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    Coney Island
    Coney Island
    Coney Island
    Ebook184 pages46 minutes

    Coney Island

    By Laura J. Hoffman

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    About this ebook

    Coney Island is famous for so much more than just hot dogs and wild rides. At the turn of the 20th century, it was known as the “Playground of the World.” In the beginning, this upscale resort area catered to the rich. Between 1897 and 1904, three lavish amusements parks opened in Coney Island. By 1920, the subway extended to Stillwell Avenue, which made Coney Island more accessible for everyone. The abundant history is remarkable, and its peaks and valleys closely resemble one of its most famous icons, the roller coaster. Coney Island hit its apex between 1910 and 1930. Afterwards, it suffered through the Great Depression, went into major decline after World War II, and hit bottom in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years, there has been a profound revitalization effort to bring the area back to its glory days. Despite the major setback caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the spirit of Coney Island is alive and well.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 9, 2014
    ISBN9781439645611
    Coney Island
    Author

    Laura J. Hoffman

    Capt. Duyane "Dewey" Hoffman was hired by Pan Am in 1942; he was based in Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Brownsville, and New York. He flew on the Boeing 314, Consolidated PB2Y-3 and Commodore seaplanes, and the Lockheed Constellation. As captain, he flew the Convair 240, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, Boeing 707, and the Boeing 747. He retired in 1978. Laura Hoffman is the youngest daughter of Captain Hoffman and the author of Postcard History Series: Coney Island. She shares her extensive collection of Pan Am postcards to illustrate the iconic history of the "World's Most Experienced Airline."

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      Book preview

      Coney Island - Laura J. Hoffman

      done.

      INTRODUCTION

      Through the years, Coney Island has been many things to many people. It was known as the People’s Playground, the Nickel Empire, and Sodom by the Sea. It has represented the epitome of free expression and the American spirit of entrepreneurship. It has become home to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from every corner of the world. It is fascinating, strange, and sometimes highly offensive; by today’s standards, it would definitely be deemed politically incorrect. Despite all that, some amazing achievements have emerged from Coney Island.

      For instance, in the early 1900s, babies born prematurely often died because there were no incubators in hospitals. The medical establishment did not begin to widely accept the technology in the United States until the late 1930s. Dr. Martin A. Couney, a German, came to Coney Island and opened sideshow exhibits that charged admission (25¢) to crowds who wanted to view the babies in incubators. Dr. Couney would then use the proceeds to pay for incubators and nurses to care for the babies. The parents of the premature babies were never charged for this care. Reports vary, but Dr. Couney is credited with saving the lives of at least 5,000 babies. According to Dr. Couney’s obituary printed in the New York Times on March 2, 1950, For years he had shows at both Dreamland and Luna Park, and the night Dreamland was destroyed by fire the babies were saved by a quick transfer to the Luna Park incubators, some of the lodgers doubling up.

      In addition to baby incubators, many other inventions supposedly originated in Coney Island, including the hot dog, the enclosed amusement park, the roller coaster, and the carousel. Although these may not have been truly invented there, they were certainly perfected in Coney Island.

      Many famous people have worked in Coney Island. Cary Grant—then known as Archibald Leach—was a stilt walker who was paid to advertise various attractions. Al Capone got his scarface while working at the Harvard Inn in Coney Island. Harry Houdini met his future wife, Bess, while performing at Henderson’s Music Hall with his brother Theo. Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante worked as singing waiters at Carey Walsh’s fine establishment.

      Postcards were the social media of the early 1900s, and there are few better places to spotlight this than Coney Island. On an average summer weekend in 1907, visitors to Coney Island mailed more than a quarter-million postcards to family and friends. On a single day in 1906, the Coney Island post office processed over 200,000 postcards. Many more postcards were never mailed but instead saved in scrapbooks.

      Various types of postcards have existed in the United States throughout the years. Private mailing cards, authorized by an act of Congress on May 19, 1898, used the back of the card for the address only. These are easy to identify, as they say private mailing card on the side where the address is to be written. The undivided-back postcard replaced the private mailing card. On December 24, 1901, the US government allowed the words post card to be included on the undivided back of privately printed cards where the name and address of the recipient were to be written. On March 1, 1907, the post office authorized the divided back postcard, which included space for a note. White border cards first appeared in 1915, and linen cards—which were not actually linen but had a textured front that resembled cloth—began to dominate in the 1930s.

      Because this book is a postcard history, the time frame it covers is limited, but there are important Coney Island landmarks that were destroyed before postcards existed. In 1885, James V. Lafferty built the Elephant Hotel (also known as the Elephant Colossus)—a hotel in the shape of an elephant. There is still one in Atlantic City, but this one was twice its size. It stood 122 feet high with legs that were 60 feet in circumference. A cigar store operated out of one the front legs. A spiral staircase in one of the hind legs led visitors upstairs to the 31 guest rooms. For 10 years, the elephant’s huge head, which faced the ocean, appeared in the sight line of immigrants arriving in New York even before they could see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the Elephant Hotel burned down in 1896, so it never had a chance to appear on any postcards.

      Four main amusement parks have existed in Coney Island: Steeplechase, Luna, Dreamland, and Astroland; this postcard history covers the first three parks. Astroland, with its outer-space theme, opened in 1962 at Surf Avenue and West Tenth Street. It ceased operations in September 2008, but Dewey Albert, his son Jerry, and, later, Jerry’s wife, Carol, kept Astroland going during some difficult times, which helped to keep Coney Island

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