Island for a nickel each, and eventually expanded his enterprise into the Nathan's Famous hot dog chain.[36][64]: 22–23 

 
Coney Island in 1920

Coney Island's development as an amusement area continued through the end of World War II. The opening of the Wonder Wheel in 1920; the Riegelmann Boardwalk in 1923; the Shore Theater in 1925; several roller coasters in the 1920s including the Tornado, Thunderbolt, and Coney Island Cyclone; and the Parachute Jump in 1941 contributed to the area's quality as an amusement destination. In particular, the Riegelmann Boardwalk enabled the crowds to be dispersed away from Surf Avenue, the main west–east avenue in the area.[58]: 147 [64]: 23–24  Despite staff shortages during World War II, Coney Island retained its popularity and was frequented by military personnel.[75]

 
Steeplechase Park, 1905

The era was also marked by frequent fires, and those at the beginning of the 20th century were particularly destructive.[76][77] A 1907 fire at Steeplechase Park[78][79] resulted in the park having to be completely rebuilt.[80] Dreamland burned down in 1911[81] and was never rebuilt.[76] One of the largest conflagrations at Coney Island, which occurred in 1932,[76][77] left at least a thousand people homeless.[82]

The early 20th century additionally saw the infilling of a portion of the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) Coney Island Creek, thereby connecting Coney Island to the rest of Brooklyn. In the previous decades, there had been plans to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, which were later abandoned. By 1924, local landowners and the city had filled a portion of the creek.[9]: 337 [7]: 200  A major section of the creek was further filled in to allow construction of the Belt Parkway in the 1930s, and the western and eastern ends of the island became peninsulas.[7]: 200  More fill was added in 1962 during the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.[83]

Residential development and decline

Robert Moses era

Coney Island, c. 1940
 
Bathers in Coney Island, by Irving Underhill, in the Brooklyn Museum collection

In 1937, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses published a report about the possible redevelopment of Coney Island, which would have entailed the addition of parking lots and reconstruction of part of the boardwalk.[84] The city purchased a 400-foot-wide (120 m) strip of land along the shoreline, which would allow the boardwalk to be moved 300 feet (91 m) inland.[85] At this point, Coney Island was so crowded on summer weekends that, according to Moses, a coffin would provide more space per person.[36] Though ride construction was delayed due to material shortages caused by the onset of World War II, two new rides were constructed in 1946 at the end of the war.[86]

In August 1944, Luna Park was destroyed by a fire.[87] Two years later, it was closed permanently and sold to a company who wanted to tear down the park's remnants and build Quonset huts for military veterans and their families.[88] Moses asked the city to transfer Luna Park's land along the Coney Island waterfront to the Parks Department, a request that was granted in 1949.[89] Moses then had the land rezoned for residential use, with plans to demolish "about a third" of attractions along Surf Avenue, one block north of the beach, and replace these with housing.[90] Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards, demolishing many structures, including the city's municipal bath house, as well as several blocks of amusements.[58]: 149  He claimed that fewer amusement-seekers were going to Coney Island every year, because they preferred places where they could bathe outdoors, such as Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, rather than the "mechanical gadget" attractions of Coney Island.[90] Moses also announced that the Steeplechase Pier would be closed for a year so it could be renovated.[91]

In 1953, Moses proposed that most of the peninsula be rezoned for various uses, claiming that it would be an "upgrade" over the various business and unrestricted zones that existed at the time. Steeplechase Park would be allowed to remain open, but much of the shorefront amusements and concessions would be replaced by residential developments.[92][93] After many complaints from the public and from concession operators, the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22nd and West Eighth Streets as an amusement-only zone, with the zone extending 200 to 400 feet (61 to 122 m) inland from the shoreline.[94][95] Moses's subsequent proposal to extend the Coney Island boardwalk east to Manhattan Beach was denied in 1955.[96] A proposal to make the Quonset hut development into a permanent housing structure was also rejected.[97]

A new building for the New York Aquarium was approved for construction in the neighborhood in 1953.[98]: 687 [99] Construction started on the aquarium in 1954.[93] The development of the new New York Aquarium was expected to revitalize Coney Island.[100][93] By 1955, the area still included four children's amusement areas, five roller coasters, several flat and dark rides, and various other attractions such as the Wonder Wheel.[100] The New York Aquarium's new site opened in June 1957.[101] At this point, there were still several dozen rides on Coney Island.[36]

Fred Trump era

During the summers of 1964 and 1965, there was a large decrease in the number of visitors to Coney Island because of the 1964/1965 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens.[102] Crime increases, insufficient parking facilities, bad weather, and the post-World War II automotive boom were also cited as contributing factors in the visitor decrease. During the summer of 1964, concessionaires saw their lowest profits in a quarter-century. Ride operators reported that they had 30% to 90% fewer visitors in 1964 compared to the previous year.[103]

A small amusement park called Astroland was announced for the boardwalk in 1962, to open the following year.[104] Steeplechase Park, the last remaining large amusement park in Coney Island, closed permanently after the 1964 season.[105][57]: 172  The surrounding blocks were filled with amusement rides and concessions that were closed or about to close.[57]: 172  The rides at Steeplechase Park were auctioned off, and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump, who in 1965 announced that he wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property.[106] At the time, residential developments on Coney Island in general were being built at a rapid rate. The peninsula, which had 34,000 residents in 1961, was expected to have more than double that number by the end of 1964. Many of the new residents moved into middle-income co-operative housing developments such as Trump Village, Warbasse Houses, and Luna Park Apartments; these replaced what The New York Times described as "a rundown sprawl of rickety houses".[107] Developers were spending millions of dollars on new housing developments, and by 1966, the peninsula housed almost 100,000 people.[102]

During 1966, developers tried to revitalize the Coney Island boardwalk as an amusement area.[102] Trump destroyed Steeplechase Park's Pavilion of Fun during a highly publicized ceremony that September.[57]: 172 [108] In its stead, Trump proposed building a 160-foot-high (49 m) enclosed dome with recreational facilities and a convention center, a plan supported by Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark.[109] The next month, the city announced its plans to acquire the 125 acres (51 ha) of the former Steeplechase Park,[110] a move that many residents supported but that Trump considered to be "wasteful".[111] In January 1968, New York City parks commissioner August Heckscher II proposed that the New York state government build an "open-space" state park on the Steeplechase site,[112] and that May, the New York City Board of Estimate voted in favor of funding to buy the land from Trump.[113][114] Condemnation of the site started in 1969.[115] The city ultimately purchased the proposed park's site for $4 million, with a stipulation blocking Trump from developing the site as apartments.[116][117]

Trump filed a series of court cases related to the proposed residential rezoning, and ultimately won a $1.3 million judgment.[115] The Steeplechase Park site laid empty for several years. Trump started subleasing the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements called "Steeplechase Park" on part of the site.[57]: 172 [115] The city also leased the boardwalk and parking lot sites at extremely low rates, which resulted in a $1 million loss of revenue over the following seven years. Since the city wanted to build the state park on the site of Kaufman's Steeplechase Park, it attempted to evict him by refusing to grant a lease extension.[118]

Late-1970s attempts at restoration

 
A 1973 photo of an abandoned "Giant Slide" that had been set up for a few years on the old Steeplechase site

The 1970s brought along further renewal plans, such as proposals to construct public housing, though the community was beset by social issues such as high crime and a drug epidemic.[114] By 1975, the city was considering demolishing the Coney Island Cyclone in favor of an extension of the adjacent New York Aquarium.[58]: 153  The proposed demolition was controversial,[119] and after a refurbishment by Astroland, the Cyclone reopened for the summer 1975 season.[120] The abandoned Parachute Jump was left in situ, and the New York City Board of Estimate planned to tear down the structure.[57]: 174 [121] In the meanwhile, Coney Island was still affected by a perception of crime and deterioration of old rides, but by the mid-1970s, middle-class families started returning to Coney Island following the implementation of a unified admission ticket to Coney Island's amusement areas.[122]

The city continued to pursue litigation over the site occupied by Norman Kaufman, but for over a decade, was unsuccessful.[115] It had no plan for the proposed state park, and in 1975 the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly withdrew a proposed grant of $2 million to fund the proposed park.[118] The city ultimately accepted the grant, though different city agencies still disagreed over whether to return the funds.[123] Kaufman continued to operate the site until the end of summer 1980. The following June, the city paid Kaufman a million dollars for the rides, effectively evicting him, even though the amusements were estimated to be worth much less.[124][117]

In 1979, the state announced that it would be conducting a report on the feasibility of legalizing gambling in New York State. Mayor Ed Koch proposed that the state open casinos in New York City to revitalize the area's economy.[125] Residents and politicians supported the idea of building casinos at Coney Island, which they felt would alleviate its poverty, crime, and property vacancy rates.[126] However, there was substantial controversy over the plans to place a gambling site in Coney Island.[127] The state's interest in legalizing gambling had subsided by 1981, and the New York state legislature failed to take action on such proposal.[128][124]

In an effort to reduce crime, the city also began demolishing abandoned bungalows on Coney Island.[114] By 1982, the area was filled with vacant lots, though several residential developments were being planned for Coney Island.[129] Having finally acquired Kaufman's rides, the New York City government began advertising for developers to redevelop the former amusement park area that November.[128] The Mermaid-Neptune Development Corporation constructed three residential developments at the neighborhood's western edge, with a combined total of 430 units. These developments were completed through the mid-1980s.[130] Even so, the area still suffered from drug-related killings and other crimes, especially west of West 20th Street. Former amusement structures such as the Parachute Jump lay unused, and prostitutes roamed around the neighborhood at night.[131][117] Through the 1980s, prostitution and drug use in Coney Island increased, as did the area's murder and felony crime rate.[132] By the late 1980s, deadly shootings were common, particularly in the low-income housing developments inside Coney Island.[133] Commercial activity also decreased, and by 1990, storefronts on Mermaid Avenue had decreased by 90%, from over 400 stores before the urban renewal to 39 stores afterward.[114]

Revival

Bullard deal, Sportsplex, and KeySpan Park

 
Co-ops on Coney Island

In the mid-1980s, restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding Steeplechase Park.[58]: 150 [117] On the site bounded by West 15th and 19th Streets between Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, Bullard wanted to build a $55 million amusement park based on the originals. The city agreed, and the project was approved in 1985.[58]: 150 [116] Bullard planned to open the park by mid-1986 to coincide with the Statue of Liberty's centennial.[116] However, the project was delayed while the New York City Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report.[134] By early 1987, the cost of the amusement park nearly doubled, to $100 million.[135]

Concurrently, in December 1986, the New York State Urban Development Corporation formally proposed a 17,000-seat minor-league baseball stadium north of the boardwalk between West 19th and West 22nd Streets as well as 15,000-seat indoor arena north of the Abe Stark Rink. Negotiations were ongoing with the Mets and Yankees to ensure their support for the minor-league stadium.[136][137] State senator Thomas Bartosiewicz attempted to block Bullard's plan, as he was part of a foundation that had promised another developer, Sportsplex, the right to build an amateur sports arena on the site.[135][137] Construction was held up for another four years, and by 1989, Bullard and the city were ready to sign a contract that would allow the developer to construct a 60-ride amusement park on a 25-acre (10 ha) waterfront strip, which would be completed by 2002.[138] Other proposals for the area included a $7.9 million restoration of the boardwalk, as well as a new high-school and college sports stadium.[134]

Some of Coney Island's iconic rides were designated as official city landmarks during the late 1980s.[139] In 1988, the Cyclone roller coaster was made a New York City designated landmark.[140] This was followed by the Parachute Jump and the Wonder Wheel in 1989.[139][141] The neighborhood's high crime rate had reversed slightly by the 1990s. However, Coney Island's relative isolation from the rest of New York City, along with its ethnic diversity, deprived the area of significant political power, and to a greater extent money.[142]

After Rudy Giuliani took office as New York City mayor in 1994, he negated the Bullard deal by approving the construction of a minor-league baseball stadium on the site allotted for Steeplechase Park.[58]: 150  Giuliani had wanted to build Sportsplex in order to improve sports facilities in the area, and to create a professional baseball team in Brooklyn.[143] By the late 1990s, some $67 million had been secured for the development of Sportsplex.[144] In 1997, developer Bruce Ratner proposed constructing a $100 million entertainment complex between West 9th and West 15th Streets, with a "virtual-reality amusement park" as well as a movie theater multiplex.[145] Concurrently, a four-phase, 873-unit housing development in Coney Island was completed in 1996.[146]

In 1998, Giuliani canceled Sportsplex and the entertainment complex, and instead unveiled another plan where only the parking lot would be built. The Sports Foundation had prepared another proposal that would allow a scaled-down Sportsplex to be built next to the minor-league baseball stadium.[144] The minor league team was called the Brooklyn Cyclones, though naming rights to the stadium were sold to Keyspan Energy. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the Thunderbolt as part of a scaled-down amusement park, but it was demolished instead.[58]: 150  In 2000, the city approved the $31 million project to construct Keyspan Park using the funds from the canceled Sportsplex,[147] and the minor-league baseball stadium opened the following year.[148] Other major projects at the time included the reconstruction of Coney Island's sewers and the refurbishment of the Stillwell Avenue subway station,[144] the latter of which was completed in 2005.[149]

Thor Equities ownership and rezoning proposals

 
The Wonder Wheel and Astroland Park from a Coney Island beach

In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the New York City bid of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation. When the city lost the Olympic bid, the plans were passed to the Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC), which made modified plans.[150] Shortly before the CIDC's plans were to be publicly released, a development company named Thor Equities purchased all of Bullard's 168,000-square-foot (15,600 m2) western property for $13 million, later selling the property to Taconic Investment Partners for over $90 million.[58]: 158  Taconic now had 100 acres (40 ha), on which it planned to build 2,000 apartment units.[58]: 158–159 [151] Thor then went about using much of its $77 million profit to purchase property on Stillwell Avenue for well over market value, and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area.[58]: 158–159 

In September 2005, Thor's founder, Joe Sitt, unveiled his new plans for a large Bellagio-style hotel resort with a timeshare development, surrounded by rides and amusements. The CIDC report suggested adding year-round commercial and amusement area, and recommended that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark Rink could be rezoned for other uses, including residential.[150] Sitt, a resident of the area, spent more than $100 million to buy land in Coney Island.[152] Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose husband's family had owned the park since its 1962 opening, sold the site to Thor in November 2006. Two months later, Thor released renderings for a $1.5 billion amusement park, entertainment complex, and indoor water park called Coney Island Park.[153][154]

In 2007, the DCP started circulating a rezoning plan that would cover 47 acres (19 ha) of Coney Island. The city would spend $120 million to redevelop 15 acres (6.1 ha) into an amusement park surrounded by around 5,000 new housing units.[155][156] The Aquarium was also planning a renovation in conjunction with the rezoning.[154] The city's and Sitt's proposals directly conflicted: Sitt wanted to build housing inside the amusement park, while the city's rezoning would create a special amusement district where residential development was forbidden.[156][157] In April 2008, because of objections from land owners, residents, and developers, the city revised its rezoning proposal. Only 9 acres would be used as an amusement park, while private owners and developers could build on the rest of the land as long as they followed the DCP's general master plan.[158] While the city negotiated with Thor, Sitt evicted several amusement operators on his land, including Astroland, in the expectation that he would soon be able to redevelop it.[159]

 
Senior housing on Coney Island

The DCP certified the rezoning plan in January 2009,[160] which allowed the city to create a 9.4-acre (3.8 ha) amusement district.[161] At the time, Thor Equities said it hoped to complete the project by 2011.[162] In June 2009, the city's planning commission approved the construction of 4,500 units of housing, including 900 affordable units, and promised to preserve affordable housing already in the neighborhood.[163][161] Subsequently, the city government paid Sitt $95.6 million for 7 acres (2.8 ha) of land.[161] The nonprofit civic group Municipal Art Society wanted the city-operated park to be larger, though the city was reluctant to spend so much money.[157]

Progress on expansion

The Zipper and Spider on West 12th Street were closed permanently and dismantled in September 2007 after its owner lost his lease.[164] The same year, plans to restore Coney Island's historic B&B Carousell were revealed.[165] After Astroland closed in 2008,[166] it was replaced by a new Dreamland in 2009[167] and by a new Luna Park in 2010.[168][169] In April 2011, the first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eighty years were opened as part of efforts to reverse the decline of the amusement area.[170] The B&B Carousell reopened in 2013 at Luna Park.[171] The Thunderbolt steel roller coaster, named after the original wooden coaster on the site, was opened in June 2014.[172] Furthermore, a live performance venue, the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, opened on the boardwalk in 2016.[173]

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused major damage to the Coney Island amusement parks, the Aquarium, and businesses. Despite this, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was held the following summer, as usual.[174] Luna Park at Coney Island reopened as scheduled on March 24, 2013.[175] Rebuilding of the aquarium started in early 2013, and a major expansion of the aquarium opened in summer 2018.[176][177]

 
Conversion of the Shore Theater into a hotel, seen in 2019

In August 2018, the NYCEDC and NYC Parks announced that Luna Park would be expanded between West 15th and West 16th Streets, next to the Thunderbolt.[178][179] There would be 3 public plazas and an amusement arcade within the newly expanded amusement area.[179][180] The same month, it was also announced that a 50-room boutique hotel was being planned for Coney Island within the former Shore Theater on Surf and Stillwell Avenues.[181][182] The city also expressed its intent to demolish the Abe Stark Rink and redevelop the site, as per the 2009 rezoning, though residents wanted NYC Parks to retain control over the site rather than sell it off to a private developer.[183] Many of these construction projects were placed on hold in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. That year, the businesses and amusement parks at Coney Island either operated in a sharply reduced capacity or did not open at all.[184][185][186] The parks reopened for the 2021 season,[187] and Luna Park's expansion commenced in October 2021.[188][189]

The addition of new amusements coincided with the development of over 2,000 new residential units on empty lots, through the early 2020s.[190][191] These included a 1,000-unit mega-development and a 40-story, 522-unit residential tower that would be the tallest in southern Brooklyn.[192][193] In November 2022, Sitt proposed constructing a casino at Coney Island to attract tourists.[194][195] This proposal followed an announcement by New York state officials in April 2022 that they would issue three casino licenses in Downstate New York.[196][197]

Oral history archive

In 2004, the Coney Island History Project began collecting stories of Coney Island from longtime residents.[198] The CIHP records, archives, and shares oral history interviews about Coney Island.[198] The organizations conducts interviews in English, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish.[199] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the CIHP continued to record interviews via phone or Skype.[200] As of 2020 over 370 interviews were available online via the Coney Island History Project Oral History Archive.[201][202][203]

Amusement parks and attractions

Coney Island has two amusement parks, Luna Park and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, as well as several rides that are not incorporated into either amusement park. These are owned and managed by several different companies and operate independently of each other. Coney Island also has several other visitor attractions such as skeeball and ball tossing, as well as a sideshow, that contains shooting, throwing, and tossing skills. The area hosts renowned events as well. Coney Island's amusement area is one of a few in the United States that is not mostly owned by any one entity.[58]: 153 

Rides

Current rides

Coney Island contains three rides with landmark status. One is a New York City designated landmark, another is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and a third is both a city landmark and a NRHP-listed landmark.[204][205][206]

The Wonder Wheel, opened in 1920, is a steel Ferris wheel with both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track.[207] It holds 144 riders, stands 150 ft (46 m) tall, weighs over 200 short tons (180 long tons; 180 t), and is located at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.[3]: 47  The Wonder Wheel was made a city landmark in 1989.[204]: 1 

The B&B Carousell (as spelled by the frame's builder, William F. Mangels) is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, near the old entrance to Luna Park. The carousel was built circa 1906–1909 with a traditional roll-operated fairground organ. It was relocated multiple times, most recently to Luna Park's Steeplechase Plaza in 2013,[171] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[208][209]

The Coney Island Cyclone, opened in 1927, is one of the United States' oldest wooden roller coasters still in operation. The Cyclone includes an 85 ft (26 m), 58-degree drop. It is owned by the City of New York, and is operated by Luna Park under a franchise agreement.[210] The Cyclone was made a city landmark in 1988[205]: 1 [140] and was listed on the NRHP in 1991.[211] The Cyclone is New York City's only remaining wooden coaster and is considered "irreplaceable", since timber-supported coasters can no longer be built under modern city building codes.[212]

There are also multiple other rides in Coney Island. In March 2014, construction started on the new Thunderbolt, a steel roller coaster that was manufactured by Zamperla at a cost of $10 million. The ride features 2,000 feet (610 m) of track, a height of 125 feet (38 m), and a top speed of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), as well as four inversions.[213] The Thunderbolt opened in June 2014.[214]

There are also multiple bumper car rides in Coney Island, all operated separately. As of 2019, these include an attraction in Deno's Wonder Wheel Park,[215] as well as Eldorado Auto Skooter on Surf Avenue. Historically, the earliest bumper car rides were located in Coney Island.[216] Furthermore, two traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island: Spook-a-Rama at Deno's,[215] and Ghost Hole on West 12th Street adjacent to Deno's.[217]

Former rides

 
The original Thunderbolt in 1995

Coney Island has had three major amusement parks in its past—Steeplechase Park (1897–1964), Luna Park (1903–1944), and Dreamland (1904–1911)—as well as several standalone attractions.[57]: 74 [218] In addition, Astroland operated at the site of the current Luna Park from 1962 to 2008,[219] while a second Dreamland operated at that site for only the 2009 season.[220][221]

In addition to the rides in Coney Island's former amusement parks, there were also several dozen roller coasters that are now defunct.[222] The Comet, next to the Cyclone's current site, was built in 1921 and destroyed in 1945.[3]: 46  Another coaster, the Oriental Scenic Railway, was created by LaMarcus Adna Thompson in 1887,[57]: 98–99 [3]: 41  and was demolished in 1955 to be replaced with a "hot rod" amusement ride.[100] The steeplechase roller coaster, created by Steeplechase Park operator George C. Tilyou in 1897, consisted of people riding wooden horses around the park on a steel track.[33] The original wooden Thunderbolt coaster, located between West 15th and West 16th Streets, was constructed in 1925, closed in 1983, and torn down in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park.[223][224] Nearby was Tornado, a wooden coaster constructed in 1926,[64]: 24 [225] and destroyed by arson in 1977.[226]

Coney Island also contains one defunct ride that is still standing, the Parachute Jump. Originally built as the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, this was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 262 ft (80 m) in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. The Parachute Jump was closed in the 1960s, but was officially preserved,[105] having been listed on the NRHP in 1980[227] and made a city landmark in 1989.[228]: 1 [141]

Beaches

 
The beach at Coney Island in June 2016, with the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge visible on the horizon

There is a broad public sand beach that starts at Sea Gate at West 37th Street, through the central Coney Island area and Brighton Beach, to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately 2.7 mi (4.3 km). The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann Boardwalk. Numerous amusements, as well as the aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades, are directly accessible from the landward side of the boardwalk.[229][230] The boardwalk in Manhattan Beach, located within Manhattan Beach Park, is not connected with the Riegelmann Boardwalk.[231]

The beaches in Coney Island used to be private until 1923 when the city bought all the land on the waterfront and created the Riegelmann Boardwalk and Beach.[232] Today, only the sand beach inside Sea Gate is private; it is accessible solely to residents of that community.[230]

The public beaches are maintained on a regular basis by the city. Because sand no longer naturally deposits on the beach, it is replenished in regular beach nourishment projects using dredged sand.[8] The public beaches are open and free to use, though the boardwalk is closed during nights from 1 to 5 a.m.[233] The beach area is divided into several sections by rock groynes that were built in the 1920s to prevent erosion.[234]: 15 

There are several clubs that host activities on Coney Island's beach. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club consists of a group of people who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months. Their most popular event is an annual swim on New Year's Day.[235][3]: 50  The beach also serves as the training grounds for the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers, a group dedicated to promoting open water swimming, which hosts several open water swim races each year.[236][237]

 
The boardwalk around sunset

Public parks

There are several public parks in Coney Island, operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Parks within the main Coney Island neighborhood include:[238]

  • The Abe Stark Skating Rink, located on the south side of Surf Avenue between West 19th and West 20th Streets, adjacent to the boardwalk. It opened in 1970.[239]
  • Coney Island Creek Park, located along the south shore of Coney Island Creek. Opened in 1984, it is composed mostly of plants.[12]
  • Leon S. Kaiser Park, located on the northern side of Neptune Avenue between West 24th and West 32nd Streets, and contains playgrounds, athletic facilities, fitness equipment, and open spaces for barbecuing.[11]
  • Poseidon Playground, located along the beach between West 25th and West 27th Streets, and contains water spray showers, playgrounds, and handball courts.[240]
  • Steeplechase Park, located along the beach between West 16th and West 19th Streets. It contains a public plaza with seating, as well as MCU Park, a minor league baseball stadium.[241]
  • Surf Playground, located on the south side of Surf Avenue between West 25th and West 27th Streets, just north of Poseidon Playground. It contains basketball courts, playgrounds, and water spray showers.[242]

Other attractions

The New York Aquarium opened in 1957 on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park.[101] It is located on 602 Surf Avenue between West 5th and West 10th Streets.[243] As of 2018, the New York Aquarium consists of five exhibits: Aquatheater; Conservation Hall; Sea Cliffs; Sharks, Rays & Turtles; and Ocean Wonders: Sharks.[244] The original Bathysphere, a deep-sea submersible that made historic journeys underwater in the 1930s, is on display at the aquarium.[245]

Maimonides Park is located on the former site of Steeplechase Park. Opened in 2001 as KeySpan Park,[148] it hosts the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team.[246] In 2010, it was renamed after the Municipal Credit Union (MCU), the city's largest credit union, in an eleven-year naming rights deal which ended in 2021.[247][248]

In June 2016, the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island opened on the boardwalk to the west of Maimondies Park, hosting several live musical acts as well as other events.[249] It was constructed at the location of the Childs Restaurant, which was originally constructed in 1923 and was renovated when the amphitheater was being constructed. The rooftop part of the restaurant reopened in July 2016.[250]

The nonprofit organization Coney Island USA also operates the Coney Island Museum, a collection of memorabilia that chronicles the history of the neighborhood. The museum opened in 1980, and is located at 1208 Surf Avenue near the intersection with West 12th Street.[251] It charges a $5 admission fee per adult.[252][253] Another nonprofit founded in 2004, the Coney Island History Project, operates a space near the Wonder Wheel.[254]

Events

 
The Freak Bar

Coney Island USA sponsors various seasonal acts every year. In April, the organization hosts the Noisefest and the Congress of Curious Peoples. This is followed in May or June by the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, which takes place on Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, and features floats and performances. During August or September, Coney Island USA produces the Beard and Moustache Competition; Tattoo and Motorcycle Festival; and Coney Island Film Festival. The organization then hosts the Creepshow at the Freakshow, an interactive Halloween-themed event, in October.[255]

The annual Cosme 5K Charity Run/Walk, supported by the Coney Island Sports Foundation, takes place on the Riegelmann Boardwalk toward the end of June.[256]

A major national volleyball tournament hosted by the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), which is typically hosted on the West Coast of the U.S., was held in Coney Island starting in 2006. The AVP built a 4,000-seat stadium and twelve outer courts next to the boardwalk for the event.[257][258] The tournament returned to Coney Island from 2007 through 2009, but was not hosted at Coney Island in 2010 due to a lack of money.[259] When AVP tournaments resumed in Brooklyn in 2015, they were hosted at Brooklyn Bridge Park instead.[260]

In 2009, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed in Coney Island for the first time since 1956. The event, titled The Coney Island Boom-A-Ring, was housed in tents that were located between the boardwalk and Surf Avenue.[261][262] The following year, they returned to the same location with The Coney Island Illuscination.[262]

In May 2015, Thor Equities unveiled Coney Art Walls, a public art wall project curated by former Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles director Jeffrey Deitch and Thor CEO Joe Sitt. Located at 3050 Stillwell Avenue, the project featured work from more than 30 artists.[263] The exhibition started being held annually through at least 2019.[264]

 
Panorama of Coney Island waterfront as seen from the pier in June 2016

Demographics

 
Volunteers arrive to clear the boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy.

Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the combined population of Coney Island and Sea Gate was 31,965, a decrease of 2,302 (6.7%) from the 34,267 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 851.49 acres (344.59 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 37.5 inhabitants per acre (24,000/sq mi; 9,300/km2).[265]

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 32.2% (10,307) African American, 30.9% (9,880) White, 8.7% (2,793) Asian, 0.2% (78) Native American, 0.0% (4) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (67) from other races, and 1.5% (467) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.2% (8,369) of the population.[266] 82% of the population were high school graduates and 40% had a bachelor's degree or higher.[266][267]: 2 

The entirety of Community Board 13 had 106,459 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.4 years.[267]: 2, 20  This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.[268]: 53 (PDF p. 84) [269] Most inhabitants are adults, with 25% between the ages of 25–44, 27% between 45 and 64, and 22% who are at least 65 years old. The ratio of young and college-aged residents was lower, at 19% and 8%, respectively.[267]: 2  Coney Island's elderly population, as a share of the area's total population, is higher than in other New York City neighborhoods.[270]: 6 

As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 13 was $39,213.[271] In 2018, an estimated 24% of Coney Island residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (11%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Coney Island, slightly higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51%, respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Coney Island is not considered to be gentrifying.[267]: 7 

According to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning, there were between 20,000 and 29,999 White residents, 10,000 to 19,999 Black residents, 5,000 to 9,999 Hispanic residents, and less than 5000 Asian residents.[272][273]

Political representation

Politically, Coney Island is in New York's 8th congressional district.[274][275] It is also in the New York State Senate's 23rd district,[276][277] the New York State Assembly's 46th district,[278][279] and the New York City Council's 47th district.[280]

Police and crime

Coney Island is patrolled by the New York City Police Department (NYPD)'s 60th Precinct, located at 2950 West Eighth Street.[4] Transit District 34 is located at 1243 Surf Avenue, within the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue subway station.[281]

The 60th Precinct ranked 34th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. Between 1993 and 2010, major crimes decreased by 72%, including a 76% decrease in robberies, 71% decrease in felony assaults, and 67% decrease in shootings.[282] As of 2018, with a non-fatal assault rate of 51 per 100,000 people, Coney Island's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 168 per 100,000 people is about the same as that of the city as a whole.[267]: 8  The 60th Precinct has a substantially lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 77.5% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported five murders, 16 rapes, 179 robberies, 373 felony assaults, 159 burglaries, 527 grand larcenies, and 121 grand larcenies auto in 2022.[283]

Fire safety

 
Engine Co. 318/Ladder Co. 166

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) operates two firehouses in the area.[5] Engine Company 318/Ladder Company 166 is located at 2510 Neptune Avenue.[284] It contains the Coney Island Fire Station Pumping Station, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[285] Engine Company 245/Ladder Company 161/Battalion 43 is located at 2929 West 8th Street.[286] In addition, FDNY EMS Station 43 is on the grounds of Coney Island Hospital.[287]

Health

 
Coney Island Hospital

As of 2018, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are slightly more common in Coney Island than in other places citywide. In Coney Island, there were 95 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 20.2 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide), slightly higher than in the median neighborhood.[267]: 11  Coney Island has a high population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through Medicaid.[270] In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 14%, which is higher than the citywide rate of 12%.[267]: 14 

The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Coney Island is 0.0067 milligrams per cubic metre (6.7×10−9 oz/cu ft), lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages.[267]: 9  Nineteen percent of Coney Island residents are smokers, which is higher the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.[267]: 13  In Coney Island, 28% of residents are obese, 15% are diabetic, and 31% have high blood pressure—higher than the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.[267]: 16  In addition, 18% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.[267]: 12 

Ninety-two percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is slightly higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 70% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," lower than the city's average of 78%.[267]: 13  For every supermarket in Coney Island, there are 21 bodegas.[267]: 10  The primary hospital in the neighborhood is Coney Island Hospital.[270]: 6 

Post offices and ZIP Codes

Coney Island's primary ZIP Code is 11224,[288] though small portions located east of West 1st Street and Ocean Parkway are located in ZIP Code 11235.[289] There are two United States Post Office branches in Coney Island. The Coney Island Station is located at 2727 Mermaid Avenue,[290] and the Neptune Station is located at 532 Neptune Avenue.[291]

Education

Coney Island generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents to the rest of the city as of 2018. While 45% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 18% have less than a high school education and 37% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.[267]: 6  The percentage of Coney Island students excelling in math has been increasing, though reading achievement has declined; math achievement rose from 53 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2011, but reading achievement fell from 57 to 55 percent within the same time period.[292]

Coney Island's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is higher than the rest of New York City. In Coney Island, 26% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students.[268]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [267]: 7 

Elementary, middle, and high schools

 
Abraham Lincoln High School

Coney Island is served by the New York City Department of Education, and students in the neighborhood are automatically "zoned" into the nearest public schools. The zoned schools for the main portion of Coney Island include:

  • PS 90 Edna Cohen School (grades K-5)[293][294]
  • PS 100 Coney Island School (grades K-5)[295][296]
  • PS 188 The Michael E. Berdy School (grades K-4)[297]
  • PS/IS 288 The Shirley Tanyhill School (grades PK-8)[298]
  • IS 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg (grades 6–8)[296][299][300]
  • PS 329 (grades PK-5)[301]

IS 239, the Mark Twain School for the Gifted and Talented (6–8), is a magnet school for gifted students, and it accepts students from around the city.[302] In 2006, David Scharfenberg of The New York Times said, "Coney Island's elementary schools are a mixed lot, with only some exceeding citywide averages on the state's testing regimen."[296]

All New York City high school students can go to any high school in the city. There are two public high schools in Coney Island: Abraham Lincoln High School[296][303] and Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies.[304]

Public library

 
Coney Island library branch

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Coney Island branch is located at 1901 Mermaid Avenue, near the intersection with West 19th Street. It opened in 1911 as an unmanned deposit station. Ten years later, it moved to the former Coney Island Times offices and became fully staffed. In 1954 another branch was built. According to BPL's website, the library was referred to as "the first-ever library built on stilts over the Atlantic Ocean." The branch was rebuilt in 2013 after being damaged in Hurricane Sandy.[305]

Transportation

Coney Island is served by four New York City Subway stations.[306][307] The Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station, the terminal of the D​, F, <F>​​, N, ​Q trains, is one of the largest elevated rapid transit stations in the world, with eight tracks serving four platforms.[308] The entire station, built in 1917–1920 as a replacement for the former surface-level Culver Depot,[309] was rebuilt in 2001–2004.[149][308] The other subway stations within Coney Island are West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium, served by the F, <F>​​, and Q trains; Neptune Avenue, served by the F and <F>​ trains; and Ocean Parkway, served by the Q train.[307]

A bus terminal beneath the Stillwell Avenue station serves the B68 to Prospect Park, the B74 to Sea Gate, the B64 to Bay Ridge, and the B82 to Starrett City. Additionally, the B36 runs from Sea Gate to Sheepshead Bay. The X28 and X38 provide express bus service to Manhattan.[310]

The three main west–east arteries in the neighborhood are (from north to south) Neptune Avenue, Mermaid Avenue, and Surf Avenue. Neptune Avenue becomes Emmons Avenue at Sheepshead Bay, while Surf Avenue becomes Ocean Parkway and then runs north toward Prospect Park. The north–south cross streets in Coney Island are numbered, with "West" prepended to their numbers. The street numbers run from West 1st Street at Coney Island's eastern border to West 37th Street at the western border, adjacent to Sea Gate.[311]

Coney Island contains several bicycle paths. The Ocean Parkway bicycle path terminates in the neighborhood, while the Shore Parkway bike path (part of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway) runs east along Jamaica Bay and west and north along New York Harbor. On-street bike lanes are marked in Neptune Avenue and other streets in Coney Island. In addition, the Riegelmann Boardwalk is open to cyclists during the daytime, though bicycling hours are restricted during the summer months.[312]

In 2019, NYC Ferry announced that the western part of Coney Island would be served by the Coney Island ferry route beginning in 2021.[313][314][315] However, as of 2022, the implementation of the Coney Island route had been delayed indefinitely.[316][317]

In popular culture

Coney Island has been featured in many novels, films, television shows, cartoons, and theatrical plays.[57]: 176 [318] This is linked to its iconic status as a vacation destination.[319] Various slapstick comedies and films have been set at Coney Island or allude to it. There have also been several television documentaries about the area's history.[318]: 137–142 [320]

References

Notes

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coney, island, other, uses, disambiguation, peninsular, neighborhood, entertainment, area, southwestern, section, york, city, borough, brooklyn, neighborhood, bounded, brighton, beach, manhattan, beach, east, lower, york, south, west, gravesend, north, include. For other uses see Coney Island disambiguation Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east Lower New York Bay to the south and west and Gravesend to the north and includes the subsection of Sea Gate on its west More broadly the Coney Island peninsula consists of Coney Island proper Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach This was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill Coney IslandNeighborhood of BrooklynConey Island beach amusement parks and high rises as seen from the pier in June 2016Nickname Playground of the World 1 Location in New York CityNote red area overlaps with Sea Gate Coordinates 40 34 30 N 73 58 57 W 40 5750 N 73 9825 W 40 5750 73 9825 Coordinates 40 34 30 N 73 58 57 W 40 5750 N 73 9825 W 40 5750 73 9825Country United StatesState New YorkCityNew York CityBoroughBrooklynCommunity DistrictBrooklyn 13 2 Settled17th centuryFounded byDutch settlersArea Total1 790 km2 0 691 sq mi Population 2010 Total24 711 Density14 000 km2 36 000 sq mi Time zoneUTC 5 Eastern Summer DST UTC 4 EDT ZIP Code11224Area code718 347 929 and 917The origin of Coney Island s name is disputed but the area was originally part of the colonial town of Gravesend By the mid 19th century it had become a seaside resort and by the late 19th century amusement parks had also been built at the location The attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century However they declined in popularity after World War II and following years of neglect several structures were torn down Various redevelopment projects were proposed for Coney Island in the 1970s through the 2000s though most of these were not carried out 3 The area was revitalized with the opening of MCU Park in 2001 and several amusement rides starting in the 2010s Coney Island had around 32 000 residents as of the 2010 United States Census The neighborhood is ethnically diverse and the neighborhood s poverty rate of 27 is slightly higher than that of the city as a whole Coney Island is part of Brooklyn Community District 13 and its primary ZIP Code is 11224 2 It is patrolled by the 60th Precinct of the New York City Police Department 4 Fire services are provided by the New York City Fire Department s Engine 245 Ladder 161 Battalion 43 and Engine 318 Ladder 166 5 Politically Coney Island is represented by the New York City Council s 47th District The area is well served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes and contains several public elementary and middle schools Contents 1 Geography and climate 2 Name 3 History 3 1 Early settlement 3 2 Resort development 3 3 Amusement park era 3 3 1 19th century 3 3 2 Early 20th century 3 4 Residential development and decline 3 4 1 Robert Moses era 3 4 2 Fred Trump era 3 4 3 Late 1970s attempts at restoration 3 5 Revival 3 5 1 Bullard deal Sportsplex and KeySpan Park 3 5 2 Thor Equities ownership and rezoning proposals 3 5 3 Progress on expansion 3 5 4 Oral history archive 4 Amusement parks and attractions 4 1 Rides 4 1 1 Current rides 4 1 2 Former rides 4 2 Beaches 4 3 Public parks 4 4 Other attractions 4 5 Events 5 Demographics 6 Political representation 7 Police and crime 8 Fire safety 9 Health 10 Post offices and ZIP Codes 11 Education 11 1 Elementary middle and high schools 11 2 Public library 12 Transportation 13 In popular culture 14 References 14 1 Notes 14 2 Sources 14 3 Further reading 15 External linksGeography and climate Edit Viewed from the air the Coney Island neighborhood occupies the western end of the Coney Island peninsula The Encyclopedia of New York City considers the area west of Ocean Parkway including Sea Gate and Nortons Point Light to be part of the Coney Island neighborhood 6 The neighborhood is situated on the western portion of the Coney Island peninsula located on the western end of Long Island lying to the west of the Outer Barrier islands along Long Island s southern shore The peninsula is about 4 miles 6 4 km long and 0 5 miles 0 80 km wide It extends into Lower New York Bay with Sheepshead Bay to its northeast Gravesend Bay and Coney Island Creek to its northwest and the main part of Brooklyn to its north At its highest it is 7 feet 2 1 m above sea level Coney Island was formerly an actual island separated from greater Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek and was the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands A large section of the creek was filled in the 1920s and 1930s turning the island into a peninsula 7 200 The perimeter of Coney Island features manmade structures designed to maintain its current shape The beaches are currently not a natural feature the sand that is naturally supposed to replenish Coney Island is cut off by the jetty at Breezy Point Queens 8 9 337 Sand has been redeposited on the beaches via beach nourishment since the construction of Riegelmann Boardwalk in 1922 1923 10 and is held in place by around two dozen groynes A large sand replenishing project along Coney Island and Brighton Beach took place in the 1990s 9 337 Sheepshead Bay at the peninsula s northeast corner is for the most part enclosed in bulkheads 9 Two major parks Kaiser Park and Coney Island Creek Park are located on the northwest side of the peninsula along Coney Island Creek 11 12 Coney Island has a humid subtropical climate Cfa and the hardiness zone is 7b Climate data for Coney Island BrooklynMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high F C 70 21 73 23 83 28 93 34 98 37 99 37 105 41 101 38 98 37 91 33 80 27 75 24 105 41 Average high F C 39 4 42 6 50 10 60 16 70 21 79 26 84 29 83 28 76 24 65 18 54 12 44 7 62 17 Average low F C 25 4 27 3 34 1 43 6 53 12 63 17 69 21 67 19 60 16 49 9 40 4 31 1 47 8 Record low F C 4 20 2 19 7 14 19 7 35 2 44 7 51 11 50 10 39 4 29 2 17 8 1 18 4 20 Average precipitation inches mm 3 86 98 2 99 76 4 07 103 4 03 102 4 40 112 3 61 92 4 45 113 4 16 106 4 12 105 3 41 87 3 86 98 3 63 92 46 56 1 183 Average snowfall inches cm 6 7 17 7 5 19 3 9 9 9 0 7 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 76 3 6 9 1 22 7 58 Source 13 Name EditThe original Native American inhabitants of the region the Lenape called this area Narrioch possibly meaning land without shadows 14 or always in light 15 in reference to its sunlit south facing beaches A second possible meaning is point or corner of land 16 The island was originally several smaller historical islands each being given a name by Dutch settlers with the westernmost sand spit or point being given named Conyne Eylandt in early 17th century Dutch maps starting with the 1639 Manatus Map 17 18 There is no clear historical consensus on how the island got the name Coney Island in regular use in the first half of the 19th century with the advent of regular ferry service to the island but several theories have been put forward 14 19 20 27 One possible etymology is from a Native American tribe the Konoh or Konoi the Bear Band who once inhabited the island 14 19 20 27 A second theory suggests that it was distortion of the name of Henry Hudson s second mate on the Halve Maen John Colman who was slain by natives on the 1609 expedition 19 17 A third posits that late 18th century Irish captain Peter O Connor named it after Coney Island in County Sligo Ireland 19 21 Yet other theories suggest a Dutch etymology one theory holds that the name had come from Conyn the surname of a family of Dutch settlers who lived there 19 and another suggests that it came from the Dutch word for rabbit konijn derived from a purported large population of wild rabbits on the island 19 22 23 There is little evidence for each origin theory and there are conflicts between the pieces of evidence that do exist 19 The most popular idea is the translation of the Dutch word for rabbit into the English word coney but that has its detractors and counter explanations In 1816 politician and U S Founding Father Egbert Benson presented a treatise on New York place names and said it was Conyn s Island after the Dutch surname and noted there are already symptoms of the beginning of a tradition that it once abounded in Rabbits 19 24 25 Other historians claim that rabbits were introduced to the island only after it was settled 20 27 28 The 19th century also saw the heavily Irish New York Tammany Hall political machine controlling development of the island and they may have gotten the name from the island in County Sligo rather than any tale of a rabbit population 19 History EditEarly settlement Edit Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European explorer to sight the island of Narrioch during his expeditions to the area in 1527 and 1529 He was subsequently followed by Henry Hudson 26 34 Anthony Janszoon van Salee was the first New Netherland settler to acquire land adjacent to Coney Island in 1639 27 The Native American population in the area dwindled as the Dutch settlement grew and the entire southern tier of present day Brooklyn from Gowanus Creek to Coney Island to Gerritsen Creek was purchased in 1645 from the Native Americans in exchange for goods 28 The goods were not recorded in the deed but later accounts mention a gun a blanket and a kettle 29 30 In 1644 a colonist named Guysbert Op Dyck was given a land patent for 88 acres of land in the town of Gravesend on the southwestern shore of Brooklyn 31 The land patent included Conyne Island an island just off the southwestern shore of the town of Gravesend as well as Conyne Hook a peninsula just east of the island Both became part of Gravesend when its first town charter was granted a year later in 1645 26 4 32 East of Conyne Hook was the largest section of island called Gysbert s Guysbert s or Guisbert s Island also called Johnson Island containing most of the arable land and extending east through today s Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach 26 34 33 34 This was officially the first official real estate transaction for the island 32 Op Dyck never occupied his land and in 1661 he sold it off to Dick De Wolf The land s new owner banned Gravesend residents from using Guisbert s Island and built a salt works on the land provoking outrage among Gravesend livestock herders New Amsterdam was transferred to the English in 1664 and four years later the English Governor created a new charter for Gravesend that excluded Coney Island Subsequently Guisbert s Island was divided into plots meted out to several dozen settlers However in 1685 the island became part of Gravesend again as a result of a new charter with the Native Americans 26 36 Detail of a 1776 nautical chart showing the collection of islands and shifting sand that eventually became present day Coney Island At the time of European settlement the land that makes up the present day Coney Island was divided across several separate islands All of these islands were part of the outer barrier on the southern shore of Long Island and their land areas and boundaries changed frequently 26 34 Only the westernmost island was called Coney Island it currently makes up part of Sea Gate At the time it was a 1 25 mile shifting sandspit with a detached island at its western end extending into Lower New York Bay 17 In a 1679 1680 journal Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter noted that Conijnen Eylandt was fully separated from the rest of Brooklyn The explorers observed that Nobody lives upon it but it is used in winter for keeping cattle horses oxen hogs and others 17 26 36 By the early 18th century the town of Gravesend was periodically granting seven year long leases to freeholders who would then have the exclusive use of Coney Hook and Coney Island In 1734 a road to Coney Hook was laid out 26 37 Thomas Stillwell a prominent Gravesend resident who was the freeholder for Coney Island and Coney Hook at the time proposed to build a ditch through Coney Hook so it would be easier for his cattle to graze He convinced several friends in the nearby town of Jamaica to help him in this effort telling them that the creation of such a ditch would allow them to ship goods from Jamaica Bay to New York Harbor without having to venture out into the ocean 26 37 In 1750 the Jamaica Ditch was dug through Coney Hook from Brown s Creek in the west to Hubbard s Creek in the east 26 34 35 The creation of the canal turned Coney Hook into a detached 0 5 mile long 0 80 km island called Pine Island so named due to the woods on it 26 34 Each island was separated by an inlet that could only be crossed at low tide By the end of the 18th century the ongoing shifting of sand along the barrier islands had closed up the inlets to the point that residents began filling them in and joining them as one island Development of Coney Island was slow until the 19th century due to land disputes the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 34 Coney Island was so remote that Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick on the island in 1849 and Henry Clay and Daniel Webster discussed the Missouri Compromise at the island the next year 36 Resort development Edit Railroad station in Coney Island Brooklyn c 1872 1887 In 1824 the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company built the first bridge across Jamaica Ditch by now known as Coney Island Creek connecting the island with the mainland The company also built a shell road across the island to the beaches 34 37 In 1829 the company also built the first hotel on the island the Coney Island House near present day Sea Gate 37 38 8 39 Due to Coney Island s proximity to Manhattan and other boroughs and its simultaneous relative distance from the city of Brooklyn to provide the illusion of a proper vacation it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s assisted by carriage roads and steamship service that reduced travel time from a formerly half day journey to two hours 40 15 Most of the vacationers were wealthy and went by carriage Inventor Samuel Colt built an observation tower on the peninsula in 1845 but he abandoned the project soon after 39 In 1847 the middle class started going to Coney Island upon the introduction of a ferry line to Norton s Point named during the mid 1870s after hotel owner Michael Norton at the western portion of the peninsula Gang activity started as well with one 1870s writer noting that going to Coney Island could result in losing money and even lives 39 The Brooklyn Bath and Coney Island Railroad became the first railroad to reach Coney Island when it opened in 1864 41 42 and it was completed in 1867 43 71 Over the next 13 years four more railroads were built specifically to transport visitors to Coney Island this was part of a larger national trend toward trolley park development 44 14 In 1868 William A Engeman built a resort in the area 45 The resort was given the name Brighton Beach in 1878 by Henry C Murphy and a group of businessmen who chose the name as an allusion to the English resort city of Brighton 46 42 With the help of Gravesend s surveyor William Stillwell Engeman acquired all 39 lots for the relatively low cost of 20 000 47 38 38 This 460 by 210 foot 140 by 64 m hotel with rooms for up to 5 000 people nightly and meals for up to 20 000 people daily was close to the then rundown western Coney Island so it was mostly the upper middle class that went to this hotel 48 The 400 foot 120 m double decker Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion was also built nearby and opened in 1878 with the capacity for 1 200 bathers 49 38 38 42 Hotel Brighton also known as the Brighton Beach Hotel was situated on the beach at what is now the foot of Coney Island Avenue 45 50 248 The Brooklyn Flatbush and Coney Island Railway the predecessor to the New York City Subway s present day Brighton Line opened on July 2 1878 and provided access to the hotel 51 38 38 52 Simultaneously wealthy banker Austin Corbin was developing adjacent Manhattan Beach after being interested in the area during a trip to the beach to heal his sick son 45 53 Corbin who worked on Wall Street and had many railroad investments built the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway for his two luxury shoreline hotels These hotels were used by the wealthy upper class who would not go to Brighton Beach because of its proximity to Coney Island 45 The 150 room Manhattan Beach Hotel which was designed by J Pickering Putnam and contained restaurants ballrooms and shops was opened for business in July 1877 at a ceremony presided over by President Ulysses S Grant 53 54 The similarly prodigal Oriental Hotel which hosted rooms for wealthy families staying for extended periods was opened in August 1880 53 55 Andrew R Culver president of the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad 56 had built the Culver Line steam railway to West Brighton in 1875 50 248 before Corbin and Engeman had even built their railroads For 35 cents one could ride the Prospect Park amp Coney Island Railroad to the Culver Depot terminal at Surf Avenue 45 Across the street from the terminal the 300 foot 91 m Iron Tower also known as the Centennial Observatory bought from the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition provided patrons with a bird s eye view of the coast The nearby Camera Obscura similarly used mirrors and lens to provide a panoramic view of the area 45 57 22 23 Coney Island became a major resort destination after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island amp Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s followed by the Iron Steamboat Company ferry to Manhattan in 1881 38 29 43 64 The 150 suite Cable Hotel was built nearby in 1875 51 Next to it on a 12 acre 4 9 ha piece of land leased by James Voorhies maitre d Paul Bauer built the western peninsula s largest hotel which opened in 1876 45 By the turn of the century Victorian hotels private bathhouses and vaudeville theaters were a common sight on Coney island 58 147 The three resort areas Brighton Beach Manhattan Beach and West Brighton competed with each other for clientele By the early 1900s West Brighton had gradually become the most popular destination and as such became associated with the lively amusement area of Coney Island 59 44 14 15 In the 1890s Norton s Point on the western side of Coney Island was developed into Sea Gate a gated summer community that catered mainly to the wealthy 60 61 A private yacht carried visitors directly from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan Island Notable tenants within the community included the Atlantic Yacht Club which built a colonial style house along the waterfront 62 Amusement park era Edit One of the large parks Luna Park Main Lagoon 1907 Between about 1880 and World War II Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States attracting several million visitors per year Its development as an amusement area was concurrent with the erection of urban amusement parks elsewhere in the United States which changed amusement from a passive to an active concept 63 7 8 Of these amusement areas Coney Island was the largest At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks Luna Park Dreamland and Steeplechase Park as well as many independent amusements 58 147 150 64 11 63 4 The area was also the center of new technological events and innovations including electric lights roller coasters and baby incubators 58 147 By the first decade of the 20th century Coney Island was seen as a top getaway and a symbol of Americans increasing pride 64 21 22 19th century Edit First Coney Island Charles Looff carousel By the late 1870s Coney Island s hotels had drawn people from many different social classes and attractions were being built 57 30 When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City s tenements 51 65 Charles I D Looff a Danish woodcarver built the first carousel and amusement ride at Coney Island in 1876 at Lucy Vandeveer s bath house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue Looff personally hand carved the designs into the carousel 66 Looff subsequently commissioned another carousel at Feltman s Ocean Pavilion in 1880 57 88 Another early attraction was the Seaside Aquarium which operated from 1877 to 1887 and included aquatic exhibits aviaries zoo attractions and various sideshows 57 31 44 15 The earliest rides including Looff s first carousel and the Seaside Aquarium were located at the Centennial Observatory s site 57 32 The first sideshows and fireworks displays came to Coney Island in 1883 and combined with constant musical performances brought increased excitement to the area 57 34 37 The very first roller coaster at Coney Island was the Switchback Railway a gravity coaster installed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson at West 10th Street in 1884 Nearby was the Elephantine Colossus a seven story building including a brothel in the shape of an elephant which opened the following year 57 38 39 Until its demolition in 1896 the elephant was the first sight to greet immigrants arriving in New York who would see it before they saw the Statue of Liberty 57 40 42 67 Next to be developed were horse racing tracks and by 1890 Coney Island had three tracks Sheepshead Bay Race Track Brighton Beach Race Course and Gravesend Race Track 57 46 50 248 Julian Ralph described Coney Island in 1896 as the first made to order resort in America with many businesses having leaped from nothing into full fledged perfection 50 248 However crime and corruption in Coney Island were prevalent The main leader of this corruption was John Y McKane who ran prizefighting rings behind the elephant until he was arrested and sentenced in 1894 57 48 51 68 The development of amusement rides in Coney Island intensified in the 1890s with the opening of amusement parks The first such park was Sea Lion Park which operated from 1895 to 1902 and was the first amusement park to charge entry fees Sea Lion Park s opening spurred the construction of George C Tilyou s Steeplechase Park which opened in 1897 64 12 50 249 69 The Coney Island Funny Face logo which is still extant dates to the early days of Steeplechase Park 70 Map of Coney Island in 1879 Early 20th century Edit Dreamland one of the three large parks c 1905 Coney Island c 1914 by Edward Henry Potthast The first decade of the 20th century saw two more large amusement parks Luna Park opened in 1903 on the site of Sea Lion Park which had closed the previous year 71 50 249 57 60 61 The park contained a variety of attractions and exotic landscaping lit by electricity at night 50 249 250 its flagship ride was A Trip to the Moon an attraction based on Jules Verne s novel From the Earth to the Moon 57 62 The following year saw the opening of Dreamland which reproduced many attractions at Luna Park but at a grander scale with a large central tower and lagoon a sunken plaza and one million electric lights 50 250 57 68 69 72 Additionally the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue in an effort to reclaim the beach and create a boardwalk though the local amusement community opposed the move 73 Eventually the city government and the community reached an agreement mandating that the beach did not begin until 1 000 feet 300 m south of Surf Avenue and that the territory would be marked by a city owned boardwalk In return the city would demolish any structures built upon public streets to reclaim beach access 74 The original resorts lost patronage after horse racing in New York state was outlawed in 1909 but the amusement areas still saw significant patronage 50 249 In 1915 the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line followed by the other former excursion roads and the opening of the Stillwell Avenue station in 1919 ushered in Coney Island s busiest era 51 65 On the busiest summer days over a million people would travel to Coney Island This created tensions between longtime New York City residents and more recent immigrants who liked to patronize Coney Island 64 23 One of the entrepreneurs who took advantage of the increased visitor counts was Nathan Handwerker who in 1916 started selling hot dogs at Coney Island for a nickel each and eventually expanded his enterprise into the Nathan s Famous hot dog chain 36 64 22 23 Coney Island in 1920 Coney Island s development as an amusement area continued through the end of World War II The opening of the Wonder Wheel in 1920 the Riegelmann Boardwalk in 1923 the Shore Theater in 1925 several roller coasters in the 1920s including the Tornado Thunderbolt and Coney Island Cyclone and the Parachute Jump in 1941 contributed to the area s quality as an amusement destination In particular the Riegelmann Boardwalk enabled the crowds to be dispersed away from Surf Avenue the main west east avenue in the area 58 147 64 23 24 Despite staff shortages during World War II Coney Island retained its popularity and was frequented by military personnel 75 Steeplechase Park 1905 The era was also marked by frequent fires and those at the beginning of the 20th century were particularly destructive 76 77 A 1907 fire at Steeplechase Park 78 79 resulted in the park having to be completely rebuilt 80 Dreamland burned down in 1911 81 and was never rebuilt 76 One of the largest conflagrations at Coney Island which occurred in 1932 76 77 left at least a thousand people homeless 82 The early 20th century additionally saw the infilling of a portion of the 3 mile long 4 8 km Coney Island Creek thereby connecting Coney Island to the rest of Brooklyn In the previous decades there had been plans to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal which were later abandoned By 1924 local landowners and the city had filled a portion of the creek 9 337 7 200 A major section of the creek was further filled in to allow construction of the Belt Parkway in the 1930s and the western and eastern ends of the island became peninsulas 7 200 More fill was added in 1962 during the construction of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge 83 Residential development and decline Edit Robert Moses era Edit source source source source source source Coney Island c 1940 Bathers in Coney Island by Irving Underhill in the Brooklyn Museum collection In 1937 New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses published a report about the possible redevelopment of Coney Island which would have entailed the addition of parking lots and reconstruction of part of the boardwalk 84 The city purchased a 400 foot wide 120 m strip of land along the shoreline which would allow the boardwalk to be moved 300 feet 91 m inland 85 At this point Coney Island was so crowded on summer weekends that according to Moses a coffin would provide more space per person 36 Though ride construction was delayed due to material shortages caused by the onset of World War II two new rides were constructed in 1946 at the end of the war 86 In August 1944 Luna Park was destroyed by a fire 87 Two years later it was closed permanently and sold to a company who wanted to tear down the park s remnants and build Quonset huts for military veterans and their families 88 Moses asked the city to transfer Luna Park s land along the Coney Island waterfront to the Parks Department a request that was granted in 1949 89 Moses then had the land rezoned for residential use with plans to demolish about a third of attractions along Surf Avenue one block north of the beach and replace these with housing 90 Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards demolishing many structures including the city s municipal bath house as well as several blocks of amusements 58 149 He claimed that fewer amusement seekers were going to Coney Island every year because they preferred places where they could bathe outdoors such as Jones Beach State Park on Long Island rather than the mechanical gadget attractions of Coney Island 90 Moses also announced that the Steeplechase Pier would be closed for a year so it could be renovated 91 In 1953 Moses proposed that most of the peninsula be rezoned for various uses claiming that it would be an upgrade over the various business and unrestricted zones that existed at the time Steeplechase Park would be allowed to remain open but much of the shorefront amusements and concessions would be replaced by residential developments 92 93 After many complaints from the public and from concession operators the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22nd and West Eighth Streets as an amusement only zone with the zone extending 200 to 400 feet 61 to 122 m inland from the shoreline 94 95 Moses s subsequent proposal to extend the Coney Island boardwalk east to Manhattan Beach was denied in 1955 96 A proposal to make the Quonset hut development into a permanent housing structure was also rejected 97 A new building for the New York Aquarium was approved for construction in the neighborhood in 1953 98 687 99 Construction started on the aquarium in 1954 93 The development of the new New York Aquarium was expected to revitalize Coney Island 100 93 By 1955 the area still included four children s amusement areas five roller coasters several flat and dark rides and various other attractions such as the Wonder Wheel 100 The New York Aquarium s new site opened in June 1957 101 At this point there were still several dozen rides on Coney Island 36 Fred Trump era Edit During the summers of 1964 and 1965 there was a large decrease in the number of visitors to Coney Island because of the 1964 1965 World s Fair at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens 102 Crime increases insufficient parking facilities bad weather and the post World War II automotive boom were also cited as contributing factors in the visitor decrease During the summer of 1964 concessionaires saw their lowest profits in a quarter century Ride operators reported that they had 30 to 90 fewer visitors in 1964 compared to the previous year 103 A small amusement park called Astroland was announced for the boardwalk in 1962 to open the following year 104 Steeplechase Park the last remaining large amusement park in Coney Island closed permanently after the 1964 season 105 57 172 The surrounding blocks were filled with amusement rides and concessions that were closed or about to close 57 172 The rides at Steeplechase Park were auctioned off and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump who in 1965 announced that he wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property 106 At the time residential developments on Coney Island in general were being built at a rapid rate The peninsula which had 34 000 residents in 1961 was expected to have more than double that number by the end of 1964 Many of the new residents moved into middle income co operative housing developments such as Trump Village Warbasse Houses and Luna Park Apartments these replaced what The New York Times described as a rundown sprawl of rickety houses 107 Developers were spending millions of dollars on new housing developments and by 1966 the peninsula housed almost 100 000 people 102 During 1966 developers tried to revitalize the Coney Island boardwalk as an amusement area 102 Trump destroyed Steeplechase Park s Pavilion of Fun during a highly publicized ceremony that September 57 172 108 In its stead Trump proposed building a 160 foot high 49 m enclosed dome with recreational facilities and a convention center a plan supported by Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark 109 The next month the city announced its plans to acquire the 125 acres 51 ha of the former Steeplechase Park 110 a move that many residents supported but that Trump considered to be wasteful 111 In January 1968 New York City parks commissioner August Heckscher II proposed that the New York state government build an open space state park on the Steeplechase site 112 and that May the New York City Board of Estimate voted in favor of funding to buy the land from Trump 113 114 Condemnation of the site started in 1969 115 The city ultimately purchased the proposed park s site for 4 million with a stipulation blocking Trump from developing the site as apartments 116 117 Trump filed a series of court cases related to the proposed residential rezoning and ultimately won a 1 3 million judgment 115 The Steeplechase Park site laid empty for several years Trump started subleasing the property to Norman Kaufman who ran a small collection of fairground amusements called Steeplechase Park on part of the site 57 172 115 The city also leased the boardwalk and parking lot sites at extremely low rates which resulted in a 1 million loss of revenue over the following seven years Since the city wanted to build the state park on the site of Kaufman s Steeplechase Park it attempted to evict him by refusing to grant a lease extension 118 Late 1970s attempts at restoration Edit A 1973 photo of an abandoned Giant Slide that had been set up for a few years on the old Steeplechase site The 1970s brought along further renewal plans such as proposals to construct public housing though the community was beset by social issues such as high crime and a drug epidemic 114 By 1975 the city was considering demolishing the Coney Island Cyclone in favor of an extension of the adjacent New York Aquarium 58 153 The proposed demolition was controversial 119 and after a refurbishment by Astroland the Cyclone reopened for the summer 1975 season 120 The abandoned Parachute Jump was left in situ and the New York City Board of Estimate planned to tear down the structure 57 174 121 In the meanwhile Coney Island was still affected by a perception of crime and deterioration of old rides but by the mid 1970s middle class families started returning to Coney Island following the implementation of a unified admission ticket to Coney Island s amusement areas 122 The city continued to pursue litigation over the site occupied by Norman Kaufman but for over a decade was unsuccessful 115 It had no plan for the proposed state park and in 1975 the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly withdrew a proposed grant of 2 million to fund the proposed park 118 The city ultimately accepted the grant though different city agencies still disagreed over whether to return the funds 123 Kaufman continued to operate the site until the end of summer 1980 The following June the city paid Kaufman a million dollars for the rides effectively evicting him even though the amusements were estimated to be worth much less 124 117 In 1979 the state announced that it would be conducting a report on the feasibility of legalizing gambling in New York State Mayor Ed Koch proposed that the state open casinos in New York City to revitalize the area s economy 125 Residents and politicians supported the idea of building casinos at Coney Island which they felt would alleviate its poverty crime and property vacancy rates 126 However there was substantial controversy over the plans to place a gambling site in Coney Island 127 The state s interest in legalizing gambling had subsided by 1981 and the New York state legislature failed to take action on such proposal 128 124 In an effort to reduce crime the city also began demolishing abandoned bungalows on Coney Island 114 By 1982 the area was filled with vacant lots though several residential developments were being planned for Coney Island 129 Having finally acquired Kaufman s rides the New York City government began advertising for developers to redevelop the former amusement park area that November 128 The Mermaid Neptune Development Corporation constructed three residential developments at the neighborhood s western edge with a combined total of 430 units These developments were completed through the mid 1980s 130 Even so the area still suffered from drug related killings and other crimes especially west of West 20th Street Former amusement structures such as the Parachute Jump lay unused and prostitutes roamed around the neighborhood at night 131 117 Through the 1980s prostitution and drug use in Coney Island increased as did the area s murder and felony crime rate 132 By the late 1980s deadly shootings were common particularly in the low income housing developments inside Coney Island 133 Commercial activity also decreased and by 1990 storefronts on Mermaid Avenue had decreased by 90 from over 400 stores before the urban renewal to 39 stores afterward 114 Revival Edit Bullard deal Sportsplex and KeySpan Park Edit Co ops on Coney Island In the mid 1980s restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding Steeplechase Park 58 150 117 On the site bounded by West 15th and 19th Streets between Surf Avenue and the boardwalk Bullard wanted to build a 55 million amusement park based on the originals The city agreed and the project was approved in 1985 58 150 116 Bullard planned to open the park by mid 1986 to coincide with the Statue of Liberty s centennial 116 However the project was delayed while the New York City Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report 134 By early 1987 the cost of the amusement park nearly doubled to 100 million 135 Concurrently in December 1986 the New York State Urban Development Corporation formally proposed a 17 000 seat minor league baseball stadium north of the boardwalk between West 19th and West 22nd Streets as well as 15 000 seat indoor arena north of the Abe Stark Rink Negotiations were ongoing with the Mets and Yankees to ensure their support for the minor league stadium 136 137 State senator Thomas Bartosiewicz attempted to block Bullard s plan as he was part of a foundation that had promised another developer Sportsplex the right to build an amateur sports arena on the site 135 137 Construction was held up for another four years and by 1989 Bullard and the city were ready to sign a contract that would allow the developer to construct a 60 ride amusement park on a 25 acre 10 ha waterfront strip which would be completed by 2002 138 Other proposals for the area included a 7 9 million restoration of the boardwalk as well as a new high school and college sports stadium 134 Some of Coney Island s iconic rides were designated as official city landmarks during the late 1980s 139 In 1988 the Cyclone roller coaster was made a New York City designated landmark 140 This was followed by the Parachute Jump and the Wonder Wheel in 1989 139 141 The neighborhood s high crime rate had reversed slightly by the 1990s However Coney Island s relative isolation from the rest of New York City along with its ethnic diversity deprived the area of significant political power and to a greater extent money 142 After Rudy Giuliani took office as New York City mayor in 1994 he negated the Bullard deal by approving the construction of a minor league baseball stadium on the site allotted for Steeplechase Park 58 150 Giuliani had wanted to build Sportsplex in order to improve sports facilities in the area and to create a professional baseball team in Brooklyn 143 By the late 1990s some 67 million had been secured for the development of Sportsplex 144 In 1997 developer Bruce Ratner proposed constructing a 100 million entertainment complex between West 9th and West 15th Streets with a virtual reality amusement park as well as a movie theater multiplex 145 Concurrently a four phase 873 unit housing development in Coney Island was completed in 1996 146 In 1998 Giuliani canceled Sportsplex and the entertainment complex and instead unveiled another plan where only the parking lot would be built The Sports Foundation had prepared another proposal that would allow a scaled down Sportsplex to be built next to the minor league baseball stadium 144 The minor league team was called the Brooklyn Cyclones though naming rights to the stadium were sold to Keyspan Energy Bullard now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park had wanted to restore the Thunderbolt as part of a scaled down amusement park but it was demolished instead 58 150 In 2000 the city approved the 31 million project to construct Keyspan Park using the funds from the canceled Sportsplex 147 and the minor league baseball stadium opened the following year 148 Other major projects at the time included the reconstruction of Coney Island s sewers and the refurbishment of the Stillwell Avenue subway station 144 the latter of which was completed in 2005 149 Thor Equities ownership and rezoning proposals Edit The Wonder Wheel and Astroland Park from a Coney Island beach In 2003 Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the New York City bid of the 2012 Summer Olympics A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation When the city lost the Olympic bid the plans were passed to the Coney Island Development Corporation CIDC which made modified plans 150 Shortly before the CIDC s plans were to be publicly released a development company named Thor Equities purchased all of Bullard s 168 000 square foot 15 600 m2 western property for 13 million later selling the property to Taconic Investment Partners for over 90 million 58 158 Taconic now had 100 acres 40 ha on which it planned to build 2 000 apartment units 58 158 159 151 Thor then went about using much of its 77 million profit to purchase property on Stillwell Avenue for well over market value and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area 58 158 159 In September 2005 Thor s founder Joe Sitt unveiled his new plans for a large Bellagio style hotel resort with a timeshare development surrounded by rides and amusements The CIDC report suggested adding year round commercial and amusement area and recommended that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark Rink could be rezoned for other uses including residential 150 Sitt a resident of the area spent more than 100 million to buy land in Coney Island 152 Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert whose husband s family had owned the park since its 1962 opening sold the site to Thor in November 2006 Two months later Thor released renderings for a 1 5 billion amusement park entertainment complex and indoor water park called Coney Island Park 153 154 In 2007 the DCP started circulating a rezoning plan that would cover 47 acres 19 ha of Coney Island The city would spend 120 million to redevelop 15 acres 6 1 ha into an amusement park surrounded by around 5 000 new housing units 155 156 The Aquarium was also planning a renovation in conjunction with the rezoning 154 The city s and Sitt s proposals directly conflicted Sitt wanted to build housing inside the amusement park while the city s rezoning would create a special amusement district where residential development was forbidden 156 157 In April 2008 because of objections from land owners residents and developers the city revised its rezoning proposal Only 9 acres would be used as an amusement park while private owners and developers could build on the rest of the land as long as they followed the DCP s general master plan 158 While the city negotiated with Thor Sitt evicted several amusement operators on his land including Astroland in the expectation that he would soon be able to redevelop it 159 Senior housing on Coney Island The DCP certified the rezoning plan in January 2009 160 which allowed the city to create a 9 4 acre 3 8 ha amusement district 161 At the time Thor Equities said it hoped to complete the project by 2011 162 In June 2009 the city s planning commission approved the construction of 4 500 units of housing including 900 affordable units and promised to preserve affordable housing already in the neighborhood 163 161 Subsequently the city government paid Sitt 95 6 million for 7 acres 2 8 ha of land 161 The nonprofit civic group Municipal Art Society wanted the city operated park to be larger though the city was reluctant to spend so much money 157 Progress on expansion Edit The Zipper and Spider on West 12th Street were closed permanently and dismantled in September 2007 after its owner lost his lease 164 The same year plans to restore Coney Island s historic B amp B Carousell were revealed 165 After Astroland closed in 2008 166 it was replaced by a new Dreamland in 2009 167 and by a new Luna Park in 2010 168 169 In April 2011 the first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eighty years were opened as part of efforts to reverse the decline of the amusement area 170 The B amp B Carousell reopened in 2013 at Luna Park 171 The Thunderbolt steel roller coaster named after the original wooden coaster on the site was opened in June 2014 172 Furthermore a live performance venue the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island opened on the boardwalk in 2016 173 In 2012 Hurricane Sandy caused major damage to the Coney Island amusement parks the Aquarium and businesses Despite this the Nathan s Hot Dog Eating Contest was held the following summer as usual 174 Luna Park at Coney Island reopened as scheduled on March 24 2013 175 Rebuilding of the aquarium started in early 2013 and a major expansion of the aquarium opened in summer 2018 176 177 Conversion of the Shore Theater into a hotel seen in 2019 In August 2018 the NYCEDC and NYC Parks announced that Luna Park would be expanded between West 15th and West 16th Streets next to the Thunderbolt 178 179 There would be 3 public plazas and an amusement arcade within the newly expanded amusement area 179 180 The same month it was also announced that a 50 room boutique hotel was being planned for Coney Island within the former Shore Theater on Surf and Stillwell Avenues 181 182 The city also expressed its intent to demolish the Abe Stark Rink and redevelop the site as per the 2009 rezoning though residents wanted NYC Parks to retain control over the site rather than sell it off to a private developer 183 Many of these construction projects were placed on hold in 2020 with the COVID 19 pandemic in New York City That year the businesses and amusement parks at Coney Island either operated in a sharply reduced capacity or did not open at all 184 185 186 The parks reopened for the 2021 season 187 and Luna Park s expansion commenced in October 2021 188 189 The addition of new amusements coincided with the development of over 2 000 new residential units on empty lots through the early 2020s 190 191 These included a 1 000 unit mega development and a 40 story 522 unit residential tower that would be the tallest in southern Brooklyn 192 193 In November 2022 Sitt proposed constructing a casino at Coney Island to attract tourists 194 195 This proposal followed an announcement by New York state officials in April 2022 that they would issue three casino licenses in Downstate New York 196 197 Oral history archive Edit In 2004 the Coney Island History Project began collecting stories of Coney Island from longtime residents 198 The CIHP records archives and shares oral history interviews about Coney Island 198 The organizations conducts interviews in English Russian Chinese and Spanish 199 During the COVID 19 pandemic the CIHP continued to record interviews via phone or Skype 200 As of 2020 update over 370 interviews were available online via the Coney Island History Project Oral History Archive 201 202 203 Amusement parks and attractions EditConey Island has two amusement parks Luna Park and Deno s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park as well as several rides that are not incorporated into either amusement park These are owned and managed by several different companies and operate independently of each other Coney Island also has several other visitor attractions such as skeeball and ball tossing as well as a sideshow that contains shooting throwing and tossing skills The area hosts renowned events as well Coney Island s amusement area is one of a few in the United States that is not mostly owned by any one entity 58 153 Rides Edit Current rides Edit For a more detailed list of rides operating in Coney Island amusement parks see Luna Park Coney Island 2010 Attractions and Deno s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park Attractions Coney Island contains three rides with landmark status One is a New York City designated landmark another is listed in the National Register of Historic Places NRHP and a third is both a city landmark and a NRHP listed landmark 204 205 206 The Wonder Wheel opened in 1920 is a steel Ferris wheel with both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track 207 It holds 144 riders stands 150 ft 46 m tall weighs over 200 short tons 180 long tons 180 t and is located at Deno s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park 3 47 The Wonder Wheel was made a city landmark in 1989 204 1 The B amp B Carousell as spelled by the frame s builder William F Mangels is Coney Island s last traditional carousel near the old entrance to Luna Park The carousel was built circa 1906 1909 with a traditional roll operated fairground organ It was relocated multiple times most recently to Luna Park s Steeplechase Plaza in 2013 171 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 208 209 The Coney Island Cyclone opened in 1927 is one of the United States oldest wooden roller coasters still in operation The Cyclone includes an 85 ft 26 m 58 degree drop It is owned by the City of New York and is operated by Luna Park under a franchise agreement 210 The Cyclone was made a city landmark in 1988 205 1 140 and was listed on the NRHP in 1991 211 The Cyclone is New York City s only remaining wooden coaster and is considered irreplaceable since timber supported coasters can no longer be built under modern city building codes 212 Coney Island Cyclone Wonder Wheel Thunderbolt B amp B Carousell There are also multiple other rides in Coney Island In March 2014 construction started on the new Thunderbolt a steel roller coaster that was manufactured by Zamperla at a cost of 10 million The ride features 2 000 feet 610 m of track a height of 125 feet 38 m and a top speed of 65 miles per hour 105 km h as well as four inversions 213 The Thunderbolt opened in June 2014 214 There are also multiple bumper car rides in Coney Island all operated separately As of 2019 update these include an attraction in Deno s Wonder Wheel Park 215 as well as Eldorado Auto Skooter on Surf Avenue Historically the earliest bumper car rides were located in Coney Island 216 Furthermore two traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island Spook a Rama at Deno s 215 and Ghost Hole on West 12th Street adjacent to Deno s 217 Former rides Edit The original Thunderbolt in 1995 Coney Island has had three major amusement parks in its past Steeplechase Park 1897 1964 Luna Park 1903 1944 and Dreamland 1904 1911 as well as several standalone attractions 57 74 218 In addition Astroland operated at the site of the current Luna Park from 1962 to 2008 219 while a second Dreamland operated at that site for only the 2009 season 220 221 In addition to the rides in Coney Island s former amusement parks there were also several dozen roller coasters that are now defunct 222 The Comet next to the Cyclone s current site was built in 1921 and destroyed in 1945 3 46 Another coaster the Oriental Scenic Railway was created by LaMarcus Adna Thompson in 1887 57 98 99 3 41 and was demolished in 1955 to be replaced with a hot rod amusement ride 100 The steeplechase roller coaster created by Steeplechase Park operator George C Tilyou in 1897 consisted of people riding wooden horses around the park on a steel track 33 The original wooden Thunderbolt coaster located between West 15th and West 16th Streets was constructed in 1925 closed in 1983 and torn down in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park 223 224 Nearby was Tornado a wooden coaster constructed in 1926 64 24 225 and destroyed by arson in 1977 226 Coney Island also contains one defunct ride that is still standing the Parachute Jump Originally built as the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World s Fair this was the first ride of its kind Patrons were hoisted 262 ft 80 m in the air before being allowed to drop using guy wired parachutes The Parachute Jump was closed in the 1960s but was officially preserved 105 having been listed on the NRHP in 1980 227 and made a city landmark in 1989 228 1 141 Beaches Edit The beach at Coney Island in June 2016 with the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge visible on the horizon There is a broad public sand beach that starts at Sea Gate at West 37th Street through the central Coney Island area and Brighton Beach to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach a distance of approximately 2 7 mi 4 3 km The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann Boardwalk Numerous amusements as well as the aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades are directly accessible from the landward side of the boardwalk 229 230 The boardwalk in Manhattan Beach located within Manhattan Beach Park is not connected with the Riegelmann Boardwalk 231 The beaches in Coney Island used to be private until 1923 when the city bought all the land on the waterfront and created the Riegelmann Boardwalk and Beach 232 Today only the sand beach inside Sea Gate is private it is accessible solely to residents of that community 230 The public beaches are maintained on a regular basis by the city Because sand no longer naturally deposits on the beach it is replenished in regular beach nourishment projects using dredged sand 8 The public beaches are open and free to use though the boardwalk is closed during nights from 1 to 5 a m 233 The beach area is divided into several sections by rock groynes that were built in the 1920s to prevent erosion 234 15 There are several clubs that host activities on Coney Island s beach The Coney Island Polar Bear Club consists of a group of people who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months Their most popular event is an annual swim on New Year s Day 235 3 50 The beach also serves as the training grounds for the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers a group dedicated to promoting open water swimming which hosts several open water swim races each year 236 237 The boardwalk around sunset Public parks Edit There are several public parks in Coney Island operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Parks within the main Coney Island neighborhood include 238 The Abe Stark Skating Rink located on the south side of Surf Avenue between West 19th and West 20th Streets adjacent to the boardwalk It opened in 1970 239 Coney Island Creek Park located along the south shore of Coney Island Creek Opened in 1984 it is composed mostly of plants 12 Leon S Kaiser Park located on the northern side of Neptune Avenue between West 24th and West 32nd Streets and contains playgrounds athletic facilities fitness equipment and open spaces for barbecuing 11 Poseidon Playground located along the beach between West 25th and West 27th Streets and contains water spray showers playgrounds and handball courts 240 Steeplechase Park located along the beach between West 16th and West 19th Streets It contains a public plaza with seating as well as MCU Park a minor league baseball stadium 241 Surf Playground located on the south side of Surf Avenue between West 25th and West 27th Streets just north of Poseidon Playground It contains basketball courts playgrounds and water spray showers 242 Other attractions Edit The New York Aquarium opened in 1957 on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park 101 It is located on 602 Surf Avenue between West 5th and West 10th Streets 243 As of 2018 update the New York Aquarium consists of five exhibits Aquatheater Conservation Hall Sea Cliffs Sharks Rays amp Turtles and Ocean Wonders Sharks 244 The original Bathysphere a deep sea submersible that made historic journeys underwater in the 1930s is on display at the aquarium 245 Maimonides Park is located on the former site of Steeplechase Park Opened in 2001 as KeySpan Park 148 it hosts the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team 246 In 2010 it was renamed after the Municipal Credit Union MCU the city s largest credit union in an eleven year naming rights deal which ended in 2021 247 248 In June 2016 the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island opened on the boardwalk to the west of Maimondies Park hosting several live musical acts as well as other events 249 It was constructed at the location of the Childs Restaurant which was originally constructed in 1923 and was renovated when the amphitheater was being constructed The rooftop part of the restaurant reopened in July 2016 250 The nonprofit organization Coney Island USA also operates the Coney Island Museum a collection of memorabilia that chronicles the history of the neighborhood The museum opened in 1980 and is located at 1208 Surf Avenue near the intersection with West 12th Street 251 It charges a 5 admission fee per adult 252 253 Another nonprofit founded in 2004 the Coney Island History Project operates a space near the Wonder Wheel 254 Events Edit Nathan s Famous The Freak Bar Coney Island USA sponsors various seasonal acts every year In April the organization hosts the Noisefest and the Congress of Curious Peoples This is followed in May or June by the Coney Island Mermaid Parade which takes place on Surf Avenue and the boardwalk and features floats and performances During August or September Coney Island USA produces the Beard and Moustache Competition Tattoo and Motorcycle Festival and Coney Island Film Festival The organization then hosts the Creepshow at the Freakshow an interactive Halloween themed event in October 255 The annual Cosme 5K Charity Run Walk supported by the Coney Island Sports Foundation takes place on the Riegelmann Boardwalk toward the end of June 256 A major national volleyball tournament hosted by the Association of Volleyball Professionals AVP which is typically hosted on the West Coast of the U S was held in Coney Island starting in 2006 The AVP built a 4 000 seat stadium and twelve outer courts next to the boardwalk for the event 257 258 The tournament returned to Coney Island from 2007 through 2009 but was not hosted at Coney Island in 2010 due to a lack of money 259 When AVP tournaments resumed in Brooklyn in 2015 they were hosted at Brooklyn Bridge Park instead 260 In 2009 the Ringling Bros and Barnum amp Bailey Circus performed in Coney Island for the first time since 1956 The event titled The Coney Island Boom A Ring was housed in tents that were located between the boardwalk and Surf Avenue 261 262 The following year they returned to the same location with The Coney Island Illuscination 262 In May 2015 Thor Equities unveiled Coney Art Walls a public art wall project curated by former Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles director Jeffrey Deitch and Thor CEO Joe Sitt Located at 3050 Stillwell Avenue the project featured work from more than 30 artists 263 The exhibition started being held annually through at least 2019 264 Panorama of Coney Island waterfront as seen from the pier in June 2016Demographics Edit Volunteers arrive to clear the boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy Based on data from the 2010 United States Census the combined population of Coney Island and Sea Gate was 31 965 a decrease of 2 302 6 7 from the 34 267 counted in 2000 Covering an area of 851 49 acres 344 59 ha the neighborhood had a population density of 37 5 inhabitants per acre 24 000 sq mi 9 300 km2 265 The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 32 2 10 307 African American 30 9 9 880 White 8 7 2 793 Asian 0 2 78 Native American 0 0 4 Pacific Islander 0 2 67 from other races and 1 5 467 from two or more races Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26 2 8 369 of the population 266 82 of the population were high school graduates and 40 had a bachelor s degree or higher 266 267 2 The entirety of Community Board 13 had 106 459 inhabitants as of NYC Health s 2018 Community Health Profile with an average life expectancy of 80 4 years 267 2 20 This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81 2 for all New York City neighborhoods 268 53 PDF p 84 269 Most inhabitants are adults with 25 between the ages of 25 44 27 between 45 and 64 and 22 who are at least 65 years old The ratio of young and college aged residents was lower at 19 and 8 respectively 267 2 Coney Island s elderly population as a share of the area s total population is higher than in other New York City neighborhoods 270 6 As of 2016 the median household income in Community District 13 was 39 213 271 In 2018 an estimated 24 of Coney Island residents lived in poverty compared to 21 in all of Brooklyn and 20 in all of New York City One in eight residents 11 were unemployed compared to 9 in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City Rent burden or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent is 55 in Coney Island slightly higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52 and 51 respectively Based on this calculation as of 2018 update Coney Island is not considered to be gentrifying 267 7 According to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning there were between 20 000 and 29 999 White residents 10 000 to 19 999 Black residents 5 000 to 9 999 Hispanic residents and less than 5000 Asian residents 272 273 Political representation EditPolitically Coney Island is in New York s 8th congressional district 274 275 It is also in the New York State Senate s 23rd district 276 277 the New York State Assembly s 46th district 278 279 and the New York City Council s 47th district 280 Police and crime EditConey Island is patrolled by the New York City Police Department NYPD s 60th Precinct located at 2950 West Eighth Street 4 Transit District 34 is located at 1243 Surf Avenue within the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue subway station 281 The 60th Precinct ranked 34th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per capita crime in 2010 Between 1993 and 2010 major crimes decreased by 72 including a 76 decrease in robberies 71 decrease in felony assaults and 67 decrease in shootings 282 As of 2018 update with a non fatal assault rate of 51 per 100 000 people Coney Island s rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole The incarceration rate of 168 per 100 000 people is about the same as that of the city as a whole 267 8 The 60th Precinct has a substantially lower crime rate than in the 1990s with crimes across all categories having decreased by 77 5 between 1990 and 2022 The precinct reported five murders 16 rapes 179 robberies 373 felony assaults 159 burglaries 527 grand larcenies and 121 grand larcenies auto in 2022 283 Fire safety Edit Engine Co 318 Ladder Co 166 The New York City Fire Department FDNY operates two firehouses in the area 5 Engine Company 318 Ladder Company 166 is located at 2510 Neptune Avenue 284 It contains the Coney Island Fire Station Pumping Station listed on the National Register of Historic Places 285 Engine Company 245 Ladder Company 161 Battalion 43 is located at 2929 West 8th Street 286 In addition FDNY EMS Station 43 is on the grounds of Coney Island Hospital 287 Health Edit Coney Island Hospital As of 2018 update preterm births and births to teenage mothers are slightly more common in Coney Island than in other places citywide In Coney Island there were 95 preterm births per 1 000 live births compared to 87 per 1 000 citywide and 20 2 births to teenage mothers per 1 000 live births compared to 19 3 per 1 000 citywide slightly higher than in the median neighborhood 267 11 Coney Island has a high population of residents who are uninsured or who receive healthcare through Medicaid 270 In 2018 this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 14 which is higher than the citywide rate of 12 267 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter the deadliest type of air pollutant in Coney Island is 0 0067 milligrams per cubic metre 6 7 10 9 oz cu ft lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages 267 9 Nineteen percent of Coney Island residents are smokers which is higher the city average of 14 of residents being smokers 267 13 In Coney Island 28 of residents are obese 15 are diabetic and 31 have high blood pressure higher than the citywide averages of 24 11 and 28 respectively 267 16 In addition 18 of children are obese compared to the citywide average of 20 267 12 Ninety two percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day which is slightly higher than the city s average of 87 In 2018 70 of residents described their health as good very good or excellent lower than the city s average of 78 267 13 For every supermarket in Coney Island there are 21 bodegas 267 10 The primary hospital in the neighborhood is Coney Island Hospital 270 6 Post offices and ZIP Codes EditConey Island s primary ZIP Code is 11224 288 though small portions located east of West 1st Street and Ocean Parkway are located in ZIP Code 11235 289 There are two United States Post Office branches in Coney Island The Coney Island Station is located at 2727 Mermaid Avenue 290 and the Neptune Station is located at 532 Neptune Avenue 291 Education EditConey Island generally has a similar ratio of college educated residents to the rest of the city as of 2018 update While 45 of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher 18 have less than a high school education and 37 are high school graduates or have some college education By contrast 40 of Brooklynites and 38 of city residents have a college education or higher 267 6 The percentage of Coney Island students excelling in math has been increasing though reading achievement has declined math achievement rose from 53 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2011 but reading achievement fell from 57 to 55 percent within the same time period 292 Coney Island s rate of elementary school student absenteeism is higher than the rest of New York City In Coney Island 26 of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year compared to the citywide average of 20 of students 268 24 PDF p 55 267 7 Elementary middle and high schools Edit Abraham Lincoln High School Coney Island is served by the New York City Department of Education and students in the neighborhood are automatically zoned into the nearest public schools The zoned schools for the main portion of Coney Island include PS 90 Edna Cohen School grades K 5 293 294 PS 100 Coney Island School grades K 5 295 296 PS 188 The Michael E Berdy School grades K 4 297 PS IS 288 The Shirley Tanyhill School grades PK 8 298 IS 303 Herbert S Eisenberg grades 6 8 296 299 300 PS 329 grades PK 5 301 IS 239 the Mark Twain School for the Gifted and Talented 6 8 is a magnet school for gifted students and it accepts students from around the city 302 In 2006 David Scharfenberg of The New York Times said Coney Island s elementary schools are a mixed lot with only some exceeding citywide averages on the state s testing regimen 296 All New York City high school students can go to any high school in the city There are two public high schools in Coney Island Abraham Lincoln High School 296 303 and Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies 304 Public library Edit Coney Island library branch The Brooklyn Public Library BPL s Coney Island branch is located at 1901 Mermaid Avenue near the intersection with West 19th Street It opened in 1911 as an unmanned deposit station Ten years later it moved to the former Coney Island Times offices and became fully staffed In 1954 another branch was built According to BPL s website the library was referred to as the first ever library built on stilts over the Atlantic Ocean The branch was rebuilt in 2013 after being damaged in Hurricane Sandy 305 Transportation Edit Coney Island Stillwell Avenue station Coney Island is served by four New York City Subway stations 306 307 The Coney Island Stillwell Avenue station the terminal of the D F lt F gt N Q trains is one of the largest elevated rapid transit stations in the world with eight tracks serving four platforms 308 The entire station built in 1917 1920 as a replacement for the former surface level Culver Depot 309 was rebuilt in 2001 2004 149 308 The other subway stations within Coney Island are West Eighth Street New York Aquarium served by the F lt F gt and Q trains Neptune Avenue served by the F and lt F gt trains and Ocean Parkway served by the Q train 307 A bus terminal beneath the Stillwell Avenue station serves the B68 to Prospect Park the B74 to Sea Gate the B64 to Bay Ridge and the B82 to Starrett City Additionally the B36 runs from Sea Gate to Sheepshead Bay The X28 and X38 provide express bus service to Manhattan 310 The three main west east arteries in the neighborhood are from north to south Neptune Avenue Mermaid Avenue and Surf Avenue Neptune Avenue becomes Emmons Avenue at Sheepshead Bay while Surf Avenue becomes Ocean Parkway and then runs north toward Prospect Park The north south cross streets in Coney Island are numbered with West prepended to their numbers The street numbers run from West 1st Street at Coney Island s eastern border to West 37th Street at the western border adjacent to Sea Gate 311 Coney Island contains several bicycle paths The Ocean Parkway bicycle path terminates in the neighborhood while the Shore Parkway bike path part of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway runs east along Jamaica Bay and west and north along New York Harbor On street bike lanes are marked in Neptune Avenue and other streets in Coney Island In addition the Riegelmann Boardwalk is open to cyclists during the daytime though bicycling hours are restricted during the summer months 312 In 2019 NYC Ferry announced that the western part of Coney Island would be served by the Coney Island ferry route beginning in 2021 313 314 315 However as of 2022 update the implementation of the Coney Island route had been delayed indefinitely 316 317 In popular culture EditMain article Coney Island in popular culture Coney Island has been featured in many novels films television shows cartoons and theatrical plays 57 176 318 This is linked to its iconic status as a vacation destination 319 Various slapstick comedies and films have been set at Coney Island or allude to it There have also been several television documentaries about the area s history 318 137 142 320 References EditNotes Edit Denson Charles 2002 Coney Island Lost and Found Berkeley California Ten Speed Press ISBN 9781580084550 a b NYC Planning Community Profiles communityprofiles planning nyc gov New York City Department of City Planning Retrieved March 18 2019 a b c d e Denson Charles 2011 Coney Island and Astroland Images of America Series Arcadia Pub ISBN 978 0 7385 7428 8 Retrieved February 26 2019 a b NYPD 60th Precinct www nyc gov New York City Police Department Retrieved October 3 2016 a b FDNY Firehouse Listing Location of Firehouses and companies NYC Open Data Socrata New York City Fire Department September 10 2018 Retrieved March 14 2019 Jackson Kenneth T ed 2010 The Encyclopedia of New York City 2nd ed New Haven Yale University Press p 299 ISBN 978 0 300 11465 2 a b c Kadinsky Sergey 2016 Hidden Waters of New York City A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes Ponds Creeks and Streams in the Five Boroughs New York NY Countryman Press ISBN 978 1 58157 566 8 a b Geology of the New York City Region www usgs gov Retrieved February 15 2021 a b c d Chapter 17 Southern Brooklyn PDF A Stronger More Resilient New York City of New York 2013 pp 335 364 Retrieved July 22 2018 Dornhelm Richard B September 25 2003 The Coney Island Public Beach and Boardwalk Improvement of 1923 Urban Beaches Reston VA American Society of Civil Engineers pp 52 63 doi 10 1061 40682 2003 6 ISBN 978 0 7844 0682 3 a b Kaiser Park NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation October 16 2004 Retrieved July 27 2018 a b Coney Island Creek Park NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation Retrieved July 27 2018 Zipcode 11224 www plantmaps com Retrieved April 14 2021 a b c Solomon Steve 1999 Coney Island Baltimore MD Top Hat Press p 13 ISBN 978 0 912509 08 2 OCLC 42191804 Brooklyn before the bridge American paintings from the Long Island Historical Society Long Island Historical Society Brooklyn Museum 1982 p 54 ISBN 9780872730915 Retrieved October 20 2019 via HathiTrust Pritchard Evan 2002 Native New Yorkers the legacy of the Algonquin people of New York San Francisco Council Oak Books p 105 ISBN 978 1 57178 107 9 OCLC 46937559 a b c d Hunter Douglas 2009 Half Moon Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World Bloomsbury Publishing USA p 165 ISBN 978 1 60819 098 0 Schwartz Seymour I Ehrenberg Ralph E 1980 The mapping of America H N Abrams p 108 ISBN 978 0 81091 307 3 Retrieved October 20 2019 a b c d e f g h i Coney Island American Experience PBS February 4 1991 Retrieved October 20 2019 a b c Boyle James 1939 Official Brooklyn Guide Book Henin OCLC 3632212 McGowan Joe 2015 Sligo Folk Tales New York The History Press p 81 ISBN 978 1 84588 836 7 OCLC 920024400 Sijs van der Nicoline 2009 Cookies Coleslaw and Stoops The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages p 51 ISBN 978 9 08964 124 3 The Atlantic World Dutch Place Names The Dutch in America 1609 1664 The Library of Congress Retrieved May 10 2016 Stimpson George W 1992 Why Do Some Shoes Squeak and 568 Other Popular Questions Answered Wings Books p 207 ISBN 978 0 517 45574 6 Benson Egbert New York Historical Society 1825 Memoir Read Before the Historical Society of the State of New York December 31 1816 Henry C Sleight p 26 a b c d e f g h i j Stockwell A P Stillwell W H 1884 A History of the Town of Gravesend N Y Retrieved July 21 2018 Digital Collections Text Patent of Anthony Jansen for 100 morgens of land on Long Island NYSA A1880 78 VGG 0061 digitalcollections archives nysed gov Retrieved August 2 2021 Digital Collections Text Indian deed for a tract of land on Long Island NYSA A1880 78 VGG 0052 digitalcollections archives nysed gov Retrieved July 28 2021 Pritchard E T 2002 Native New Yorkers The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York Council Oak Books p 106 ISBN 978 1 57178 107 9 Retrieved July 21 2018 Douglass Harvey March 23 1933 Coney Island Scenes Shift Never Change Brooklyn Daily Eagle Retrieved March 23 2016 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Digital Collections Text Patent of Gysbert Op Dyck for the whole of Coney Island NYSA A1880 78 VGG 0095 digitalcollections archives nysed gov Retrieved July 12 2021 a b Currie George August 10 1936 Passed in Review Brooklyn Daily Eagle p 14 Retrieved July 21 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com a b Ierardi Eric 2001 Gravesend the home of Coney Island Charleston S C Arcadia p 46 ISBN 978 0 7385 2361 3 OCLC 51632931 a b c Coney Island History Early History Heart of Coney Island Jamaica Ditch Coney Island History Project Retrieved July 21 2018 a b c d Roosevelt Edith Kermit June 1 1957 Coney Isle Fishing For Way to Regain Its Lost Glamour PDF Buffalo Evening News Retrieved July 26 2018 via fultonhistory com a b Yellowed Pages of Coney Island Register Reveal Visits of Many Great and Near Great of Day Brooklyn Daily Eagle March 5 1939 p 11 Retrieved July 21 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com a b c d e Phalen William 2016 Coney Island 150 years of rides fires floods the rich the poor and finally Robert Moses Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company Inc Publishers ISBN 978 0 7864 9816 1 OCLC 933438460 a b c American Experience Coney Island People amp Events PBS Retrieved November 13 2015 Berman John S Museum of the City of New York 2003 Coney Island Portraits of America Barnes and Noble Books ISBN 978 0 7607 3887 0 Retrieved November 13 2015 Travel Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn NY June 9 1864 p 1 Another New Rail Road Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn NY June 9 1864 p 2 a b c Brighton Beach History Our Brooklyn Brooklyn Public Library August 30 1936 Archived from the original on November 17 2015 Retrieved July 23 2018 a b Cudahy Brian J 2009 How We Got to Coney Island The Development of Mass Transportation in Brooklyn and Kings County Fordham University Press ISBN 978 0 8232 2211 7 Retrieved July 23 2018 a b c Cross G Walton J K 2005 The Playful Crowd Pleasure Places in the Twentieth Century Columbia University Press p 15 ISBN 978 0 231 50283 2 Retrieved October 21 2019 a b c d e f g Stanton Jeffrey 1997 Coney Island Luxury Hotels Coney Island History Site Retrieved November 12 2015 Weinstein Stephen 2000 Brighton Beach In Jackson Kenneth T Keller Lisa Flood Nancy eds The Encyclopedia of New York City 2nd ed New York NY and New Haven CT USA The New York Historical Society and Yale University Press pp 139 140 ISBN 0 300 11465 6 Retrieved November 11 2015 The Real Brighton Beach The New Yorker March 29 2010 Retrieved July 23 2018 Williams Keith Brighton Beach Old World mentality New World reality The Weekly Nabe Retrieved July 29 2012 Engeman s New Bathing Hotel Brooklyn Daily Eagle July 1 1878 p 1 Retrieved July 23 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com a b c d e f g h i Stern Robert A M Gilmartin Gregory Massengale John Montague 1983 New York 1900 Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890 1915 New York Rizzoli ISBN 0 8478 0511 5 OCLC 9829395 a b c d Feinman Mark S February 17 2001 Early Rapid Transit in Brooklyn 1878 1913 nycsubway org Retrieved November 12 2015 Another Coney Island Railroad Opening of the Brooklyn and Flatbush Line to Brighton Beach The New York Times July 2 1878 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 30 2018 a b c The Upper Class Brooklyn Resorts of the Victorian Era Curbed NY June 27 2013 Retrieved November 12 2015 Wilderness Made Prosperous By One Man s Vision and Daring Brooklyn Daily Eagle July 11 1954 p 7 Retrieved July 23 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Opening Reception at the Oriental Hotel Brooklyn Daily Eagle August 3 1880 p 3 Retrieved July 23 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Obituary 1 No Title The New York Times July 13 1906 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 3 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Immerso Michael 2002 Coney Island the people s playground illustrated ed Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 3138 0 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Judith N DeSena Timothy Shortell 2012 The World in Brooklyn Gentrification Immigration and Ethnic Politics in a Global City Lexington Books pp 147 176 ISBN 978 0 7391 6670 3 David A Sullivan Coney Island History How West Brighton became Modern day Coney Island heartofconeyisland com Retrieved November 19 2016 Sea Gate and Sheepshead Brooklyn Daily Eagle August 6 1899 p 16 Retrieved July 21 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Quest for Rural Homes Toilers of Greater New York to Gain by Long Island Rapid Transit Twenty Minutes to Jamaica Pretty Suburban Villas Springing Up in Anticipation of the Proposed Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Grass and Air for All The New York Times May 16 1897 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 23 2018 J B T August 14 1898 Sea Gate The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 23 2018 a b Kasson J F 2011 Amusing the Million Coney Island at the Turn of the Century Farrar Straus and Giroux ISBN 978 1 4299 5223 1 a b c d e f g Parascandola L J 2014 A Coney Island Reader Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion Columbia University Press p 24 ISBN 978 0 231 53819 0 Retrieved January 20 2019 a b Matus Paul The New BMT Coney Island Terminal The Third Rail Online Archived from the original on September 26 2007 Retrieved August 29 2007 Coney Carousel List Westland Network August 27 1997 Retrieved November 13 2015 David A Sullivan Coney Island History The Elephant Hotel and Roller Coaster 1885 1896 www heartofconeyisland com Retrieved November 19 2016 On This Day in History March 1 Brooklyn s Answer to Boss Tweed Brooklyn Eagle February 1 2012 Retrieved July 14 2019 Remembering Parks Past The New York Times July 7 1989 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved January 20 2019 The Face of Steeplechase at the Coney Island History Project Brooklyn Paper May 30 2014 Retrieved July 9 2019 Luna Park First Night Coney Island Visitors Dazzled by Electric City Many Colored Illuminations and Canals A Midway of Nations and a Trip to the Moon Replace the Old Time Recreations The New York Times May 17 1903 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 21 2019 New Coney Dazzles Its Record Multitude Luna Park and Dreamland the Centres of Great Crush 250 000 Persons at Island Novel and Costly Shows with the Frankfurter and Peanut as Reminders of By Gone Days The New York Times May 15 1904 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 21 2019 Coney Island Boardwalk Much Opposition to the Bill for a Public Recreation Ground The New York Times February 27 1901 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved May 16 2018 Coney Island Realty Settlement The New York Times July 24 1904 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved January 20 2019 Lindheim Burton June 27 1943 Coney Has a War Boom There Are Priorities Shortages and the Dimout but the Subway Is Convenient The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 18 2019 a b c Early Coney Fires Razed Large Areas Dreamland Was Burned in 1911 With Damage Estimated at More Than 5 000 000 Steeplechase Fire in 1907 Loss Kept Down to 1 500 000 When Wind Shifted In 1908 Flames Destroyed Two Hotels The New York Times July 14 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 12 2019 a b 3 000 000 Fire Sweeps Over Coney Island Elmira Star Gazette July 14 1932 p 1 Retrieved July 12 2019 via newspapers com Coney Swept by 1 500 000 Fire Steeplechase Park and Blocks of Flimsy Bowery Buildings in Ruins Starts in Cave of Winds Eats Over 35 Acres of Wooden Structures Checked at Stauch s Brick Hotel One May Die Dozen Hurt Many Uninsured Business Men Ruined Tilyou Chief Loser Takes It Bravely Coney s Gayety Is Unchecked The New York Times July 29 1907 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 11 2019 Investigating Fire at Coney No More Tinsel Buildings Brooklyn Citizen July 29 1907 pp 1 10 via newspapers com The Lambs Gambol Brooklyn Amusements Greater Dreamland Opening Steeplechase Park The New York Times May 16 1909 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 11 2019 Rang Two Nines for Dreamland Fire First Time the Call Ever Was Sounded for a Fire in Brooklyn Borough What the Signal Means Called Out 33 Companies and 250 Men Longest Run Was More Than Nine Miles Great Race to the Sea The New York Times June 4 1911 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 12 2019 1 000 Are Made Homeless One of Resort s Worst Fires Razes Section of Boardwalk Blaze Starts in Rubbish Burns District Between 21st and 24th Streets Shift in 40 Mile Wind Saves Large Area Flames Visible for Miles 500 Receive First Aid Police Rush Help to the Destitute Manhattan Sends Apparatus The New York Times July 14 1932 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 12 2019 Lamb Jonah Owen August 6 2006 The Ghost Ships of Coney Island Creek Published 2006 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 7 2020 Moses Robert 1937 Improvement of Coney Island Rockaway and South Beaches Retrieved July 26 2018 via Internet Archive Mayor Ready to Remodel Coney Asks Moses for Revised Plan Indicates He Favors Reconstruction of Resort on Broader Scale Than 1937 Proposal Says Demand for Recreation Has Changed Mayor for Broad Plan Mayor s Letter to Moses Held Up by Lack of Funds The New York Times June 25 1939 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 Face Lifted Coney Awaits Old Gang Amusement Owners Put Paint on the Rides and Trot Out a Few New Super Thrillers The New York Times May 5 1946 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 9 2019 Half of Luna Park Destroyed by Fire as 750 000 Watch Flames Sweep Over 8 Acre Area and Cause 500 000 Loss in 1 1 2 Hour Battle The New York Times August 13 1944 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 22 2018 Coney s Old Luna Park Will Yield To New Homes for 625 GI Families Luna Park to Bow to Homes for GI s The New York Times August 18 1946 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 22 2018 New Parking Lots Planned by Moses 25 Cent Fee Would Be Charged for Facilities at Coney Island and Rockaway Beach The New York Times August 18 1949 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 22 2018 a b Public Seen Tiring of Coney Gimmicks Moses Says People Are Turning to Places Like Jones Beach as Against Gadget Resorts Long Beach A Warning Commissioner Advises Jersey Group Not to Commercialize Sandy Hook Project The New York Times October 6 1949 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 22 2018 Steeplechase Pier Plan Closing in Summer Slated for 190 000 Rebuilding The New York Times April 7 1949 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 22 2018 Moses Asks Coney Island Rezoning To Upgrade It as Residential Area Rezoning Sought for Coney Island The New York Times April 2 1953 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 a b c Salerno Al October 24 1954 Break Ground for World s Greatest Aquarium at Coney Island Brooklyn Daily Eagle pp 1 21 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Amusement Area in Coney Exempt Estimate Board Votes Exclusion From Rezoning of a Section North of the Boardwalk The New York Times June 12 1953 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 Greenbaum Clarence June 12 1953 That Hot Dog Flavor To Remain at Coney Brooklyn Daily Eagle p 1 Retrieved July 27 2018 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com Coney Extension Denied to Moses Estimate Board Rejects His Plan to Join Boardwalk With Manhattan Beach Residents Protest It Their Willingness to Pay for Restoring Own Esplanade Spurs Unanimous Vote The New York Times September 23 1955 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 Planners Oppose Housing at Beach Reject Proposal for Municipal Operation of Ex G I Units Ask Quick Shift to Park Weigh Rezoning for TV N B C Ties Favorable Vote on Flatbush Studio to Location of Its Color Operations The New York Times May 28 1953 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 Caro Robert 1974 The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of New York New York Knopf ISBN 978 0 394 48076 3 OCLC 834874 Plan of Aquarium at Coney Island Approved Estimate Board Appropriates 450 000 for First Stage Work Starts in Spring The New York Times October 23 1953 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 27 2018 a b c Coney Girds for 55 Aquarium Progressing Billboard January 29 1955 p 63 Retrieved July 22 2018 a b History of the New York Aquarium New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation May 31 1934 Retrieved July 22 2018 a b c Phillips McCandlish April 13 1966 Return of Coney Island Amusement Area Badly Hurt Last Year Is Attempting to Win Back Customers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Coney Island Slump Grows Worse Decline in Business Since the War Years Has Been Steady The New York Times July 2 1964 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 High Tower in Park to Rise at Coney The New York Times September 13 1962 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 6 2020 a b Chan Sewell July 21 2005 Leaps of Imagination for the Parachute Jump The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 6 2019 Steeplechase Park Planned as the Site Of Housing Project The New York Times July 1 1965 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Kaufman Michael T March 19 1964 Housing and Amusements Give Coney Island a Dual Place in the Sun The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 6 Bikinied Beauties Attend Demolishing Of Coney Landmark The New York Times September 22 1966 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 A 160 Foot High Pleasure Dome Is Proposed for Coney Island A Dome Proposed for Coney Island The New York Times July 24 1966 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Fowle Farnsworth October 5 1966 City Wants Site of Steeplechase For Seafront Coney Island Park Planning Board Sets Oct 19 Hearing to Bar Area for High Rise Homes The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Roberts Steven V October 20 1966 A Park Is Backed for Coney Island Developer Who Bought Site Calls Plan Wasteful The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Clark Alfred E January 6 1968 State Is Urged to Build a Park At Coney Island s Steeplechase The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 Bennett Charles G May 23 1968 Park Usage Voted for Steeplechase City to Seek 2 Million Aid to Buy Coney Island Tract The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 30 2018 a b c d Glave Judie September 2 1990 Coney Island stages a comeback The Journal News White Plains NY pp 68 69 70 via newspapers com a b c d Fowler Glenn June 3 1979 15 Year Dispute Over Lease for Coney Island Steeplechase Continues The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 a b c Carmody Deirdre August 5 1985 Reborn Steeplechase Park Planned at Coney I The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2018 a b c d Mirabella Alan June 2 1985 A plan to bring back Coney Island New York Daily News p 311 Retrieved February 24 2019 via Newspapers com a b Chambers Marcia April 3 1977 New York After 10 Years Finds Plan to Create a Coney Island Park Is Unsuccessful The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 Aquarium Urges Razing Of Coney Island Cyclone The New York Times May 27 1975 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 Futrell J 2006 Amusement Parks of New York Amusement Parks Series Stackpole Books p 66 ISBN 978 0 8117 3262 8 Retrieved September 15 2018 Parachute Jump at Coney Island Loses Chance of Landmark Status The New York Times October 21 1977 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 Coney Island battered but unbowed it still amuses New York Daily News April 9 1976 p 53 Retrieved July 18 2019 via newspapers com Chambers Marcia June 16 1977 City in a Shift Says Coney I Park Should Become Amusement Area The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 a b Campbell Colin August 29 1981 Beleaguered Coney Islanders Rally With Sense of Affection The Talk of Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2018 Lynn Frank April 6 1979 Koch Urges City Be Considered As a Site for Gambling Casinos The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2018 Fitzgerald Owen June 21 1979 Casinos seen as a Coney lifesaver New York Daily News p 652 Retrieved February 21 2019 via Newspapers com Basler Barbara August 14 1979 Opinions Mixed On Casino Plan In Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 15 2018 a b Fitzgerald Owen November 17 1982 Effort renewed for rides park New York Daily News p 110 Retrieved February 21 2019 via Newspapers com Quindlen Anna February 25 1982 About New York a Ray of Hope Gleams in Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 22 2019 Postings Housing Reprieve The New York Times June 10 1984 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 22 2019 Chira Susan August 20 1983 The Talk of Coney Island at Coney I Symbols of Heyday Fading Away The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 22 2019 Freedman Samuel G May 29 1986 Coney I Symbol of Fun Is Now One of Despair The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Williams Winston July 18 1988 The Talk of Coney Island Faded Funland Fears and Hopes The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Rangel Jesus March 29 1986 Coney I Opening Season With Hope The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2018 a b Rangel Jesus June 5 1987 Broad Redevelopment Is Urged for Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Rangel Jesus December 5 1986 State Proposes Baseball Stadium for Coney I The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2018 a b Arena Salvatore April 26 1987 The Business of Bringing Baseball Back to Brooklyn New York Daily News pp 1 8 9 via Newspapers com Kennedy Shawn G August 9 1989 Real Estate Coney Island Development Deal Gaining The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Coney Island landmarks present and we hope future Brooklyn Daily Eagle May 11 2016 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Dunlap David W July 13 1988 Coney I Thriller Becomes Landmark The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Maniscalco Joe February 15 2010 Coney Island Parachute Jump No climbing allowed New York Post Retrieved February 24 2019 Wolff Craig May 25 1994 Coney Island on the Edge A Region s Venerable Magic Is Buffeted by Modern Times The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Farrell Bill January 21 1998 Baseball Pitch Back in Sportsplex Mix Rally for Coney Venue Daily News New York Retrieved November 13 2015 a b c Martin Douglas November 23 1998 Back to the Drawing Board in Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved November 13 2015 Martin Douglas July 21 1997 With Times Square Reborn Attention Turns to Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Rozhon Tracie November 22 1996 Coney Island Housing Project Complete The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 27 2019 Barnes Julian E April 12 2000 Deal Gives Coney Island a Ballpark and a Team That Some Didn t Want The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Vecsey George June 26 2001 Summer Rite Returns To Borough of Churches The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Chan Sewell May 28 2005 And Now for the Good News From the Subway System The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved August 15 2016 a b Mayor Bloomberg Announces Strategic Plan For Future of Coney Island NYCEDC September 14 2005 Archived from the original on July 21 2018 Retrieved July 21 2018 Fung Amanda June 28 2009 Coney Island keeper Crain s New York Business Retrieved November 14 2015 Bagli Charles V July 4 2006 Down by the Boardwalk a 1 Billion Revival Plan The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 A 1 5 Billion Vision For Coney Island The New York Sun Retrieved October 22 2019 a b Plans Coming Together For Coney Island Amusement Park Expansion ny1 com November 14 2006 Archived from the original on October 8 2007 Retrieved October 22 2019 New York City Department of City Planning Amanda M Burden Director Nyc gov Retrieved August 13 2012 a b Bagli Charles V November 9 2007 City Offers Coney Island Plan That Conflicts With a Developer s The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 a b Bagli Charles V February 16 2009 City and Developer Spar Over Coney Island Visions The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Bagli Charles V April 17 2008 City s Coney Island Design Revised to Break Deadlock The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Bagli Charles V April 10 2009 City and Developer at Odds Over Future of Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 26 2019 Uniform Land Use Review Procedure ULURP New York City Department of City Planning Nyc gov Archived from the original on July 19 2012 Retrieved August 13 2012 a b c Bagli Charles V November 11 2009 New York to Buy 7 Acres in Coney Island Hoping for Revival The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Santos Fernanda September 10 2007 Coney Island s Astroland Closes Maybe for Good The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2019 Edroso Roy July 3 2009 New York Runnin Scared Planning Commission Approves Unloved Coney Plan blogs villagevoice com Archived from the original on July 3 2009 Retrieved October 20 2019 Calder Rich September 5 2007 Ride Over for Coney Classics New York Post Retrieved September 5 2007 McGeehan Patrick September 13 2007 Plans Afoot to Restore Coney Island Carousel for New Spin on the Boardwalk The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 24 2019 Coney Island amusement park closing News amp Videos about Coney Island amusement park closing Ireport com CNN Archived from the original on December 30 2008 Retrieved March 17 2010 Sederstrom Jotham April 8 2009 Dreamland amusement park to take place of Astroland at Coney Island New York Daily News Retrieved July 22 2019 Donahue Courtney June 4 2010 It s Saturday and a new day dawns at Coney Island Brooklyn Paper Retrieved July 22 2019 Durkin Erin February 20 2010 It s gonna be a new Coney Island baby 19 rides added to Luna Park New York Daily News Retrieved July 22 2019 Coney Island gets first new roller coasters in 80 years Reuters April 21 2011 Retrieved July 22 2019 a b Foderaro Lisa W May 24 2013 B amp B Carousell Horses Return Home to Coney Island The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 28 2018 Brown Stephen R June 14 2014 Coney Island s new Thunderbolt roller coaster officially opens NY Daily News Retrieved June 29 2014 Massive entertainment amphitheater opens on iconic Coney Island Boardwalk WPIX 11 New York June 29 2016 Retrieved July 22 2019 Nathan s Famous to Reopen in Spring 2013 after Hurricane Sandy Brooklyn Paper December 7 2012 Retrieved October 22 2019 Despite Sandy s Wrath Coney Island s Luna Park To Reopen On Schedule Sunday CBS News New York March 22 2013 Retrieved March 22 2013 Schneider Katy June 28 2018 What to Know About the New York Aquarium s New Shark Building Daily Intelligencer Retrieved June 29 2018 Hodgson Sam June 28 2018 Coney Island s Newest Wonder Sharkitecture The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 1 2018 Log flume ride zip lines coming to Coney Island AM New York August 23 2018 Retrieved August 24 2018 a b Chung Jen August 23 2018 Coney Island s Luna Park Is Getting Log Flume Ride A Ropes Course And More Gothamist Archived from the original on August 23 2018 Retrieved August 24 2018 City Unveils Plans For New Water Park Arcade On Coney Island CBS New York August 23 2018 Retrieved August 24 2018 Ramirez Jeanine August 21 2018 Coney Island could see first new hotel in over 50 years Spectrum News NY1 New York City Retrieved August 24 2018 Franklin Sydney August 21 2018 Shore Theater on Coney Island will be converted into a boutique hotel Archpaper com Retrieved August 24 2018 Locals demand beloved Coney ice rink remain under Parks Department control Brooklyn Daily August 31 2018 Archived from the original on September 15 2018 Retrieved September 15 2018 Maisel Todd May 12 2020 An endless bummer Coney Island gripped by uncertainty as summer approaches in COVID 19 era AM NewYork Retrieved May 13 2020 Michel Clifford May 7 2020 Coney Island Businesses Plead for a Lifesaver to Survive Extended Shutdown The City Retrieved May 13 2020 Vespoli Lauren May 21 2020 Can Coney Island Survive This The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved May 21 2020 Yakas Ben April 9 2021 Photos Coney Island Joyfully Reopens After 18 Month Shutdown Gothamist Retrieved April 5 2022 Coney s Luna Park to expand with new thrill rides more space Brooklyn Eagle October 7 2021 Retrieved April 5 2022 Coney Island s Luna Park breaks ground on Sky Chaser Super Flume J2SK Coaster ABC7 New York October 5 2021 Retrieved April 5 2022 Bukszpan Daniel December 30 2018 Coney Island home to hot dogs and the Cyclone roller coaster sees a budding real estate boom CNBC Retrieved May 31 2019 A Wave of New Housing is Being Built in Coney Island www ny1 com Retrieved May 31 2019 Sea Breeze Tower to rise above Coney Island Brooklyn Eagle August 23 2018 Retrieved May 31 2019 Warerkar Tanay January 4 2018 Massive Coney Island development to have 1 000 apartments retail Curbed NY Retrieved May 31 2019 Hallum Mark November 22 2022 Thor Looks to Hammer Competition in 3B Bid for Coney Island Casino Commercial Observer Retrieved January 7 2023 Thor Equities unveils 3B Coney Island casino bid Crain s New York Business November 22 2022 Retrieved January 7 2023 Hong Nicole Rubinstein Dana October 21 2022 Where Could a Casino Be Built in New York City What We Know The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 30 2022 Short Aaron August 9 2022 Manhattan Casino Push Could Turn Out to be a House of Cards Commercial Observer Retrieved October 30 2022 a b Coney Island History Project to Celebrate Opening Day with Photo Ops Oral Histories Tributes and More Broadway World Retrieved September 22 2020 Coney Island History Project Brooklyn Community Foundation brooklyncommunityfoundation org September 28 2018 Retrieved September 17 2020 Record your Coney Island Memories over the Phone or via Skype Coney Island History Project May 1 2020 Retrieved September 28 2020 Oral History Archive Coney Island History Project Retrieved September 28 2020 Alonzo Kittrels Back In The Day Photos help to bring back fond memories with father The Philadelphia Tribune Retrieved September 28 2020 Jimmy McCullough Amusing the Zillion Retrieved September 28 2020 a b The Wonder Wheel PDF New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission May 23 1989 Retrieved February 26 2019 a b The Cyclone PDF New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission July 12 1988 Retrieved February 26 2019 National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service April 15 2008 Salazar Cristian July 30 2015 The Wonder Wheel at Coney celebrates its 95th summer season am New York Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island s B amp B Carousell placed on National Register of Historic Places Brooklyn Daily Eagle July 28 2018 Retrieved July 28 2018 B amp B Carousell designated national historic place up for federal preservation money Brooklyn Daily March 11 2016 Archived from the original on July 31 2018 Retrieved July 28 2018 Kaminer Ariel April 2 2010 Thrilling Reminder of Old Coney Island The New York Times National Register Information System Cyclone Roller Coaster 91000907 National Register of Historic Places National Park Service November 2 2013 Retrieved February 26 2019 Diamonstein Spielvogel Barbaralee 2011 The Landmarks of New York Albany New York State University of New York Press p 583 ISBN 978 1 4384 3769 9 Marden Duane Thunderbolt Luna Park Roller Coaster DataBase Luna Park breaks ground on new roller coaster the Thunderbolt on Coney Island News 12 Brooklyn Brooklyn news12 com March 10 2014 Archived from the original on March 11 2014 Retrieved June 4 2014 New Roller Coaster Promises Coney Island a Return of Thrills The New York Times March 11 2014 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 22 2019 Coney Island s Luna Park To Get New Roller Coaster CBS New York March 10 2014 Retrieved June 4 2014 Brown Stephen R June 14 2014 Coney Island s new Thunderbolt roller coaster officially opens NY Daily News Retrieved June 29 2014 a b Park Map PDF Deno s Wonder Wheel Retrieved February 26 2019 Bumper cars A crash course on the classic amusement park ride USA Today February 21 2019 Retrieved February 26 2019 Fun Map of Coney Island Coney Island Fun Guide December 5 2013 Archived from the original on February 27 2019 Retrieved February 26 2019 Steeplechase Luna Park and Dreamland BKM TECH Brooklyn Museum January 16 2008 Retrieved July 17 2019 Astroland is truly dead Brooklyn Paper September 5 2008 Retrieved October 19 2019 Durkin Erin Nightmare at Dreamland Rent woes shut Coney Island park as owner vows court battle New York Daily News Retrieved July 22 2019 McLaughlin Mike August 28 2009 It s Over Coney s Dreamland will be closed for the rest of the summer Brooklyn Paper Retrieved July 22 2019 Roller Coasters Coney Island June 2 2004 Retrieved February 26 2019 Marden Duane Thunderbolt Coney Island George Moran Roller Coaster DataBase End of the line Spartanburg Herald Journal South Carolina Associated Press November 19 2000 p 10A Marden Duane Tornado Coney Island Independent Vendor 5 Roller Coaster DataBase 3 Women Killed in Brooklyn Fires The New York Times December 11 1977 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved January 20 2019 National Register Information System Parachute Jump 80002645 National Register of Historic Places National Park Service November 2 2013 Retrieved February 26 2019 The Parachute Jump PDF New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission May 23 1989 Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island Beach amp Boardwalk Highlights Coney Island NYC Parks June 26 1939 Retrieved February 26 2019 a b La Rocco Barbara 2004 Going Coastal New York City in Estonian Going Coastal p 137 ISBN 978 0 9729803 0 2 Retrieved February 26 2019 Manhattan Beach Park NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation June 26 1939 Retrieved December 14 2019 Secrets of Coney Island am New York August 23 2018 Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island Beach amp Boardwalk Beaches NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation June 26 1939 Retrieved February 24 2019 Coney Island Riegelmann Boardwalk PDF nyc gov New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission May 15 2018 Retrieved February 24 2019 The Coney Island Polar Bear Club braving the icy Atlantic am New York December 31 2018 Retrieved February 26 2019 Stein Mara Lemos November 24 2011 Brooklyn s Swimming Mecca The Wall Street Journal Retrieved February 26 2019 Mooney Jake May 10 2009 On a Beach in Brooklyn an Empty Lifeguard s Chair The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 26 2019 Maps NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation June 26 1939 Retrieved June 12 2019 Abe Stark Skating Rink Highlights NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation Retrieved July 22 2018 Poseidon Playground NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation Retrieved July 28 2018 Steeplechase Park NYC Parks New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation Retrieved July 15 2019 Surf Playground Highlights New York City Department of Parks amp Recreation May 15 1923 Retrieved July 28 2018 Getting Here New York Aquarium January 2 2019 Retrieved February 26 2019 Exhibits New York Aquarium Retrieved September 22 2019 Poffenberger Leah August September 2018 This Month in Physics History American Physical Society Retrieved October 3 2018 Freudenheim E Wiener A 2004 Brooklyn 3rd Edition The Ultimate Guide to New York s Most Happening Borough St Martin s Press p 135 ISBN 978 0 312 32331 8 Retrieved February 26 2019 Brown Stephen January 29 2010 Lights Out at Keyspan Park as Naming Rights Deal Ends The Brooklyn Paper Retrieved January 31 2010 Epstein Victor Yaniv Oren February 4 2010 Brooklyn Cyclones KeySpan Park Renamed MCU Park Daily News New York Archived from the original on February 7 2010 Retrieved February 4 2010 NY1 Exclusive A Look at the New Coney Island Amphitheater Ny1 com March 14 2016 Retrieved September 17 2016 Updated Construction Begins on Controversial Seaside Amphitheater Theconeyislandblog com January 21 2015 Retrieved September 17 2016 Coney Island Museum returns to form The Villager June 19 2014 Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island USA Coney Island Museum Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island Museum Museums amp Galleries NYCgo com Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island History Project Museums amp Galleries NYCgo com Retrieved July 9 2019 Special Events Coney Island USA Retrieved February 26 2019 Runners pound the b walk Cosme 5K Charity Run brings athletes to the shore Brooklyn Paper January 1 2019 Retrieved February 26 2019 Coney Island on the Ball Beach volleyball is hitting New York amp the boardwalk is the place to be NY Daily News Retrieved January 20 2016 Mooney Jake February 12 2006 On a Gritty Shore California Dreaming The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 26 2019 Maniscalco Joe May 7 2010 Spiked Pro volleyball tourney to skip Coney Island this summer New York Post Retrieved February 26 2019 Beach bums Pro volleyball shuns Coney serves up in Brooklyn Bridge Park Brooklyn Paper July 24 2015 Retrieved February 26 2019 Maniscalco Joe October 13 2009 Coney Island Boom A Ring return in the works New York Post Retrieved February 26 2019 a b Glass Claire June 4 2010 Ringling s Illuscination opens on June 17 Brooklyn Paper Retrieved February 26 2019 Chong Jinwoo August 7 2015 Coney Island Becomes Coney Art Walls an All Day Outdoor Museum of Street Art in NYC Untapped New York Retrieved October 7 2020 Hubert Craig May 24 2018 Coney Art Walls Returns to Brooklyn on May 25 Brownstoner Retrieved February 26 2019 Table PL P5 NTA Total Population and Persons Per Acre New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas 2010 Population Division New York City Department of City Planning February 2012 Accessed June 15 2016 li, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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