Coney Island Blog - History

Wonder Wheel Patent 1920
Happy 102nd Patent-versary to Deno's Wonder Wheel! Filed in January, Charles Hermann's patent for his invention, which he said combined the thrills of a Ferris wheel with a gravity railway or roller coaster, was approved on September 28, 1920. An earlier design for what would one day become the Wonder Wheel was patented in 1915, writes Coney Island History Project director Charles Denson in his book Coney Island's Wonder Wheel Park.

Deno's Wonder Wheel Park is open Saturdays, Sundays, and school holidays in September and October. The History Project's outdoor exhibitions at Deno's are on display in the lower park adjacent to the Wheel during park hours.
 

posted Sep 27th, 2022 in History and tagged with Wonder Wheel, Deno's Wonder Wheel, Coney Island,...

Jeff Brooks

Among the recent additions to the Coney Island History Project's oral history archive are interviews with Jeff Brooks and Monica Ghee, who have worked in Coney Island for over 50 years and still have games on the Bowery; and Fred Stern, a bus driver for 35 years on the B36 route.

In his oral history, Jeff Brooks tells the story of Coney Island in the 1970s, when it was reminiscent of the Wild West and owners could rent a space and create whatever sort of attraction they wanted, often with mixed results. The Tornado Roller Coaster had a long row of amusement spaces below the ride, along Stillwell Avenue and the Bowery, and Jeff operated three different spook house dark rides at this location. Most surprising is his story about how much money one of his dark rides made during the coldest days of winter when visitors would come down on weekends to visit a snow covered Coney Island.

Jeff Brooks and Monica Ghee

In a second interview, Jeff Brooks and Monica Ghee tell an amazing tale of compassion and friendship that goes beyond anything imaginable. Business partners for 25 years with popular family games that include archery, bowling, and a high-striker, they now operate three game concessions on the Bowery at Jones Walk. Last year, when Jeff was given less than a year to live, Monica donated a kidney and saved his life. Monica Ghee's 2019 oral history is also available for listening in our online archive.

Fred Stern

Born in 1953, Fred Stern recalls growing up on West 32nd Street in Coney Island, in a house next to Sam's Knishes. In 1964, his family moved to neighboring Bath Beach, where he still lives today. Stern shares memories of being a bus driver on the B36 route from Sea Gate to Nostrand Avenue and Avenue U, and the shuttle bus inside Sea Gate. He was a bus driver for the MTA from 1978 until he retired in August of 2012. "It was like a family," he says of the passengers -- the "morning people" and "evening people" -- he picked up every day. 

More than 430 oral histories are available for listening in the Coney Island History Project’s multilingual online archive. Please listen, share, and if you or someone you know would like to record a story via phone or Zoom, sign up here. We record oral histories in English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and other languages with people who have lived or worked in Coney Island and nearby neighborhoods or have a special connection to these places.

Photo Credits: Charles Denson, Fred Stern

May 22 Greek American Folklore Society Music and Dance at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park


Save the Date! On Sunday, May 22, the Coney Island History Project presents a performance of Greek music and dance in honor of Denos and Lula Vourderis, the founders of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. Dancers from the Greek American Folklore Society will perform dances from Crete, Pontos, and more. Then the audience will be invited to learn a few steps and join in. The event also features live music by Yiannis Mandas (Cretan Lyra), George Exarchakis (Cretan Laouto) and Evangelia Makropoulos (Daouli). The free performance will be at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, 3059 West 12th Street in Coney Island, below the park's Phoenix roller coaster. The event starts at 3PM and will run for about 90 minutes.

“We originally planned this performance of Greek heritage two years ago to celebrate the Wonder Wheel’s 100th birthday,” said Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project. “It’s great to finally be able to honor the Wheel and the Vourderis family for their historic commitment to Coney Island.” Denson’s book, Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park, tells how Denos Vourderis, who was born in Greece in 1920, the same year the Wonder Wheel was constructed, came to the purchase the ride and build his family’s amusement park around it. In 1948, he was a hot-dog vendor in New York when he promised his girlfriend Lula: “You marry me, I buy you the Wonder Wheel.” She married him and 35 years later, the Wheel came up for sale and he kept his promise and bought it for her, the world’s largest engagement ring.

After a backbreaking restoration that took several years, the Wonder Wheel prospered, becoming an official New York City landmark in 1989. Three generations of the Vourderis family –parents, children, and grandchildren—have worked to make Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park a success story, the best that Coney Island has to offer. Denos passed away in 1994, and Lula followed him 2019. West 12th Street adjacent to the park is named “Denos D. Vourderis Place” and “Theodora Lula Vourderis Way” in their honor.

The Greek American Folklore Society is dedicated to the study, preservation and instruction of the history and traditions of Hellenic folk culture. They share their work with the public through stage re-enactments of traditional Greek customs, songs and dances, as well as through lectures, exhibits and workshops. Founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization in Astoria, the Society's activities encompass a wide variety of folk art traditions from all regions and islands of Greece, in addition to the communities of the Greek Diaspora past and present.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Steeplechase Park

Today in history, Steeplechase Park (1897-1964) closed forever.  Coney Island History Project director Charles Denson described the closing ceremony in the chapter titled "The Death of Steeplechase Park" of his book Coney Island: Lost and Found:

"Steeplechase Park closed at the end of the season on September 20, 1964. Marie Tilyou, Bill Nicholson, and Jimmy Onorato were together  at the traditional closing as the park's bells were slowly tolled once for every year of operation. The sound system played 'There's No Business Like Show Business' and then 'Auld Lang Syne.' Thousands of lights were switched off slowly, row after row, on each toll of the bell. As it turned out, the park went dark for the last time. Bill Nicholson left the closing ceremony with Tilyou and her friends and walked to the Clam Bar for drinks."

Marie Tilyou was the daughter of Steeplechase Park founder George C. Tilyou. Bill Nicholson was the executive secretary of the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce and  Jimmy Onorato was the park's manager, and for a time, its president. 

Photo courtesy of Dan Pisark. 

posted Sep 20th, 2021 in History and tagged with photo of the day, Steeplechase Park, Coney Island,...

Under the Boardwalk

#ThrowbackThursday: Umbrellas for rent and soda for sale under the Boardwalk at West 23rd Street and the Boardwalk. 1950s photo from the Coney Island History Project Collection.

Listen to the Beach Days episode of our Coney Island Stories podcast!

Jimmy McCullough

On National Carousel Day, we pay tribute to Jimmy McCullough (1929-2013), who learned the carousel business from his father and began his career working on Coney Island's Steeplechase and Stubbman carousels. Listen online to his oral history recorded by the Coney Island History Project in 2009.

Working in Coney Island was a family business going back generations for Jimmy, who was a descendent of both the Tilyou and the Stubbman families. He worked on a total of four carousels in Coney Island including the B&B Carousell, which he bought from his cousin Willy Bishoff. Jimmy and his family owned and operated numerous small amusement parks and carousels in Coney Island, including the historic carousels that are now in Prospect Park and Flushing Meadows Park. After McCullough's Kiddie Park was forced to close when its lease was not renewed by Thor Equities, 2013 became the first year since 1862 that there has not been a Tilyou descendant operating in Coney Island. 

Photo Credit: Charles Denson

posted Jul 25th, 2021 in History and tagged with Carousels, National Carousel Day, Jimmy McCullough,...

Mermaid Ave Then and Now

You're invited to join us on Zoom for "Mermaid Avenue, Then and Now," a virtual tour with historian Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project, on February 23rd.

We'll look at how Coney Island's Mermaid Avenue shopping district, where most of the storefronts were in three-story brick buildings constructed in the 1920s, was transformed by a destructive urban renewal project launched in 1949. Today the "Avenue," as residents called it, is recovering but remains a shadow of its former self. Denson grew up a block from Mermaid Avenue and will show his photo documentation of the street as it changed during the 1960s and 1970s, and as it appears today. 

The Coney Island History Project also invites anyone with Mermaid Avenue stories to sign up to record an oral history about their experiences on Coney’s famous Avenue. Some of the oral histories in our archive about Mermaid Avenue’s mom and pop businesses founded by immigrants past and present are featured in Episode 4 of our Coney Island Stories podcast.

Charles Denson grew up in Coney Island and began documenting his neighborhood as a boy, a passion that continues to this day. He is the author of four books: Coney Island's Wonder Wheel Park; Wild Ride: A Coney Island Roller Coaster Family; Coney Island and Astroland; and Coney Island: Lost and Found, named 2002 New York Book of the Year by the New York Society Library. 

Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00 PM. FREE.
Advance registration is required. You will be sent the Zoom link two days before the event.

Register Here

 

 

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.

posted Feb 11th, 2021 in Events and tagged with Mermaid Avenue, Then and Now, Virtual Tour,...

Richard Glazer Danay

As Native American Heritage Month comes to a close,  listen to our oral history interview with Richard Glazer Danay, an artist who grew up in Coney Island and whose artwork celebrates his Mohawk iron worker ancestry. His extended family lived on West 16th Street and split their time between the Kahnawake (Caughnawaga) Mohawk reservation in Quebec and New York, where his father, uncles and cousins, as well as himself as a young man, were employed as iron workers. He was the first member of his family to be born in Coney Island.  

Photo Credit: Bingo War Bonnet from "Modern Mohawk Headdresses" series, 1995. Peabody Essex Museum Collection.

Thunderbolt Roller Coaster

Twenty years ago today, Coney Island's original Thunderbolt roller coaster was demolished. "Giuliani Razed Roller Coaster, And the Law" wrote Dan Barry in the NY Times in 2003, when "a federal jury in Manhattan ruled that the city had no justification for tearing down the Thunderbolt, and in doing so had trespassed on Mr. Bullard's property. It also determined that one city official, who was integral in the decision to demolish, had acted with 'deliberate indifference.' '' Photos of the Thunderbolt demolition in the Coney Island History Project Collection may be viewed here.

The Thunderbolt roller coaster was built in 1925 and operated until 1982. Famous as the inspiration for "The House Under the Roller Coaster" in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall, the coaster steadily decayed after its closing. In 2000, with Keyspan Park under construction next door, the city condemned the coaster as structurally unsound. Despite protests from preservationists and coaster enthusiasts, on November 17th, 2000, the Thunderbolt was demolished. 

posted Nov 17th, 2020 in History and tagged with Thunderbolt, Roller Coaster, demolition,...

Stauch's Movie Theater Coney Island

Today's #ThrowbackThursday photo shows the original Stauch’s building on Coney Island's Bowery at Stillwell being demolished in 1940 to make way for the Bobsled. It was a movie theater called Stauch's Old Time Movies in its last days. Photo from the Coney Island History Project Collection.

posted Nov 5th, 2020 in History and tagged with Stauch's, movie theater, Bowery,...