Attractions - Pt 2

  

 

Enlarged photographs are on display on the ground floor of the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station. It almost gives you the impression that you are in a small-budget community center. The middle photograph shows the first “aggressive/shocking-looking” bathing suits for women that appeared in Coney Island at the turn of the 20th century. It was the cutting edge of societal evolution. This photograph is also proudly displayed at Coney Island Hospital today. (September 8, 2007)

 

To our eyes, these bathing suits don’t look like swimsuits at all. As you can imagine, these are not for dipping in the water but for hanging around the waterfront, so they are essentially beach dresses.  Still, at the time they were just as shocking and sexy to people’s eyes as the first bikinis were a half-century later. Until the early 20th century, hanging around the beach in summertime was not part of American culture.  In the 1800s most people felt swimming was a man's activity. Women did not expose their legs when wearing swimwear until after the 1920s.  The new bathing suits - sensuous and sexy for their time - changed beach culture completely. The women with more revealing sexy bathing suits attracted a large number of men to Coney Island.

 

I, Takeshi Yamada, consider this culture in Coney Island quite fascinating. This cultural development is very different from the one in Japan where gatherings of people at the sea were part of religious rituals and festivals. I wonder what kind of swimwear people will wear 50 years from now. Beach body paints, Cameltoe-bikini, swimsuits optional, or will they be all banned because the religion of Islam became the dominating religion of America?

 

Photographs of historical towers at Coney Island. The tall buildings/towers have been the symbols of the people’s mind and spirit throughout the human civilizations around the world. (September 8, 2007)

 

Photographs of the golden era of Coney Island.  (From left to right) The entrance to Dreamland - one of Coney Island’s first amusement parks,  the Loop-the-Loop, and the entrance to Luna Park -another of Coney’s original parks that boasted thousands of newfangled electric light bulbs. (September 8, 2007)

 

(From left to right) View of Luna Park, ad for “Coney Island History Project”, and paper-made artwork “Lollypop” made in honor of Philip’s Candy - which was housed at the entrance of the old Stillwell Avenue Subway Station for 54 years.   (September 8, 2007)

 

Photos of thrill rides from the past and present at Coney Island. (September 8, 2007)

 

Photographs featuring images of Coney Island’s golden era and its pioneers.  Left panel (top to bottom):  Medallion detail from Child’s Restaurant on the boardwalk at 21st Street (NYC designated Child’s as a historic landmark in 2003), from the B&B Carousel on Surf Avenue, classic thrill ride sign.

Middle panels (clockwise from upper left): George C. Tilyou, founder of Steeplechase Park - The Funny Place (early amusement park), Charles Feltman, inventor of the hot dog,  La Marcus Adna Thompson, the father of the American roller coaster, and Marcus C. Illions, master carousel woodcarver. 

Right panel (top to bottom) The Funny Face - famous icon of Steeplechase Park that remains a symbol of Coney Island today.  (September 8, 2007)

 

(Left to right) People having fun at amusement park in Coney Island, lighten up tower at night, a souvenir photograph of a couple, the Parachute Jump (tower) - one of Coney Island’s most visible landmarks. This tower was repainted in recent year. It still stands proudly though it is no longer an operating thrill ride.  These photographs are permanently on display at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station until retail shops occupy these spaces. So, please come to see them in person in Coney Island!  (September 8, 2007)

 

View of Coney Island from the entrance of the Coney Island-Stillwell subway station on Surf Avenue--the beginning of your Coney Island adventures. (September 8, 2007)

 

Takeshi Yamada, Seara (the Sea Rabbit), and two tattooed mermaids in bikinis by the Surf Avenue entrance of Astroland Amusement Park. (Seen in the back are furniture stores on the opposite side of the street.) (August 25, 2007)

 

  Continue to Part 3 

 

© Takeshi Yamada, 2007, Copyright all rights reserved.

Museum of World Wonders in Coney Island, NYC.  E-mail: yamada108@aol.com

http://www.sideshowworld.com/SSA-15.html

Special Thanks to Kris Roth (Senior Proofreader)

 

Header Artwork Based on an early Coney Island Post Card