Coney Island Blog - Events

Official Trailer: Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008

On Saturday, February 28th, Charles Denson will present a slide talk on the Coney Island History Project's mission and origins as part of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art's Coney Island Symposium: An Intersection of Art and Identity. The exhibit Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008, which opened on January 31st at the Wadsworth, features more than 140 paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, posters, architectural artifacts, carousel animals, ephemera and film clips. The symposium begins with a keynote address by Exhibition Curator and Chief Curator Robin Jaffee Frank, followed by a series of panel discussions and special presentations.

Charles Denson has been a consultant and a member of the exhibit's project team for the past six years and has contributed numerous ephemera and prints from his personal archive, as well as writing a chapter for the exhibit's catalog. He also recorded descriptions of artwork for the show's audio tour. Selections from the Coney Island History Project's vast archive of oral history recordings were used in the "Step Right Up!" interactive listening station that accompanies the show.

"Robin Jaffee Frank first contacted me in 2009, during the show's earliest planning stage," Denson said. "At our first group meeting at the Yale University Art Gallery in 2010, Robin revealed her ambitious plan for a show that explored Coney Island in a way that had never been attempted before. Her Coney Island theme included artifacts, prints, film, sheet music, and the best examples of modern art as well as the classical paintings that depict the earliest years of Coney Island, a subject that I had always found fascinating. I am extremely honored to be a part of this exhibition."

Charles Denson and Robin Jaffee Frank, 2012

Among the artifacts in the Wadsworth exhibit is the 1955 Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, which was a popular attraction at the Coney Island History Project's exhibit center for the past two years. According to a review of the Wadsworth show in the Hartford Courant, "The five-foot-tall wall-mounted sculpture, loaned to the exhibit by the family who runs Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, is installed at the entrance to the exhibit galleries, flanked by two creepy paintings by Arnold Mesches, in which Cy presides over sinister-looking amusement parks."

The Coney Island exhibit is on view in Hartford through May 31, 2015 before traveling to the San Diego Museum of Art, July 11, 2015 - October 13, 2015; Brooklyn Museum, November 20, 2015 - March 13, 2016; and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, May 11, 2016 - September 11, 2016.

Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Stacy Vourderis visiting the park's Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, which is part of the Coney Island exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT

SAVE THE DATE October 29, 2014, the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, for "Coney Island Creek After Sandy: Planning for the Future." Will the Creek be a community asset or a liability? A talk and film presentation by Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project, will be held at the Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 6pm. The Wednesday evening event is free and open to the public. The Coney Island Library is located at 1901 Mermaid Avenue at the corner of West 19th Street.

Charles Denson, a Coney Island native, has been documenting the Creek for over 40 years and is working on a book and film about the waterway. He has given numerous lectures and presentations concerning the Creek at venues that include the New York Aquarium, The Coney Island Library, Kingsborough College, Brooklyn College, and at various locations in the Coney Island community. In 2013 Denson received the Herman Melville Award from the New York State Marine Education Association for his contributions to marine education through his work.

The Coney Island History Project would also like to introduce our new sister Twitter account @ConeyCreek. Please follow it in addition to @ConeyHistory for history, news and event info for Coney Island Creek.

Enjoy live music, entertainment and history at the 4th Annual History Day at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, home of the landmark 1920 Wonder Wheel, and at the Coney Island History Project. The free event will be held from 1-6pm on Saturday, August 9. The rain date is August 10.

The theme of this year's festivities is the return of the Astroland Rocket, one of the first of the "imaginary" space voyage simulators constructed during the Space Race. Astroland Park's 1962 Rocket was brought back to Coney Island in June 2014 by the History Project and Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, where its new home is next to the Wonder Wheel. The Rocket will be restored as a multimedia exhibit covering the history of flight-themed attractions in Coney Island.

History Day will blast off with a dedication ceremony at the Rocket at 2pm, Visitors are invited to take a peek inside the space-age icon, previously sealed shut for 45 years! Tang & MoonPies will be served to the first 500 guests. DJ George Marchelos and The Rockinghams will play retro '60s music and space-themed songs from 11am-6pm.

Premiere screenings of Charles Denson's new film "The Rocket Has Landed" will be held at the Coney Island History Project from 1-6pm. The film tells the story of the Astroland Rocket and its journey back to Coney Island after being damaged by Hurricane Sandy while in storage on Staten Island. The rocket was installed as the first space-themed ride at Astroland Park in 1962 before being moved to a rooftop location on the Boardwalk that made it a landmark for millions of Coney Island visitors over a period of several decades. Four years after it was donated to the City, the Coney Island History Project spearheaded a successful effort to return the rocket to Coney Island where it is now on display at Wonder Wheel Park.

Bill Sharkey playing his Jaeger & Brommer street organ at Deno's Wonder Wheel Pavilion on the Boardwalk

Returning for an encore performance on History Day are organ grinders from the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors Association (AMICA) and the Carousel Organ Association of America (COAA) playing both antique and home-built hand-cranked musical organs. From 1pm-6pm, visitors will have the chance to crank some of the organs and experience a thrill from days gone by.

Queens residents Vincent and Maryam Morgan will play their Castlewood 20-note crank organ. The Morgans are president and treasurer of the Lady Liberty Chapter of AMICA, whose members enjoy musical instruments such as player pianos, orchestrions, nickelodeons, band organs and music boxes. The membership is from New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and southern Connecticut.

Ian Fraser, 13, of Staten Island, is the youngest member of AMICA and COAA. His 1881 Celestina Organette was made by the Mechanical Orguinette Company of New York at their factory in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This type of organ was one of the best selling models of its day and was the equivalent to today's iPod. It allowed the most popular music of the time to be played again and again. It was a first in the history of music.

Ian Fraser, 13, of Staten Island, playing his 1881 Celestina Organette manufactured in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Bill and Rita Sharkey of Long Island will play a street organ made in Germany by Jaeger & Brommer, whose craftsmanship is based on a 200-year tradition of organ building in Waldkirch. It plays a 20-note paper roll by turning the hand crank located on the side of the organ.

Will and Joanna Schultz are traveling from Pennsylvania with their 26-note Universal John Smith crank organ. Will worked 2-1/2 years to build it entirely from scratch using wood from a scrap pile and designed his own cabinet.

Also from Pennsylvania is Mark Pall, whose interest in building hand-cranked organs grew out of his background as a church organist. He will play a John Smith organ that he built and redesigned himself.

The rally is curated by band organ restorer and magician Bob Yorburg, who is Vice President of COAA. He will perform his interactive show "Professor Phineas Feelgood's World of Magic" at 4pm in Dreamland Plaza adjacent to the Coney Island History Project.

The organ rally and magic show are free to the public and will be held at the Coney Island History Project, Dreamland Pedestrian Plaza on 12th Street and in Deno's Wonder Wheel Gazebo on the Boardwalk.

Free entertainment on History Day includes Professor Phineas Feelgood's World of Magic at 4pm in Dreamland Plaza (W 12th Street) adjacent to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and the Coney Islad History Project

On History Day, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park will have a special display of historic artifacts and signage from Spook-A-Rama, the park's legendary dark ride, which opened in 1955. The first 500 people who ride the Wonder Wheel will receive a limited edition commemorative button as a gift. The Wheel opens at 11am on History Day.

Among the artifacts on view at the Coney Island History Project exhibit center are an original Steeplechase horse from the ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name, the Spook-A-Rama Cyclops from Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, hand-painted figures from Astroland's Musik Express, a Mangels Fairy Whip Car made in Coney Island in the early 1900s, and vintage signs and game pieces. Admission to the exhibit center and film screenings is free of charge. The Coney Island History Project will be open from 12-6pm on History Day.

Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and Coney Island History Project

3059 West 12th Street, Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY 11224

D, F, N or Q train to Stillwell Terminal

Phone: 347-702-8553 (Coney Island History Project)

Phone: 718-372-2592 (Deno's Wonder Wheel Park)

http://www.coneyislandhistory.org/

http://www.wonderwheel.com/

Happy 102nd Birthday, Woody Guthrie! This weekend, in honor of the folk hero's July 14th birthday, the Coney Island History Project will screen "Woody Guthrie's 100th Birthday, Celebrated at Coney Island," a short film by Charles Denson. The film may be viewed on Saturday and Sunday, July 12th and 13th, from 12pm -6pm, at the History Project's exhibit center. Admission is free of charge.

Charles Denson's film was made on July 14, 2012, when the activist songwriter's daughter Nora Guthrie and family members including grandchildren, along with musicians Billy Bragg and Steve Earle and actor Tim Robbins (seen in above photo) made a pilgrimage to Coney Island, where Guthrie lived on Mermaid Avenue for a decade.

The film will be screened next year at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College when the Klezmatics' "Woody Guthrie's Wonder Wheel Tour" performs there on March 8, 2015. This week, the arts center is commemorating Guthrie's birthday with a special discount offer for the Klezmatics' show, which features songs written during Guthrie's Coney Island years such as "Mermaid's Avenue." Use code WOODY20 and save $10 per ticket. The offer expires on Woody's birthday.

In 2008, Woody Guthrie was honored at the Coney Island Hall of Fame ceremony at the Coney Island History Project along with an exhibit "Woody Guthrie's Coney Island Years." History Project director Charles Denson also put up the commemorative plaque, seen in the photo above, at 3520 Mermaid Avenue, where the Guthries lived from 1943 to 1952. The building was demolished in 1972. When Guthrie died in 1967, his ashes were spread in the ocean one block from here, at the foot of West 36th Street.