ESCAPE TO CONEY ISLAND

For many New Yorkers, and people who love the City, summer fun is spelled “Coney Island.”
Even now, the opening of the Coney Island rides is the first sign that summer is coming. Luna Park’s Cyclone roller coaster opens in early April, and winter-weary (and this past year, pandemic-weary) New Yorkers rejoice at the thought that fun times are ahead.
New Yorkers have been heading to Coney Island for a good time for well over a century and a half. In the 1830s, it was far enough away from Manhattan to be a real escape, and the vacationers started coming. Soon, enterprising folks started building hotels to house them and activities to amuse them.
Transportation helped. The first hotel, in 1829, was put up by the same group that built the first bridge and shell road. As trains, steamships and ferries reduced the ride from a half-day to a couple of hours, more and more Manhattanites started taking the trip. Which of course led to more and more hotels, resorts and activities.
The area eventually grew into three distinct resort areas: West Brighton, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach, each with its own clientele. According to heartofconeyisland.com, West Brighton was working-class, Brighton Beach middle-class, and Manhattan Beach upper-class. But then, at the end of the 19th century, something very big and different happened at West Brighton: the nation’s first real amusement park.
Attractions had been around since the 1870s or so: aquariums, roller coasters and other things to interest and entertain the visitors. But the idea of a bunch of rides and activities in one place, for one price – the modern amusement or theme park – started with Captain Paul Boynton and his Sea Lion Park. (Fun fact: he got the idea from P.T. Barnum’s Big Top – all the circus acts under one canvas roof!) Sea Lion Park opened in 1895, and lasted until the rainy summer of 1902 convinced Captain Boynton he wanted to do something else.
That was just fine with the next wave of amusement park developers.
In 1903, Luna Park took over the former site of Sea Lion Park, with new and exciting attractions and the big treat of electric lights at night. Not too far away, Dreamland – with a central tower and a million lights – followed a year later. And soon after that, the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk was built, under an agreement between the City (Brooklyn became part of New York in 1898) and local leaders.
It was the start of Coney Island’s heyday as an amusement area, which lasted for several decades. The Cyclone – a beloved institution whether or not you’re a roller coaster rider – opened in 1927, and was eventually named an official New York City landmark.
There’s not enough space here to chronicle the mid-to-late 20th century decline, reversal and renewal in the area. Enough to say that the Cyclone is still there, and New Yorkers still look forward to a spin every spring.

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