Corny Coney

Last month on a very warm dry Saturday while Sheldy was kicking up his legs in rehearsal I went to Coney Island on the rattling F train.  Take a book. The resort is gradually being restored but there's enough detritis to conjure up a ghost or two. The Subway station has undergone a makeover with glorious glass tilework sporting old photos of times gone by.



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 The stunning station

The first sight that grabs you as you enter daylight is Nathans.. a greasy fixture which has nothing to offer the diet conscious and everything for those wanting to dive into vats of lard and sugar and salt. I resisted!

Boys and girls come out to playThe parachute jump is still there minus its chairs.Nearly done

The board walk was full of people from all walks..muslim ladies in full gear pushing babies with fairy floss crammed up their gobs and a load of Jersey Shore wannabees. The beach was doing a good trade though nothing like the wall to wall mass that so many newsreels depict from the 20's through to the 60's.

The 'Shoot The Freak' exhibit was there last December. On the way in the subway Sheldon pointed out an article in the NYT about the attraction. We were able to hand over a copy to the very bemused barker who read the piece and sort of understood its underlying cynicism. At that visit the victim leapt about with great agility, probably to keep warm. But this time the act was much tamer and the freak did not do much but stand there and get splattered with paint balls at a dollar a shot. He didn't drool or taunt or shriek obscenities or hunch over like Charles Laughton. The thrill surely is to be shooting a reject from the Todd Browning film. The barker looked like a recent release from Rykers Island.

Wonder what Joey is meant to do with the oliveI went on the Wonder Wheel And shriekedWent into the Sideshow for  twenty minutes of gruesome acts.  Dan Vomit, the MC, hammered nails up his nose. The brilliant Scorpio from Bombay bent his hand so far back it fitted in a jam jar and Heather Holliday rammed serrated swords down her very tiny throat.  Thank God I didn't eat at Nathans.

Note  of interest  Flash forward to March 5 2011. The building which houses the Sideshow and Museum is run by the non-profit organization,Coney Islan USA. It has been granted heritage status. It has a resident artist, Marie Roberts, whose job it is to maintain and create art works to keep the building vibrant and attractive. 

The building was constructed in 1917 and housed a Childs Restaurant 

Drooled over the Cyclone from below but was not willing to risk dislocation a second time. I had ridden it in 1984 and remember promising God that if I lived I would be good from then on. So I couldn't go back on cos I haven't.

Finished with a stroll through a section which has been redone and points the way to the 21st Century steel and gleam of parks across the USA

 Truly bizarre

So Coney Island is slowly moving toward respectabilty but  there is  still enough tat and relic to fascinate the ghouls like me.   tt