It's probably the most famous waterfront strip on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Its arcades, rides, and hot dogs are iconic. Its status as a symbol of the United States is so deep-seated that the three men arrested in Brooklyn for trying to join ISIS wanted to plant a bomb there. As East Coasters suffer through yet another brutal winter, Yale University Press has published a superb book detailing the history of the summer favorite, Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland. Filled with rich history, colorful images, and insights by its author Robin Jaffee Frank, it captures the particularly American form of spectacle that Coney Island represents.
The image to the left is Morris Engel's Coney Island Embrace taken in 1938.
Gelatin silver print, Orkin/Engel Film and Photo Archive
Courtesy Morris Engel
Kelty was a circus photographer who took what Frank calls yearbook-style photographs fo the various acts on Coney Island. This photo is of the Harlem Blackbirgs, a group of African American singers, dancers, and musicians who performed in Paris and New York City. The man in the dead center, standing on the risers in a black suit holding a cigar, is believed to be King Rastus Brown, one of the more prominent tap dancers of his day.
Photograph, Collection of Ken Harck.
Edward J. Kelty
During a record heat wave in July of 1940, photographer Weegee, whose real name was Arthur Fellig, set out to capture for PM magazine how New Yorkers were coping with the temperature. Few things capture the mass appeal of Coney Island quite like his photograph did. In 1998, at a time when Coney Island was on the decline, Red Grooms "paid homage to Weegee's small, black-and-white documentary photograph of a phenomenally packed crowd" with his Pop art painting.
Acrylic on paper, Private Collection.
Image Courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York; © 2013 Red Grooms/Artists Rights Society
The 1870s were a boom time for Coney Island. A burgenoing urban class and a new train line made it extremely popular. Carr, the artist behind this painting, lived in Brooklyn and painted depictions of leisure in American life. His Beach Scene, writes Frank, "celebrates the rise of commercial entertainment—tintype photography, beach toys, donkey rides, and puppet shows in competition with the natural drama of the surf for the crowd's attention."
Oil on canvas, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
Bequest of Annie Swan Coburn (Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn)
When Astroland, one of Coney Island's more famous amusement parks, closed its doors in 2008, the AstroRocket was put into storage. The rocket, which to many was the easily recognized symbol of Coney Island, was brought back in 2013 and in 2014 found a permanent home at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park.
Watercolor over graphite on paper, Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York.
Photograph by Joshua Nefsky; Image courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York; 2013 Frederick Brosen/Artists Rights Society
Morris Engel was a staff photographer for PM whose beautiful beach scenes captured a changing Coney Island. He was also a filmmaker, and his movie Little Fugitive was seen as one of the first successful "independent films" and earned him an Academy Award nomination. It was the story of a boy Joe, a seven-year-old who ran away to Coney Island. "The soul of the film," writes Frank, "is the emotional landscape of childhood and the safe, communal setting of Coney Island, where a child's sense of wonder triumphs over fear."
Production still, 1953, A Morris Engel Production.
Joseph Burstyn/Photofest; Joseph Burstyn, Inc.; Morris Engel
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008 by Robin Jaffee Frank. Yale University Press
