Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project, has recently launched a Substack about Coney Island. You can read and subscribe for free at coneyologist.substack.com. His latest post is a remembrance of Harry James Faulkner, who died on July 28 at the age of 70.

"He loved to fish, and he loved the creek. For 50 years he lived across the street from the creek in Gravesend Houses and watched the creek’s water quality improve, turning the waterway into an asset instead of a liability. It was his front yard."

Charles Denson is the author of the prize-winning Coney Island: Lost and Found and three other books about Coney Island.

By Charles Denson

Coney Island casino developers need a history lesson.  Reisenwebers Restaurant was not a gambling casino!

The Coney Island casino developers are making the false claim that gambling casinos were once a traditional business in Coney Island. Their claim is a major part of the PowerPoint presentation they show at public hearings and to elected officials. The presentation shows an old postcard of a building with a roof sign that says “Reisenweber’s Casino.” That’s the extent of their proof.

The problem is that their claim is absolutely FALSE. There were never gambling casinos in Coney Island. In the past it was common for dance halls, cabarets, bungalow colonies, restaurants, and bathhouses to call themselves “casinos.” The word “casino” had absolutely nothing to do with gambling. 

This is a truth can easily be fact-checked. There are no photographs, tax records, licenses, newspaper stories, advertisements, or recorded memories of a gambling casino ever operating in Coney Island. “The Coney” casino developers sold their claim based on one postcard image, and the New York City Planning Commission bought the lie.

This type of fraud creates serious problems when used to influence public policy. This is exactly what happened when the Planning Commission approved the zoning for the casino on May 7, 2025. 

Here is a direct quote from page 14 of the Planning Commission’s approval of the rezoning of Coney Island for the casino:

“Casinos were once a popular and established use in Coney Island and a gaming facility returning to Coney will not only reinforce the area as an amusement district but also establish a new, year-round destination for residents and tourists, aligned with the goals of the Special Coney Island District.”

In other words, the Planning Commision declaring that the casino project is “appropriate” is based on a lie. Why are the developers creating this false narrative? It’s well known that developers make false claims and play loose with the facts when trying to sell a project. This highlights just one small part of The Coney casino’s efforts to manipulate the public and elected officials. (More on that later.)

The Planning Commission has accepted a blatantly false statement without question and actually expanded on it in their report. There was NO due diligence. The false claim about previous casinos has also been repeated by lobbyist Domenic Recchia and others at several public hearings.

The Coney’s lie morphed into a “Bring Back Casinos” meme that sounds much like Trump’s Make America Great Again motto. It becomes a nostalgic trigger, a wish to return something that never existed.

Something else should be remembered. There once was a racetrack in Brighton Beach where it was possible to bet on horse races. Throughout its history, the track was riddled with corruption, leading to indictments of the track’s owners including the founder of Brighton Beach, William Engemen.

Hopefully, this destructive casino project will NOT happen. Big money brings big corruption. History repeats itself. Be careful what you wish for.

The Sea Gate Casino bungalow colony on Surf Avenue at West 33rd Street in 1940. It was not a gambling casino!

The never-ending intrigue surrounding the Coney Casino project is beginning to resemble an episode of The Sopranos. Patricia Lynch, a notoriously shady Albany lobbyist hired by the Coney Casino crew, is targeting Coney Island’s Councilmember Justin Brannan, allegedly trying to turn him into another shill for the ill-conceived Coney Casino real estate deal.

Lynch is running an “independent expenditure committee” with assets of up to $100,000 provided by casino developer Thor Equities to support the campaign of Justin Brannan who’s running for New York City Comptroller. She’s also reportedly receiving $25,000 a month as the casino’s lobbyist.

That means that Brannan could be getting in bed with a lobbyist who in 2010 was implicated in a scheme to “arrange campaign contributions, gifts and even a job to gain access to Alan G. Hevesi, then the state comptroller, on behalf of clients seeking investments from the multibillion-dollar state pension fund,” as reported by the New York Times.

After the New York State Attorney General’s investigation into her shady practices, Lynch was banned from interacting with or contacting the New York State comptroller for a five-year period, and had to pay a $500,000 fine as punishment for what was part of a “pay-to-play” scheme. Now, years later, Lynch is at it again. 

With Lynch’s formation of a Brannan campaign committee, the casino crew isn’t hoping to “buy” only Brannan’s vote on the Coney Casino. They're hoping to influence the votes of the entire City Council because the council has a practice of “member deference” and usually follows the vote of the local councilmember. In other words, if Brannan supports the casino, the council will probably approve the casino’s request for an amendment that paves the way for demapping Coney Island streets for the casino.

Brannan has been slippery about whether he supports the casino plan. In a recent blaze of hypocrisy, Brannan filmed a campaign video that shows him in Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park and Luna Park using rides as backdrops. Both of these Coney Island businesses have come out strongly against the casino project and fear that the project’s years-long construction and operation will put them out of business. The Wonder Wheel and Luna Park have spent years recovering from Hurricane Sandy and the COVID pandemic closures. The owners have spent millions improving their parks only to find that a term-limited councilman could care less if they survive.

In May 2025 when I asked Brannan if he was supporting the casino, he said, “it’s not gonna happen, but I’m gonna let the process play out.” Brannan knows that the casino bid is a long shot but wants to keep up appearances while collecting campaign funds. 

Two former councilmembers have already been hired and have spent two years as paid shills for the Coney Casino, portraying the project as if it were some sort of charity that will benefit the community. Will Brannan soon be joining them on the casino payroll? If this project is such a great idea, why does it need so much lobbying? As always, there’s is a very thin line that separates “lobbying” and “quid pro quo.”

Watch the Sopranos episodes about the New Jersey Esplanade real estate deal and find out how Tony dealt with shady Assemblyman Ronald Zellman. It doesn’t end well. As far as Lynch is concerned, Tony Soprano would be proud of her.

- Charles Denson

The Coney Island History Project will open for the season on Memorial Day Weekend with two new exhibits on view from May 24 through September 1, 2025. Charles Denson: Coney Island Streets: 1965–1975 and Amanda Deutch: Brooklyn Wilds combine street photography, cyanotypes, native plants, and poetry to explore the natural and urban sides of Coney Island that are not well known. Through the medium of photography, both shows complement each other by exploring the complexity of this New York City neighborhood. With this exhibit, we are introducing our new Wonder Gallery, a collaboration between Charles Denson and Amanda Deutch.

It has been said that the average American recognizes over 1000 logos and the products they’re related to and yet less than five plants or birds.”                                    

            — Brigitte Mars, Herbalist & Acclaimed Author                                                                                                 

Brooklyn Wilds uses the early photographic process of cyanotype printing to showcase native plants and weeds, alongside poetry. All of the cyanotypes in this show were created outdoors in Brooklyn by Amanda Deutch using available natural light. Many were made on-site at Coney Island Creek.

Printing cyanotypes outdoors can present challenges. “I was dependent upon the weather and sunlight. Sometimes the light is too bright or overcast or the wind is too strong. It can take many attempts to get an accurate print,” according to Deutch.

This project started very humbly. She was interested in making a cyanotype to preserve a dandelion or mugwort leaf. As soon as she printed one, it became a challenge to capture the essence of the plant or weed through the process.

“Why flowers? As someone who grew up in New York City, I am drawn to nature. As development and climate change devour Brooklyn’s natural landscape, pausing to recognize and appreciate weeds and native flowers along the City’s edges is a radical act.” Most of us hardly notice the plants all around us. Otherwise known as “plant blindness,” they are often seen as background rather than for the fundamental role that they play in the Earth’s biosphere. Plants help regulate the Earth’s climate and are essential for food production and oxygen release.

All of the plants and flowers in Brooklyn Wilds were sourced locally in Coney Island and Southern Brooklyn. Humans are losing pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, at a time when we desperately need more pollination for our food supply. Seaside goldenrod can be found at the edges of the beach near the boardwalk and along Coney Island Creek. Considered a disruptive weed by many, wild dandelions are valuable and can be found everywhere! They are a highly resilient plant that boasts immense nutritional value, both for pollinators and humans. These are a few examples of the local weeds and plants in this show that can be found in Coney Island.

Amanda Deutch is a poet and the founding director of the nonprofit Parachute Literary Arts in Coney Island. A born and raised New Yorker, generations of her family have called Coney Island home. Deutch's book new york ironweed won Fence's 2025 Ottoline Prize (forthcoming). Her cyanotypes are published in WFMU’s LCD, Hot Pink, and Warmly Zine. Deutch’s poetry has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, and Oversound, among others. The author of several chapbooks, including Bodega Night Pigeon Riot and Surf Avenue & 29th Street, Coney Island, she lives in Brooklyn where she often looks for flowers in the cracks of the sidewalk.

The Coney Island History Project exhibition center is open free of charge on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day. Our hours are 1:00 PM-7:00 PM. We're located at 3059 West 12th Street, next to the West 12th Street entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, just a few steps off the Boardwalk.