Estuary Day

You're invited to the 5th annual It's My Estuary Day on Saturday, May 4, from 8:00AM-3:00PM, a day of service, learning and celebration along Coney Island Creek in Kaiser Park! The free event will include underwater robotics, oyster monitoring, diving demonstrations, water chemistry techniques, seining, microscope viewing of plankton, displays by environmental organizations, host talks, coastal clean up, lunch and networking.

Featuring over 40 partner organizations, this annual community event is organized by the Cultural Research Divers, BMSEA (Brooklyn Marine STEM Education Alliance), and NYSMEA (NY State Marine Education Association), and hosted by Making Waves, a coalition of stewards caring for Coney Island Creek and Kaiser Park, of which the Coney Island History Project is a member.

Stop by the Coney Island History Project's table to learn about our free programs, including our exhibit center, which opens Memorial Day Weekend. Pick up a copy of the Coney Island CreekWalk at Calvert Vaux Park booklet produced by the History Project for Partnerships for Parks. Visitors may also take a self-guided walking tour by following the markers created by the Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project for CreekWalk at Kaiser Park.

Estuary Day

posted Apr 30th, 2019 in News and tagged with Coney Island Creek, Estuary, It's My Estuary Day,...

History Day Deno's Wonder Wheel Park Coney Island History Project

Save the Date! Sunday, June 9th, 2019, from 2pm - 6pm

Eighth Annual History Day at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and the Coney Island History Project

Celebrating Coney Island's Immigrant Heritage!

Hosted by Deno John Vourderis, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and 
Charles Denson, Coney Island History Project 
 
Enjoy Free Live Music, Entertainment and History, including performances by musicians and dancers representing the traditional culture of countries from which people have emigrated to Coney Island:

3:00 PM: Brighton Ballet Theater School of Russian Ballet - Local students from school founded by Irina Roizin perform classical ballet and Ukrainian folk dance

3:45PM: Gaston "Bonga" Jean-Baptiste - Master Haitian drummer

4:15PM: Jenny Luna: Songs in the Turkish and Rumeli traditions

4:30PM: New York Music and Dance Organization - Bensonhurst-based Chinese dance troupe founded by Julia Liu

5:30PM:  Mariachi Real de Mexico de Ramon Ponce - New York's premier mariachi

Plus DJ Dan Kingman, special guest artists and table top displays

The Opening Ceremony at 2pm will be followed by Free Live Entertainment from 3-6pm on the Boardwalk Stage in front of Deno's Wonder Wheel Park

History Day

"I love Coney Island," said Deno John Vourderis, a third generation member of the family that owns and operates the world famous Deno's Wonder Wheel. "We are what we have always been, a place where all people come to play. And my favorite part about working here is seeing people who half a world away are at war but in Coney Island stand next to each other in line, their children smiling at each other in mutual excitement before stepping into a ride together."

"For more than a century, Coney Island served as the true historic 'melting pot' for New York City's immigrant population," said Charles Denson, author of Coney Island: Lost and Found and director of the Coney Island History Project. "It remains a place of great diversity, where people of small means enjoy an affordable day of free recreation on the beach and Boardwalk. Coney Island continues to be a destination for immigrants, the place to assimilate with people of all nationalities. It's where they finally find true freedom and become Americans."

About Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
Built in 1920, the NYC landmark Deno's Wonder Wheel turned 99 on Memorial Day and will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2020. Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park founder Denos D. Vourderis, the 8th of 22 children, immigrated to the United States at age 14 to pursue the American Dream. He was born in Greece in 1920, the same year as the Wonder Wheel that he would buy in 1983 as a wedding ring for his wife Lula, restore to its original state, and build his amusement park around. The park now features 21 rides as well as arcades, games, Famiglia Pizzeria and an old fashioned Sweet Shoppe, and proudly hosts the Coney Island History Project. It is owned and operated by Dennis and Steve Vourderis and their sons, the second and third generations of the Vourderis family. West 12th Street, between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk, was co-named Denos D. Vourderis Place in 2001.

About the Coney Island History Project
Founded in 2004 by Carol Hill Albert and Jerome Albert in honor of Dewey Albert, creator of Astroland Park, the Coney Island History Project is a not-for-profit organization that aims to increase awareness of Coney Island's legendary past and to encourage appreciation of the Coney Island neighborhood of today. Admission is free of charge to our exhibition center located on West 12th Street at the entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. Hours are 1-7 PM on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day. This season's special exhibit is "Salvation by the Sea: Coney Island's 19th Century Fresh Air Cure and Immigrant Aid Societies," curated by executive director Charles Denson. Our multilingual offerings include a brochure in 10 languages, English and Chinese language walking tours, and oral history interviews recorded in several languages.
 
Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and the 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.denoswonderwheel.com
events[AT]Coneyislandhistory[DOT]org

DCLA logo

The Coney Island History Project's programs are supported in part by public funds from the NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the NYC City Council, New York City Councilman Mark Treyger, and our members and contributors. 

 

posted Apr 23rd, 2019 in Events and tagged with Coney Island, History Day, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park,...

Coney Island Then and Now Reminiscence Box

In 2019, the Coney Island History Project debuted “The Art of Reminiscing,” a reminiscence and art program for senior centers. It combines the telling of personal stories, sharing local history, and writing and collaging to make a communal “Reminiscence Box” as a culminating activity. Over the past several weeks, memoirist and reminiscence facilitator, Tricia Vita, who designed the program, and teaching artist Nancy Prusinowski enjoyed working with a group at JASA Luna Park Senior Center. We’re excited to share photos of the progress of the “Coney Island, Then…and Now Reminiscence Box,” which is now completed!  Many thanks to Council Member Mark Treyger, for supporting our community enrichment programming. Thank you to Adrienne Slomin,  Director of JASA Luna Park Senior Center, located down the block from the History Project, for inviting us to workshop the program.

In a series of sequential sessions, participants had the opportunity to arrange personal photos, historical images, text and objects to create a Reminiscence Box which portrays the story of their community "now and then" in a three dimensional and visual art form. The Luna Park-themed Reminiscence Box took its inspiration from “Coney Island, Then….and Now,” a poem written by Luna Park resident and senior center member Carole Karpel. Built on the former site of the original Luna Park (1903-1944), one of Coney Island’s famous amusement parks, Luna Park housing complex was named after the park and affords a panoramic view of the current amusement rides and attractions as well as the beach and the ocean. The top section of the box features the first part of the poem, the “then,” flanked by windows looking out on vintage scenes of Luna Park’s illuminated gate, spires and attractions.

The windows represent the time-traveling view of the JASA Luna Park seniors who created the box and their interest in the history of the site. Three of them are original tenants, having moved in with their families when the housing complex first opened in 1961. Their group photo is on the windowsill along with a vase of flowers and shells. The lower section of the box showcases the “now” part of the poem. It features the buildings of Luna Park Houses, the Wonder Wheel, and the beach, with the group gathered under a beach umbrella, plus the view of the Parachute Jump from an apartment window.  The outside of the box is decorated with vintage images of old favorites--Nathan’s, Faber’s Fascination, a carousel horse and other emblems of Coney Island affixed like antique luggage labels. The Reminiscence Box was donated to the JASA Luna Park Senior Center, where it will remain on display as a tangible record of the project.

The idea of creating Reminiscence Boxes as a reminiscence and art project was inspired by the European Reminiscence Network’s Making Memories Matter, a project which involved teams of reminiscence workers and artists working with individual elders in seven countries to create “Life Portraits” or “Memory Boxes” around their life experiences 60 years after the end of World War 2. 

posted Apr 9th, 2019 in News and tagged with Reminiscing, Reminiscence, Coney Island,...

Coney Island History Project Immigrant Heritage Tour

Join us On Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, to learn about the contributions of immigrants to the history and development of "The Playground of the World" on our Immigrant Heritage Tour of Coney Island conducted in English (at 12:00PM) and Mandarin (at 3:00PM). The Coney Island History Project is offering this special walking tour free of charge as part of Immigrant Heritage Week 2019. Due to limited capacity, tickets must be reserved in advance via our eventbrite page. Among the stops on the tour and the stories of struggle, success and achievement are Nathan's Famous, founded in 1916 by Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker; Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, where the landmark 1920 Wonder Wheel was purchased by Greek immigrant Denos D. Vourderis as a wedding ring for his wife Lula; and the B&B Carousell, created in 1919 by German and Russian immigrants and now Coney's last hand-carved wooden carousel. The tour will also highlight businesses operated by immigrants who have recorded their stories for the Coney Island History Project's Oral History Archive.

Coordinated by the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, Immigrant Heritage Week (IHW) is an annual citywide program of events celebrating the history, traditions and contributions of New York City's diverse immigrant communities. IHW 2019 is scheduled for April 15-21 in recognition of April 17, 1907, the date when more immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island than any other date in history.

Ticket reservations are limited to 2 per person as capacity is limited. Meet at the Coney Island History Project, 3059 West 12th St (at entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel), Brooklyn NY 11224. The tour takes 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on the size of the group.

This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York City Councilman Mark Treyger. 

Coney Island History Project

Photo: Jim McDonnell

You're invited to visit the Coney Island History Project's exhibition center on Coney's traditional Opening Day, Palm Sunday, April 14, and on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019. We'll be open special hours from 1:00PM-6:00PM. Admission is free of charge. 
 
View historic artifacts, photographs, maps, ephemera and films of Coney Island's colorful past as well as our special exhibit Coney Island Creek and the Natural World. Photographs by the winners of last fall's Astroland Remembered Photo Contest will be on display. Take a free souvenir photo with the iconic Cyclops head from Deno's Spook-A-Rama dark ride and an original Steeplechase horse from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name. Among the treasures on display is Coney Island's oldest surviving artifact: The 1823 wooden Toll House Sign dates back to the days when the toll for a horse and rider to go over Coney Island Creek to "the island" was 5 cents! 

2019 marks the 15th anniversary of the Coney Island History Project and our ninth season at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. Since our inception in 2004 with a portable booth on the Boardwalk for recording oral history interviews, we have proudly offered "Free Admission for One and All!" at our exhibits and special events.

Opening Day festivities start at 10:30AM on the Boardwalk with the Annual Blessing of the Rides at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. The late Pastor Debbe Santiago of Coney Island's Salt and Sea Mission originated the event with Denos D. Vourderis, who invited children from the Mission to enjoy free rides, a tradition that continues today.

Deacon Toyin Fakumoju of the Mission will lead the Blessing and the NYC Fire Department Ceremonial Unit will present the colors and sing the National Anthem. A ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Vourderis family will be followed by free rides on the Wonder Wheel for the first 99 guests in celebration of the Wheel's 99th year. 

Join us at 2:00PM on Coney Island's Opening Day for a special Walking Tour of the newly landmarked Boardwalk led by historian and History Project director Charles Denson. Tickets for this 1- 1/2 hour, wheelchair accessible tour are $25 and help support the free programming of the Coney Island History Project, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. The April 14 tour is limited to approximately 25 people. Advance tickets may be purchased here via eventbrite.

Join us on Easter Sunday, April 21st,  to learn about the contributions of immigrants to the history and development of "The Playground of the World" on our Immigrant Heritage Tour of Coney Island conducted in English (at 12:00PM) and Mandarin (at 3:00PM). The Coney Island History Project is offering this special walking tour free of charge as part of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs celebration of Immigrant Heritage Week 2019. Due to limited capacity, tickets must be reserved in advance here via our eventbrite page.

Located on West 12th Street at the entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel, just a few steps off the Boardwalk, the Coney Island History Project is open free of charge on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day from 1:00-7:00PM. The Coney Island History Project is open year round for private group visits and our weekend walking tours as well as by appointment to record interviews with people who have memories of Coney Island for our Oral History Archive.

posted Mar 29th, 2019 in Events and tagged with Coney Island, Opening Day, Palm Sunday,...

The Grashorn Building in the 1880s

The historic Grashorn Building, Coney Island's oldest structure, has been given a death sentence by real estate speculator Joe Sitt of Thor Equities, and demolition of the vacant structure has begun.  The NYC Department of Buildings approved an application for demolition of the entire structure on January 23, 2019. The Grashorn is just the latest in a series of amusement landmarks destroyed by the self-proclaimed "savior" of Coney Island who bought up large chunks of the amusement area more than a decade ago.

Thor made no effort to renovate the building and left it to rot since purchasing it for nearly $2 million a decade ago. Save Coney Island, a preservation group opposing the city's rezoning plan, had proposed a renovation project in 2010, but Thor wasn't interested. Other than the squatters who periodically broke into the building, the only "tenant" was a TV crew who briefly used the ground floor to re-create the Susquehanna Hat Store for the HBO series "Bored to Death." During the filming of "Men in Black 3," the film's production crew used part of the building's gutted interior as its headquarters.

Despite making a $90 million profit flipping Coney Island property during the city's 2009 rezoning of the amusement zone, Thor Equities has recently run into financial problems. Sitt lost ownership of some of his Manhattan properties and has reportedly defaulted on bank loans. In 2018 he put his combined 21 Coney Island properties up for sale, abandoning his scheme to build a shopping mall and hotel complex in the amusement zone.

The Grashorn Building, with its mansard roof, cast-iron cresting, and fish-scale shingles, was built by hardware store owner Henry Grashorn in the early 1880s and is the last surviving structure from that era. It is believed that the contractor was John Y. McKane, the carpenter who became political boss of Gravesend and Coney Island only to wind up in Sing-Sing prison, convicted of corruption.

For more than 60 years, Henry Grashorn's hardware store met the unusual needs of amusement operators by carrying everything needed to operate or repair the rides of Coney Island. The two floors above the store served as a hotel. The building had several owners after Grashorn retired. The last owner before Sitt was the late Wally Roberts, who operated an arcade on the ground floor. Although the building's facade was heavily altered over the years, it still retained its original shape and was easily identifiable. The hotel rooms on the upper floors were perfectly preserved. The Grashorn now joins Thor's other victims, including the Henderson Theater and Coney Island Bank Building, which Sitt ordered demolished in 2010 despite local efforts to preserve them.

The vacant Grashorn Building after Thor Equities bought the property.

The Grashorn Building was the last surviving structure from the earliest days of Coney Island.

The two upper floors in the Grashorn Building were once a hotel.

Architectural rendering released by Save Coney Island in 2010. What could have been. . .   

The Grashorn Building in 1969 still had Henry Grashorn's brass signage.

Susquehanna Hat Store in the Grashorn Building, a set for the HBO series, "Bored to Death" in 2011. Photo © Charles Denson.

 

posted Mar 4th, 2019 in By Charles Denson and tagged with Development, demolition, Grashorn Building,...

Congratulations to NYC Council Member Mark Treyger, Borough President Eric Adams, and NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson for funding the repair and restoration of the deteriorating Ocean Parkway bicycle path, the oldest bike path in the country. According to Streetsblog, the Parks Department will begin fixing the bike path on Ocean Parkway this spring, thanks to a $1-million allocation from Treyger, and $500,000 each from the Borough President and the City Council.

Images from the Coney Island History Project archive show that from the 1890s to 1920s Coney Island was the most popular destination for an army of cyclists who traveled five miles down the Ocean Parkway Cycle Path to Coney Island from Prospect Park. A rustic wood pavilion located at the intersection of Surf Avenue and Ocean Parkway served as an end-of-ride meeting place, and nearby bicycle storage facilities provided parking for riders heading to the beach. Many cyclists had photos taken with their bicycles as a souvenir of their journey to Coney Island. Our print and tintype collection contains countless images documenting these early days of bicycling at the shore.

Women's bicycle club poses for a souvenir photo at Coney Island, 1897.

Cyclists line up at the beachfront pavilion at Ocean Parkway and Surf Avenue, 1890s

Joe's Bicycle Checking and Storage stand on Surf Avenue at West 5th Street.

A cyclist relaxes at Brighton Beach after a ride down Ocean Parkway.

Posing with their rides at Coney Island, 1916.

Sheet music, 1896

 

 

 

 

posted Feb 15th, 2019 in By Charles Denson and tagged with Ocean Parkway, bike path, bicycling,...

A piece of Coney Island transit history unexpectedly reappeared recently when Surf Avenue's old trolley tracks were unearthed and removed during street construction in front of MCU Park. The tracks had been paved over decades ago after trolley car service was discontinued and replaced by buses in 1946.

Trolley tracks reappeared on Surf Avenue and West 17th Street  Photo by Charles Denson

Surf Avenue trolley service began in the 1890s, serving the amusement zone and West End before taking a curve up West 36th Street. There it connected with the Railroad Avenue "Toonerville" trolley line that ran between Mermaid and Surf Avenues and then through Sea Gate to Norton's Point. The rusting tracks brought to light during the excavation were stacked up next to the decaying trolley poles that still line Surf from West 8th Street to West 21st Street, reviving memories of a once popular transit system that died off after World War II.

Coney Island was literally the end of the line for many of Brooklyn's trolley routes. A trolley barn and terminal were located on West 5th Street, across the street from Seaside Park, and Norton's point served as the last stop on the Railroad Avenue line that once connected to the ferry. For many years there was also a spur that terminated inside Steeplechase park at West 17th Street.

Resurrection of streetcar service has been in the news lately with Mayor de Blasio's ambitious plan for a $2.7 billion BQX line, and developer John Catsimatidis's much-hyped but delusional plan to construct a Surf Avenue "trolley" (in reality a jitney bus) connecting his West End high-rises to the Stillwell Avenue subway terminal. Catsimatidis's plan has probably been derailed by the city's recent proposal for a conveniently located ferry terminal a few blocks away.

Whenever a shovel is placed in the sands of Coney Island, a piece of history is uncovered. Many visitors to the History Project have recorded their memories of traveling to Coney Island by nickel trolley when they were young. They say it was a romantic and unforgettable means of arriving at the seashore. These trolley car memories provide nostalgic links to a picturesque form of urban transportation: clanging bells and screeching wheels, rattan seats and rattling floorboards, the rising scent of salt air drifting through open windows as one approached Coney Island while sailing aboard the clunky but beautiful one-eyed machines that once prowled the streets of Brooklyn.

The lumbering buses that replaced the trolleys will never have the same mystique.

– Charles Denson

Trolley car on Surf Avenue at West 12th Street

Closeup of the Surf Avenue rails

Trolley car parked at West 36th Street and Railroad Avenue. The curved track connected to Surf Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

posted Feb 9th, 2019 in By Charles Denson and tagged with trolleys, trolley service, trolley route,...

Coney Island History Project Immigrant Heritage Tour

On Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, learn about the contributions of immigrants to the history and development of "The Playground of the World" on our Immigrant Heritage Tour of Coney Island (康尼岛移民文化遗产之旅) conducted in English (12:00 PM) and (Mandarin 3:00 PM). The Coney Island History Project is offering this special walking tour as part of Immigrant Heritage Week 2019.  Tickets are free of charge for the 1-1/2 hour, wheelchair accessible tour but must be reserved online as each tour is limited to 40 participants. Advance ticketing is available via our online reservation page on Eventbrite. If you have a question, please email events@coneyislandhistory.org.

Among the stops on the walking tour and the stories of struggle, success and achievement are Nathan's Famous, founded in 1916 by Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker; Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, where the landmark 1920 Wonder Wheel was purchased by Greek immigrant Denos D. Vourderis as a wedding ring for his wife; and the B&B Carousell, created in 1919 by German and Russian immigrants and now Coney's last hand-carved wooden carousel.

Coordinated by the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), Immigrant Heritage Week is an annual citywide program of events celebrating the history, traditions and contributions of New York City's diverse immigrant communities.  IHW 2019 is scheduled for April 15-21 in recognition of April 17, 1907, the date when more immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island than any other date in history. 

"Coney Island has traditionally been a place where immigrants who wanted to start a business could start small and work their way up," says Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project. "A person of small means with no experience or capital could lease a stall on the Bowery and open a game concession with nothing more than a few baseballs and milk bottles. Coney was also the place where immigrant families could escape steaming tenements, get fresh air, bathe in the ocean and assimilate with people of all nationalities. It's where they finally found true freedom and became Americans."

The walking tour will also highlight businesses operated by immigrants from Hong Kong, Jamaica, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine who have recorded their stories for the Coney Island History Project's Oral History Archive. The Immigrant Heritage Tour will be led by Tricia Vita and Sylvia Ching Man Wong, who facilitate and record oral histories for the Coney Island History Project. 

Please note that the Coney Island History Project exhibit center will be open special hours on April 21, Easter Sunday, from 1:00PM-6:00PM. Admission is free of charge. Visitors are invited to take free souvenir photos with an original Steeplechase horse, from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name, and the iconic Cyclops head from Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Spook-A-Rama, Coney Island's oldest dark ride. Among the treasures on display at the Coney Island History Project’s exhibit center this season is Coney Island’s oldest surviving artifact from the dawn of the “World’s Playground.” The 1823 Toll House sign dates back to the days when the toll for a horse and rider to “the Island” was 5 cents! Today, the nearly two century old sign is often described as Coney Island's "first admission ticket."

The Coney Island History Project, founded in 2004, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that aims to increase awareness of Coney Island's legendary and colorful past and to encourage appreciation of the Coney Island neighborhood of today. Our mission is to record, archive and share oral history interviews; provide access to historical artifacts and documentary material through educational exhibits, events and a website; and honor community leaders and amusement pioneers through our Coney Island Hall of Fame.

This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York City Councilman Mark Treyger, and our members and contributors.

posted Feb 4th, 2019 in Events and tagged with Immigrant Heritage Week, immigrants, Coney Island,...

George C Tilyou Coney Island History Project

"If Paris is France, then Coney Island, between June and September, is the world." --George C Tilyou.

George C.  Tilyou, founder of Steeplechase Park and creator of Coney Island's Funny Face logo was born on this day, February 3rd, in 1862.

Tilyou was a master showman and amateur psychologist who understood how people wanted to be entertained. He realized that his customers were happy to play the fool to entertain others.

He  came with his parents to Coney Island in 1865 at the tender age of three. His father, Peter, opened a small wooden bathhouse and restaurant on the beach, and young George was soon selling bottles of souvenir sand to visitors. The family nearly lost everything when they challenged Coney's political boss, John McKane, in the 1880s. After McKane went to prison, the Tilyous' fortunes improved, and soon George owned a theater, a Ferris wheel, and other rides scattered along the beach.

Tilyou became Coney's biggest booster and a philanthropist who supported local orphanages, the Catholic church, children's hospitals, and other charities.

In 1897 Tilyou moved his rides into an enclosed park at West Sixteenth Street and Surf Avenue. Horse racing was the park's theme. The Steeplechase ride enabled ordinary people to experience the thrill of racing by riding mechanical horses along a steel track.

Read more about Tilyou on his page in the Coney Island History Project's Coney Island Hall of Fame.

posted Feb 3rd, 2019 in History and tagged with George C. Tilyou, Steeplechase Park, Funny Face,...