06/27/2007 Coney Island was the first name in fun and sun
By Tom Range, Sr.
Recent news concerning the further truncating of the Coney Island amusement area for residential development saddened the descendents of the millions who enjoyed being "by the sea" if only for a few hours on a hot summer day.
Coney Island is located at the lowest extremity of New York's borough of Brooklyn, right on the Atlantic Ocean. The island was "discovered" by Europeans in their explorations of the Atlantic coastline. The Englishman Henry Hudson, sailing for the Netherlands, tarried in the waters off the island before entering New York harbor in 1609.
The origin of the name "Coney" is obscure. An early legal document dated in 1654 bears the mark of a Native American tribal chief named Guttaquoh, who deeded the land identified as "Conyne Island" to 40 Dutch planters. Another document refers to a "Conynge Hook."
As New York City (New Amsterdam until 1664) grew, so did the need of its residents for a convenient recreation area. The Coney Island House opened in 1829, marking the beginning of the island's status as a seaside resort. Hotels named the Oriental, Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach soon followed through the 1870s followed by the Elephant Hotel in 1882. Its configuration copied the bodylines of an elephant featuring an entrance through the trunk with rooms built into the body and each leg. Steam, and later electrified, railroads and trolley lines connected the island to mainland Brooklyn, augmenting the steamboat excursions bringing vacationers to Coney.
In 1895 the first of three enclosed amusement parks, Sea-Lion Park was opened by impresario Captain Paul Boyton. In 1903 entrepreneurs Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy transformed Boyton's Park and named it Luna Park. In 1895 another enclosed park - Steeplechase Park - was opened. Its developer George C. Tilyou introduced the "Steeplechase Horses" ride that featured two-rider mechanical horses encircling the amusement park building on surrounding outdoor tracks. Yet another park was constructed.
Dreamland opened in 1904. While it was the last of the giant enclosed parks to open, Dreamland was the first to close. It was never rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire in 1911. Luna Park closed in 1946. Steeplechase Park closed in 1964. The demise of the last two parks can be attributed to the increase in value of the beachfront property and the decline in popularity of an in-city park as the automobile oriented Disney World and Six Flags began to dominate America's east coast leisure-time destinations.
During the hey-day of its existence as an amusement area, the proprietors of the attractions outdid themselves in the grandiose names of the rides. A sample: Loop the Loop, Pike's Peak Railway, Shoot-the-Chutes, Mountain Torrent, Helter Skelter, Loop-O-Plane and the Tornado. There remain today a few relics of Coney Island's past dominance of the recreation scene. The Wonder Wheel, a giant 150 tall ferris wheel opened in 1920. The Cyclone roller coaster opened in 1927. And in 1940, the Parachute Jump, a feature of the 1939-1940 World's Fair held in nearby Flushing Meadows, was hauled to Coney Island's boardwalk. It operated as a ride until 1968 and continues to be maintained as a monument.
Restaurants of the past include Feltman's Maple Gardens, with an open-air motion picture garden seating 2,000 people, and Stauch's, another huge dance hall and dining room located on a thoroughfare known as the Bowery. Nathan Handwerker opened Nathan's Hot Dogs in 1916. It most definitely still exists, and hosts the annual hot-dog-eating contest.
In addition to the showmen associated with the amusement park, there are a few notables with Coney Island connections. Among them is body builder Charles Atlas, born Angelo Siciliano, the "97-pound weakling" who took up body building after a bully kicked sand in his face at Coney Island. He took his name from a gilded statue in Coney Island's Atlas Hotel.
Another luminary was mobster Abe "Kid Twist" Reles who, in 1940, fell six floors to his death from a room in the Half Moon Hotel, despite the presence of round-the-clock police stationed outside his door. He was being guarded prior to testifying against Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the boss of Murder, Inc. Police complicity was suspected. Whatever the circumstances of the fall, Brooklyn soon had a new quip: "The only law Kid Twist could understand was the law of gravity."
After the latest facelift, there will probably remain some vestige of Coney Island's illustrious past. The Wonder Wheel costing perhaps a dollar a ride, the Cyclone $2.50. But the memory of riding the Steeplechase horses paired with your dad, priceless.
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Uploaded: 6/27/2007
