DreamLand

Coney Island, Brooklyn

Coney has been in the local news lately and development (shocking!) is right around the corner. Of course, I have been hearing this for years, but the success of Keyspan Park has increased confidence in a renewed future of New York City's oceanside retreat.

My longing is not for the new, but for the grand days of fantastic experiences and visions provided by DreamLand and Steeplechase Park. They were ridulous and grandiose but brought smiles to the large majority of New York City who could not afford much more than a subway fare on a steaming summer afternoon and a few oysters on the halfshell.

I am sure the city has all the intentions of a productive and healthy urban development. Boarded up buildings will be brought back to life with coats of fresh paint and new neon. Recognizable family style franchises with their microwaved jalapeno poppers and onion blooms will replace the paper plates of little necks and corndogs. There will be lots of places to spend money. I imagine it will look alot like the new Times Square but on a beach.

I secretly hope they put a showman (and Disney doesn't count!) in charge. They need someone who knows how to dazzle a weary city, looking for escape and maybe even a little magic. Coney Island needs its freaks. It needs to be rough around the edges. It needs its spectacles. It needs to charm us with its outside and scare us a little on the inside. It needs its honkytonk.

For some background check out the Coney Island Musueum and, of course, Forgotten New York.