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Coney Island Capers

By Mark Rifkin
Contributing Editor, www.TimesSquare.com
Managing Director, www.twi-ny.com

Coney Island Park in New York, located at Brooklyn's southernmost tip, remains to this day an attraction to both locals and tourists

Despite all its ups and downs over the decades, Coney Island is still a magical place. If you examine its sites individually, you’ll never understand what the attraction is. But taken as a whole, Coney Island is far greater than the sum of its parts. It is filled with history and mystery, with exhilaration and debilitation, with wonder and blunder.

Ask five people how Coney Island got its name and you’ll get five different answers. (Many historians lean toward the belief that it derived from the Dutch word for rabbits, which populated the area in the 17th century.) There is no artifice to Coney; what you see is what you get. And what you get is one of the most bizarre, thrilling places in the world, as much a part of New York City as the Empire State Building, Yankee Stadium, and Central Park all rolled up into one.

Don’t go there to see only one or two of the below recommendations; spend the whole day searching out Coney’s amazing character, for every street holds a new adventure – and plenty of unusual characters. And with the serious threat of major redevelopment, parts of Coney Island might soon be gone forever.

Take a spin through Coney Island with twi-ny at flickr.com/photos/twi-ny.

THE F TRAIN

Admission: $2
mta.info

The F train brings beachgoers to the new Stillwell

Sure, it’s a long trip from Midtown Manhattan to Coney Island, but it’s not a boring one. It’s like a minitour of Brooklyn, starting out underground, heading outside once you pass Carroll Street, offering excellent views of the beautiful Kentile Floors sign and the Williamsburg Savings Bank, with the Empire State Building over your shoulder.

The train then goes back underground until you emerge outside after Fourth Avenue; as you move past Church and on to Ditmas, don’t miss all the old auto yards and the huge Jewish cemetery. Finally, as you leave Ave. U, the Parachute Jump comes into view, announcing your near arrival in Coney Island, but the fun is not over yet, as you’re about to get a long glimpse of the cool train yards and Gil Hodges Stadium on your right as you approach Neptune Ave., where you can now also see stained glass honoring the Cyclone on the platform.

Get out at Stillwell Ave. to see the sparkling new train station. Try your best to avoid D-train hell and take the F back home too. The only drawback to the train’s spending so much time aboveground is that phone-demonium soon takes over – a bunch of pinheads get all excited that their cell phones suddenly work so they immediately make calls instead of enjoying the amazing sights out the window.

MY CONEY ISLAND BABY: ROBERT WILSON

Stillwell Ave. Terminal
Surf Ave. & Stillwell Ave.
Admission: free
robertwilson.com

Robert Wilson brings new life to renovated Stillwell

Installed in 2004, Robert Wilson’s silk-screened glass brick display gets its title not only from the Lou Reed song “Coney Island Baby” but from the song of the same name written by Tom Waits for Woyczek. (Wilson and Reed have collaborated on POEtry and Rocker, and Wilson and Waits have teamed up, far more successfully, on The Black Rider and Woycze, all for BAM.).

Wilson has decorated the glass windows of the Stillwell Ave. terminal with big, colorful depictions of Coney’s history, including a large hot dog, Samuel Friede’s Globe Tower swindle, a Toxic Avenger-like freak, old-fashioned mustachioed firemen, a turtle-man, children and adults on rides, men in hats peering in at you, and even the Wonder Wheel, all a fitting welcome to one of our favorite places in the world.

THE DREAMLAND ARTIST CLUB: MURAL BY OS GEMEOS

Stillwell Ave. off Surf Ave.
Admission: free
lost.art.br

Os Gemeos brings even more colorful characters to

A few years back, Portuguese twins Flavio and Gustavo, whose work graced the top of one of twi-ny’s 2005 issues, contributed this gorgeous 130-foot-long mural along the side of the building right across the street from the Stillwell Ave. Coney Island station. Part of Creative Time’s Dreamland Artist Club, this spectacular work is practically worth the trip to Coney Island all on its own.

Os Gemeos’s colorful fantasy land includes such odd-shaped characters and offbeat scenes as a sad woman with a house on her head, a hot-air balloon with strange passengers, a boy riding a glorious peacock, an old lady on a bizarre bicycle flying a fish kite, tiny heads hanging below a bubble encasing a high-wire circus act, a nesting Noah’s Ark with people in various forms of stupor and distress, a young woman trapped in a bottle, a girl clutching a pudgy purple object on a mushroom, a sun with pursed lips overlooking it all, and lots of other unexplainable but thrilling sights.

CONEY ISLAND BEACH

coneyislandusa.com

A little beach volleyball helps save a gray day at the beach

When you get right down to it, the actual beach at Coney Island doesn’t quite compare to Jones Beach, Fire Island, the Hamptons, Point Lookout, Long Beach Island, and all the other beaches in the tristate area. The sand is not quite as inviting, the water not quite as shiny, but it has something that all the other beaches lack: reality.

Coney Island is not a place to show off your $200 designer bikini, or to conduct business on your CrackBerry, or to enjoy a restricted area that keeps out the unwanted element. Coney Island welcomes everyone, fat and skinny, old and young, black, white, brown, and yellow, a wonderland of cultural diversity.

It is a musical cacophony; no matter where you set up camp, you will be bombarded with salsa from the left and classic rock from the right, with hip-hop behind you and funk in front of you. There’s no need to pack a cooler; you can get tallboys for a few bucks on the beach, and nothing beats fresh mango on a stick from a young beach hawker.

There are poles for beach volleyball, and the bathrooms are absolutely usable, which wasn’t the case a handful of years ago. We love lying on our stomach, feet toward the water, opening up our Tom Robbins book but getting distracted by the Parachute Jump, the Wonder Wheel, the real life spreading out all around us. (Don’t miss the old illustrated men so you can see what your tat will look like when you’re 70.) Coney Island bristles with a character that few places in the world can ever dream to match.

THE CYCLONE

Admission: $6, ride again $4
astroland.com

Watch out for that first drop – it’s a lulu

We make sure to hit the Cyclone, an official national historic landmark, at least once every summer, and it has never let us down. We know every curve, bump, and drop like the back of our hand, but the rickety old joy still surprises us every time we take it for a spin.

In fact, for the first time we went back to front, sitting in the last car for one ride, getting thrown around mercilessly (we have the bumps and bruises to prove it), then paying to ride again, this time in the front car, where there’s nothing quite like that initial drop.

Since 1927, the 3,000 feet of track that make up the Cyclone have held no hidden tricks from the very start of the ride; it takes you straight up, offering a fabulous view of Coney Island, but don’t get too lost in the picturesque scenery, because you’re about to go on a killer 85-foot drop.

Riding the Cyclone is our favorite 110 seconds in the world; it even impressed Charles Lindbergh, who piloted the Cyclone in 1927 and said it was more thrilling than flying across the Atlantic.

DENO’S WONDER WHEEL

Admission: $5
wonderwheel.com

Wonder Wheel has been offering thrills and chills for decades

Since 1920, the Wonder Wheel has been home to young couples in love making out while looking out over beautiful Coney Island. This is not your average Ferris wheel (owner Dennis Vourderis refers to the 200-hundred ton, 150-foot-high wonder as an “eccentric Ferris wheel”); 16 of the 24 cars slide from side to side while rocking back and forth and moving up and down, so you’re in nearly constant motion.

Slip the carny a few extra bucks and he might let you linger at the top, where you get a spectacular view of all of Coney Island –which might never again look the same -- as you share a romantic interlude that only the heavens can see. This 150-foot-high national landmark was owned for years by Deno Vourderis (Dennis’s father; the attraction is co-owned by his other son, Steve), who lived the American dream by immigrating to Coney Island, working as a hot dog vendor, and eventually buying a part of New York history.

SIDESHOWS BY THE SEASHORE

1208 Surf Ave. at West 12th St., First Floor
Sideshow open Fridays 2-8 pm, Saturdays & Sundays 1-11 pm
Reduced cast on Wednesdays & Thursdays 2-8 pm
Admission: $6 for adults; $4 for children under 12
Burlesque at the Beach: Friday nights at 10 pm, $10
718-372-5159
coneyislandusa.com

Barkers pull them in for the freaky sideshow

We’ve been going to the Sideshow for years, ever since John Bradshaw began running it (and pounding nails up his nose) nearly 20 years ago. Since then we remember seeing Ruby the snake lady (who was in Bruce Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love” video); Otis Jordan, the Human Cigarette Factory, who could roll and smoke a cigarette using just his mouth; the late Michael Wilson, the Illustrated Man; and the currently missing Koko the Killer Clown, among other bearded ladies, fire eaters, and snake lovers.

The fabulous Web site for the Sideshow includes the Freakshow Hall of Fame and an up-close-and-personal look at current performers (including Insectavora, Serpentina the Electric Lady, Mormon sword swallower and blade box twister Heather Holiday, Twisted Shockeister Scott Baker, and master of ceremonies and human blockhead Diamond Donny V), as well as a video of what purports to be a two-headed baby in a jar of formaldehyde.

Watch out for the individual setups that show up throughout the area advertising “Alien Bodies” or “The World’s Smallest Woman.” Clearly, parts of Coney Island are not for the squeamish.

Following the Friday night fireworks, Coney Island USA will be holding old-fashioned burlesque shows, every week featuring different acts recalling the old revues that used to be so popular there. These shows promise to be crazy, bizarre, and downright odd. Visit www.twi-ny.com for the complete schedule.

CONEY ISLAND MUSEUM

1208 Surf Ave. at West 12th St., Second Floor
Museum: Fridays & Saturdays, 12 noon–5 pm, 99 cents
Film series: Saturday nights at 8:30 pm, $5
Ask the Experts: Sunday afternoons at 4 pm, $5
718-372-5159
coneyisland.com/museum
coneyisland.com/films
coneyisland.com/museum

The appropriately fab Coney Island Museum displays weird pieces of Coney Island’s eclectic history, including old funhouse distortion mirrors and a Steeplechase horse, and it costs less than a buck to get in. On Sundays at four throughout the summer, the museum will be hosting five-dollar Ask the Experts lectures about Coney Island.

If you have a few too many beers at Nathan’s or in Ruby’s boardwalk bar, you might end up with a tattoo from master artist Spider Webb or Camille Cline. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. And Saturday nights feature a film festival of appropriately bizarre and crazy movies; visit twi-ny.com for the full schedule.

MERMAID PARADE & MERMAID PARADE BALL

Parade begins at Surf Avenue between West 10th & West 15th Sts.
Saturday, June 23, 2 pm (10 am to 12 noon if you are marching and need to register)
Admission: free
Ball begins at 6 pm in the Childs Restaurant Building on the Boardwalk at West 21st St.
Tickets: $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $50 VIP package
718-372-5159
coneyisland.com/mermaid
mermaidparadeball.com

The interior of the Childs Restaurant Building is readied for Mermaid Parade Ball

The annual Mermaid Parade used to be one of our favorite days of the summer, but lately it has become more and more like the Halloween Parade in the Village, losing its unique luster, although it’s still plenty of fun – and way too crowded.

We actually marched in the parade about 15 years back (dressing up as kelp and a manta ray that everyone thought was a lousy homemade Batman costume), lining up down Surf Ave., getting a special look at the classic cars that ceremonially begin the parade, which eventually ends up on the boardwalk with everyone running into the ocean, being led by King Neptune and Queen Mermaid (which in past years has included David Byrne, Moby, Queen Latifah, and Lynda Barry). For this year’s silver anniversary, “Mythbuster” Adam Savage is King Neptune, with actress Patti D’Arbanville being honored as Queen Mermaid.

The Mermaid Parade Ball follows at 6 pm, a benefit for Coney Island USA in the landmarked Childs Restaurant Building. This year’s festivities include live performances from Jill Cunniff, the Shapes, Mighty Fine, the Atomic Grind Show, Aa (Big A little a), DJ Jess and DJ Xerox, Bambi the Mermaid, Bunny Love, Jo Boobs, Little Brooklyn, Tigger, Dottie Lux, and Albert Cadabra, hosted by Todd Robbins and Adam Rinn.

BROOKLYN CYCLONES

KeySpan Park
1904 Surf Ave. between 16th & 19th Sts.
Through September 7
Tickets: $6-$13
718-449-8497
brooklyncyclones.net

Bobblehead series continues this season at Keyspan Park

In the shadow of the old Parachute Jump (built for the 1939 World’s Fair, it has been out of operation since the late 1960s) by Steeplechase Pier, in the lot that used to be the meeting place for the start of the Mermaid Parade, a ballpark was built a few years back to house a minor-league team for the Mets. Dem Bums might have gone west, but baseball has returned to Brooklyn in the form of the Single-A New York-Penn League Cyclones.

It might not be quite like watching the Dodgers in Ebbets Field, but not too many things are better than baseball in Brooklyn on a warm summer day. The season got under way on June 19th with the start of a three-game home-and-away series with the Cyclones’ crosstown rivals, the Staten Island Yankees.

All Friday night home games are followed by fireworks, win or lose, and most home games include some kind of giveaway or special event, including a piggy bank on June 23rd, tailgate chairs on June 25th, green T-shirts on July 9th, scrubs on July 18th, Marty Markowitz bobbleheads on August 5th, Ebbets Field models on August 12th, and beer glasses on August 22nd.

NEW YORK AQUARIUM

Otis shows off at Sea Lion Spectacular at New York Aquarium

Surf Ave. & West Eighth St.
Front-seat viewing of 9:45 Coney Island fireworks
Everything else free with aquarium admission of $12 for adults, $8 for children two to 12
Parking: $8
718-265-3474
nyaquarium.com

While we wouldn’t go to Coney Island just for the aquarium, it is an essential stop if you are going to spend the whole day in the area. Scattered throughout the indoor and outdoor displays are cute sea otters, Alien Stingers, fab penguins, bottle-nosed dolphins, moon jellyfish, sharks, and a touch pool where you can feel horseshoe crabs and manta rays.

Make sure to take the kids to Conservation Hall, the most educational part of the aquarium. And there’s also a cool new aquarium mural on the Boardwalk, detailing the history of Coney Island with regard to sea creatures and more.

INTERNATIONAL HOT DOG EATING CONTEST

Sweikert Alley, Nathan’s Famous, 1310 Surf Ave. at Stillwell Ave.
Wednesday, July 4, 12 noon
Admission: free
212-627-5766
nathansfamous.com/nathans

Takeru Kobayashi of Japan ended the 2006 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog contest

Since 1916, Nathan’s has been sponsoring a hot dog eating contest in which men and women from all over the world compete to see who can devour the most hot dogs (and buns) in 12 minutes. Each contestant has his or her own method; some dunk the bread in water before swallowing, while others just stuff the slimy dogs down their throats.

Japan placed one-two-three in the event in 2000, the biggest upset since Hirofumi “the Tokyo Terror” Nakajima kicked local Queens hero Ed Krachie’s butt in 1997. Don’t miss this year’s thrilling battle for the Coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt as the United States sets out to reassert good old Yankee pride on the Fourth of July, attempting to swipe the championship right out from under the hungry jaws of six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi, who set the record last year by downing 53.75 dogs in the allotted time, coming from behind to narrowly out-eat rookie Joey Chestnut, who swallowed 52 dogs.

Before you go, visit Nathan’s official site for a buy one, get one free coupon good through the end of the year.

SEVENTH ANNUAL SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL

Saturday, July 21, 12 noon-9 pm
villagevoice.com/specials/siren

Celebration celebrates at last year’s Siren Music Festival

Sponsored by the Village Voice, this extremely popular all-day free show always features a diverse lineup, this year including the New York Dolls, We Are Scientists, Matt and Kim, the Black Lips, Dr. Dog, the Noisettes, Lavender Diamond, M.I.A,, the Detroit Cobras, Elvis Perkins, Cursive, Voxtrot, the White Rabbits, the Twilight Sad, and others, as well as unusual cabaret and circus acts and multimedia artists along the boardwalk.

If you choose only one day to come to Coney Island this summer, you might as well make it this one, which offers up the most entertainment choices without putting a dent in your pocket.

NOSTALGIA TRAIN RIDES: CONEY ISLAND CAPER

Depart from 59th St. & Columbus Circle
Sunday, August 12, 10 am–4 pm
Tickets: $30 adults, children 3 to 17 $10
Space is limited: reservations and prepayment required
718-694-1867
mta.info/mta

The Nostalgia Train takes you back to Coney Island’s glorious past

We took one of the New York Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Train Rides a few years ago, and it’s a blast from start to finish. You’ll feel like you’ve gone back 100 years or so as you travel in old-time classic subway cars (the vintage 1917 Lo-V), getting surprised gawks from bewildered straphangers as you zoom past their station, on your way to Coney Island for lots of fun in the sun, including an optional guided tour of the new Stillwell Avenue Terminal. Even the ads on the subway cars are golden oldies.

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All contents copyright 2007 by Mark Rifkin and twi-ny.com . All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. Please note that events, dates, and prices are subject to change. For more on what’s going on this week in New York, visit twi-ny.com.