Coney Island Area

The last two articles in this series, (Part One and Part Two) chronicled the history of the Tilyou family’s business of entertainment. From the first restaurant and bathing pavilion in the 1868, to the first Steeplechase Park, built by son, George, the Tilyou’s have had Coney Island and the business of amusement in their hearts and minds. By the time George Tilyou had begun Steeplechase Park, there were several other amusement parks on Coney Island, as well as small independent operators with a ride here, a booth there, a restaurant, hotel, or saloon on the streets near Surf Avenue. Between 1897 and 1907, Steeplechase Park had become the very popular park where fun meant rolling on the floor, tossed around by centrifugal forces, having your skirts lifted by pressurized air jets, and riding on exciting rides like the park’s namesake, the Steeplechase. This could have all ended with the devastating fire that roared through the park in July of 1907, but for George Tilyou, it was an opportunity to persevere, restock, and rebuild. By 1908, he was back. (more…)

Mayor Bloomberg and other elected officials may be riding on the new Steeplechase rides this week, but how many people really know what went into making Coney Island, well, Coney Island? It’s hard to believe, because so much is gone now, that almost 115 years ago, this stretch of Brooklyn beachfront would become the most famous beach and amusement park in America. During Coney Island’s amusement park heyday, in the first quarter of the 20th century, the rides, attractions, carny games of chance, restaurants, dance halls and ballrooms, dive bars and cheap hotels changed over and over, in a constant reinvention in order to bring in more business, both repeat and new. Like people today, the amusement park goers wanted something new. The first Ferris wheel? Wow, but after a couple of rides, been there, done that. A high speed looped rollercoaster that goes upside down and gives you whiplash? What else do you have? A water flume ride that splashes down in a lagoon like a runaway log in a river? Yawn. A successful Coney Island amusement park owner had to have his fingers on the pulse of the people. If the people were bored, they went somewhere else. And there were plenty of places to go. But if you were inventive, the people were yours. (more…)

After a visit to Coney Island this weekend, it reminded me that spring would be a fine time to talk about summer amusement. The new Luna Park was humming along, new rides were being built, and the smell of Nathan’s Famous hotdogs was in the air, and the ocean and the boardwalk still beckon. The gaping holes where Henderson’s Theater and the Coney Island Bank once stood did not make me happy, but I digress. Looking around at what’s left of the traditional tawdry, tacky and populist Coney Island, it’s hard to believe that in the heyday of the amusement parks, there was nothing but attraction after attraction, spectacular ride after ride, for blocks upon blocks. It was miles and miles of beach and fun, food, and if you wanted, fooling around, as well as uplifting and educational journeys. It was Coney Island. (more…)