Scenes From Coney Island, part I of V

[Doktor Howl]

"Chaos broke loose as the park burned. As the one-armed Captain Bonavita strove to save his big cats with only the swiftly encroaching flames for illumination, some of the terrified animals escaped. A lion named Black Prince rushed into the streets, among crowds of onlookers, and was shot by police. By morning, the fire was out, and Dreamland was reduced to a soggy, smoldering mess"
- From the Wikipedia entry on Dreamland

Coney Island has long been a horrible reflection of American values.  Decades before Disneyland opened, Robert Moses referred to Coney Island as "tawdry".  It is and was always a horrible depressing place, not unlike the dingy carnivals that still schlep from town to town to this very day.

Among the amusements were domesticated elephants. The rogue Topsey the Elephant was killed when she was electrocuted with alternating current by Thomas Edison.
- From the Wikipedia entry on Luna Park

Topsey was executed for killing a handler who thought it would be nice to feed her a lit cigarette.  But anyway, Coney Island was dreary in 1906, and it's even worse today...Yet Luna Park is being rebuilt, so someone must like hot concrete, gaudy lights, and blaring music, with things like Aini crawling sleeping on the sidewalk in a puddle of his own vomit.

Coney Island is sort of what would happen if you allowed the Soviets to build an amusement park for you.  Only with lower safety standards than the Soviets would have allowed.  Steeplechase Park, for example, featured a ride on horses on rails at high speed over a quarter mile, with plenty of rises and dips.  There were of course no safety straps or anything like that.  It was hold onto the slick metal horse or go splat.  He also operated a ride in which participants were run in a troughed conveyor at high speeds, which led to the predicable amount of maimings.

Steeplechase burned during the 1907 season, destroying most of the park. The morning after the fire, owner George Tilyou posted a sign outside the park. It read:

"To enquiring friends: I have troubles today that I had not yesterday. I had troubles yesterday which I have not today. On this site will be built a bigger, better, Steeplechase Park. Admission to the burning ruins -- Ten cents."

(bolding mine)

Steeplechase was later sold to Fred Trump, father of Donald Trump...Fred held a party where invited guests could heave bricks through windows, etc.  Apparently, there was a lot of enthusiasm involved.  When Fred couldn't build a casino there, he sold it to the city.  The parachute tower still stands to this day, because nobody can figure out how to demolish it.  Yes, they had a parachute tower.

It all ended - at least as a major enterprise - in 1964, with every single park suffering several major fires.  It has been a wasteland ever since, though since 2003, there has been interest in bringing the horror back, for reasons that defy explanation.  51,000 people currently live on Coney Island, with an average income of $21K/year, though Aini is surely hauling that average down.  Given the cost of living in the NYC area, basically, they want to build another gaudy monstrosity in crack central.

Welcome to the 21st century.  We're doing all the dumb shit they did in the 20th century, only dumber.

Okay for now,
Dok

[Eater of Clowns]

Step right up folks, step right up and see the wonder of Americana.  Have a hot dog, we're famous for them!  Ride the Cyclone all your friends are talking about!

Admission is free* just make sure you take your complimentary pair of rose tinted goggles and oh, don't be worried if they're a bit tricky to pull off.





*Or at least, you'll never remember what it was you paid us.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

  Amazing!

[Luna]

Wow...

[LMNO]

I've loved every series he's written so far.

[Jenne]

I didn't know the history of that place...but the pictures of it always look so macabre in some way.  Now I know why.

[Richter]

I'll demolish their parachute tower, but they won't like my methods.  I don't make any claims about collateral damage either.

That really was the spirit wasn't it?  Pay a cheap fee to see something HORRIBLE, build it bigger, do it faster, make it shinnier, and the people will demand it once you're done.  Sure, some will never leave the same, but most will be happy with their little stain free dance with the devil and go back home feeling all sassy and dangerous, toss off the petty coats and do it doggy style (scandalous.)

The carnivals these days are the crispfying semen spills of the grand show of yesteryear.  Back then it was too big to fail, too brutal to shout and, and too profitable to shut down.  There were bigger fish to fry, witht he human rights and voting issues, labor, and a  GODDAM WORLD WAR brewing.  These days it would be drowned under a horde or "Concerned" citizens.  So we get fucked over buying technology instead, when we feel the need to to a toe dip wade into pulling the wool over our own eyes.

[Cramulus]

Coney Island is disgusting! And you're right - it's a great thumbnail of an era. I didn't know they were redeveloping it. Blech!

[Suu]

Coney Island is a wonderland of pure fucking awesome...if your idea of awesome is the picture that Dok just painted for you.

You go there to laugh. You go there to cry. You go there to simply imagine you're F. Scott Fitzgerald 90 years ago.

You, however, don't go there on acid.

-Suu
Accidentally the acid. 6 Train. Coney Island. Twice.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'll demolish their parachute tower, but they won't like my methods.  I don't make any claims about collateral damage either.

There is in fact no practical reason it can't be moved.  That was not its original home...It was taken from a military base where it was originally used to train paratroopers.  No, the reason that it is left where it is, is that it's the stake through the vampire's heart, the thing that keeps the dread spirit of Coney Island where it is.  Pull the stake, and who knows what will happen?

That really was the spirit wasn't it?  Pay a cheap fee to see something HORRIBLE, build it bigger, do it faster, make it shinnier, and the people will demand it once you're done.  Sure, some will never leave the same, but most will be happy with their little stain free dance with the devil and go back home feeling all sassy and dangerous, toss off the petty coats and do it doggy style (scandalous.)

The spirit of Coney Island can best be illustrated by Dreamland...A nightmare that is only now copied in some small way by the Disney franchises, which torment their employees for the gratification of the fat po'buckers who schlep there once a year, because it's un-American not to.  It is distilled misery, and everything built on or around it reeks of failure and doom.

These days it would be drowned under a horde or "Concerned" citizens. 

These days, we have Disneyland and Disneyworld and 6 Flaggs over Despair.