Coney Island

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Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a famous beach lying on the Atlantic Ocean. The eponymous neighborhood is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and Gravesend to the north.

The area was a major resort and home of Astroland amusement park that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. In recent years, the area has been revitalized by the opening of KeySpan Park, home to the successful Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team. The Cyclones are huge success and bring in a lot of sports fans during open season.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 2.1 The Name 2.2 The resort 3 The Coney Island amusements 3.1 Rides 3.2 Rides of the Past 3.3 Other parks and venues 3.4 The beach 4 The communities 5 Education 6 Mermaid Parade 7 Development Efforts & Controversy 8 Coney Island in popular culture 8.1 On stage and screen 8.2 Literature 8.3 In slang 8.4 In song 8.5 On TV 9 See also 10 References 11 External links 12 Map

Geography

Coney Island is the westernmost of the barrier islands of Long Island, about four miles long and one-half mile wide. It used to be an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, part of which was little more than tidal flats. There were plans into the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas.

History

The Name

The Native American inhabitants of the area called the island Narrioch, "land without shadows", because, as did other south shore Long Island beaches, its compass orientation keeps the beach area in beautiful warm sunlight all day.

The Dutch name for the island was Conyne Eylandt,^[1] or Konijn Eiland (Rabbit Island) using modern Dutch spelling. This name is found on the New Netherland map of 1639 by Johannes Vingboon. (New York State and New York City were originally Dutch Settlements, referred to as New Netherland and New Amsterdam respectively.). As with other Long Island barrier islands, Coney Island was virtually overrun with rabbits, and rabbit hunting was common until the resorts were developed and most open space eliminated.

It is generally accepted that Coney Island is the English adaptation of the Dutch name, Konijn Eiland. Coney is an obsolete and dialectical English word for rabbit. Coney came into the English language through Old French (Conil), which derives from the Latin word for rabbit, cuniculus. The English name "Conney Isle" was used on maps as early as 1690^[2] and by 1733 the modern spelling "Coney Island" was used.^[3] The John Eddy map of 1811 also uses the modern "Coney Island" spelling.^[4]

Even though the history of Coney Island's name and its Anglicization can be traced through historical maps spanning the 17th century to the present^[5] and that all the names translate to "Rabbit Island" in modern English, there are still those who contend that the name derives from other sources. Some say that early English settlers named it Coney Island after its cone-like hills. Others claim that an Irish captain named Peter O'Connor had named Coney Island after an island in Ireland in the 1700s. Yet another purported origin is from the name of the Indian tribe (the Konoh tribe) who supposedly once inhabited it. A further claim is that the island is named after Henry Hudson's "right-hand-man" John Coleman, who was killed there by Indians. Most of these claims can be found in a posting on the PBS website.

The resort

Coney Island became a resort after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s. With the rail lines, steamship lines and access to the beach came major hotels and public and private beaches, followed by horse racing, amusement parks, and less reputable entertainments such as Three-card Monte, other gambling entrepreneurs, and prostitution.

When the steam railroads were electrified and connected to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned more rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements.

The first carousel at Coney Island was built in 1876 by Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver. It was installed at Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. The complex was later called Balmer's Pavilion. The carousel consisted of hand-carved horses and animals standing two abreast. A small coach was mounted on the platform for people who did not want to ride the horses. The ride was illuminated with kerosene lanterns (Thomas Edison did not announce his first light bulb until three years later, in 1879). Two musicians, a drummer and a flute player, provided the music. A metal ring-arm hung on a pole outside the ride, feeding small, iron rings for eager riders to grab. A tent-top protected the riders from the weather. The fare was five cents.

Nathan's Famous' original hot dog stand opened on Coney Island in 1916 and quickly became a landmark. An annual hot dog eating contest has been held there since its opening, but has only attracted broad attention and international television coverage during the last decade. Since 2001, the contest has been won every year by Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, who downed 53 3/4 hot dogs with buns in the allotted 12 minutes on July 4, 2006. The world record of 53 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes is held by Kobayashi, who weighed only 144 pounds (~65 kg) at contest time.

In 1915 the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the New West End Terminal for all the subway lines in 1919 ushering in Coney Island's busiest era.

After World War II contraction began seriously from a series of pressures. Air conditioning in movie theaters and then in homes, along with the advent of automobile access to the less crowded and more appealing Long Island state parks, especially Jones Beach, lessened the attractions of Coney's beaches. Luna Park closed in 1946 after a series of fires and the street gang problems of the 1950s spilled over into Coney Island. Though there was not a real danger as would be understood today, the menacing appearance of some of the youths, and their often harassing behavior made parents less willing to bring their young children to Coney or allow their teenaged children to go there.

The presence of threatening youths did not impact the beachgoing so much as it discouraged visitors to the rides and concessions - the staples of the Coney Island economy. A major blow was struck in 1964 when Steeplechase Park, the last of the major parks, was closed.

The builder and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses actively opposed the "tawdry" entertainment at Coney and discouraged the building of new amusements. Housing projects, both for low and moderate incomes, were built and used up space of what had been amusement areas, and the aquarium project, where Dreamland once stood, reduced the available area for more traditional amusements.

In Coney Island's lowest years there was some incremental improvement in relatively small areas, notably the preservation and later the expansion of what had been the rides area at the back of the Feltman's property as Astroland. The general improvement in New York City's infrastructure, commercial prospects and image after the 1970s fiscal crisis under the mayoral administration of Edward I. Koch helped Coney Island, and many improvements were made under the mayoralty of Rudolph Giuliani, continuing with his successor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, all helped by the Wall Street booms of the 1980s and 1990s.

While all of the original amusement parks have long since closed down — Steeplechase being the last in 1964 — one since revived, Astroland, gradually expanded and there are now also several more or less organized amusement areas along with a number of independent rides and concessions. For example, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park is a successful family owned park with over 20 rides located directly on the Boardwalk. However, the Coney Island amusement area is set to change in the 21st century.

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose family had owned the gritty but storied park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November 2006 for an unspecified amount. Thor Properties proposed a $1.5 billion renovation and expansion of the Coney Island amusement area to include hotels, shopping, movies, an indoor water park and the city's first new roller coaster since the Cyclone. The developers hope to start construction in 2007 and complete the project by 2011. As part of the renovation, they announced that Astroland would close by the end of 2007.^[6] The Aquarium is also being renovated.^[7] The six-acre park that Thor plans to include on the site would have 21 rides, a hotel, a glass-enclosed atrium, commercial space and a man-made canal for boat rides.

"We're trying to deliver on the promise of what Coney Island is," said Chris Durmick, creative director of Thinkwell Design & Production, the California group that is drawing up the 6-acre plan. "Whatever you come looking for at Coney Island, it's all going to be there."

The flagship ride will be the "Leviathan," a 100-foot-tall coaster with loop-de-loops that dips under the Boardwalk before flying back aboveground. Including the Cyclone and another coaster planned for Stillwell Ave., it would be the third for the area. Another marquee ride, the Aviator, would soar 120 feet, with gondolas guided individually by hand-held joysticks.

The Coney Island amusements

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks, Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, as well as many independent amusements. It was finally eclipsed by Disneyland in California. It is also known for the world famous Surf Art Exchange, with fine works of art from around the world that can be bought for low prices. It is run by world-renowned art-collector and seller Alex Gerson.

Rides

The amusement area contains various rides, games such as skeeball, ball tossing, and a sideshow; games of shooting and throwing and tossing skills.

The rides and other amusements at Coney Island are owned and managed by several different companies, and operate independently of each other. For this reason, it is not possible to purchase season tickets to the attractions in the area.

Three of the rides at Coney Island are protected as designated NYC landmarks and recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

• Wonder Wheel: Built in 1920, this steel ferris wheel has both conventional stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet tall and weighs over 2,000 tons. It is currently part of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.^[8]

• The Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927, is one of the nation's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. A favorite of some coaster aficionados, the Cyclone includes a 85-foot, 60 degree drop. It is currently owned by Astroland.

• The Parachute Jump, originally the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 190 feet in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. Although the ride has been closed since 1968, it remains a Coney Island landmark and is sometimes referred to as "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower." Between 2002 and 2004, the Jump was completely dismantled, cleaned, painted and restored, but is inactive. After an official lighting ceremony in July 2006, the Parachute Jump was slated to be lit year round using different color motiffs to represent the seasons. However, this idea was scrapped when New York City started conserving electricity in the summer months. It has not been lit regularly since.

Other notable attractions include:

• The B&B Carousell. In addition to its unusual spelling, this is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, now surrounded by furniture stores, near the old entrance to Luna Park. The carousel is an especially fast one, with a traditional roll-operated band organ. When the long-term operator died unexpectedly the carousel was put up for auction and it was feared the ride would leave Coney Island or, worse, that it would be broken up for sale to collectors, being one of the last intact traditional carousels in the U.S. still in private hands. In an act of brinksmanship with the owners, the City of New York bought the B&B Carousell a few days before the auction. The carousel has been dismantled and will operate in Coney Island; the specific location is still to be determined.
• Bumper cars. There are three separate bumper car rides in Coney Island, located in Astroland, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and Surf Avenue.
• Haunted house. Three traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island: Dante's Inferno (Astroland), Spook-o-rama (Deno's) and the Ghost Hole (independent).

Rides of the Past

• Thunderbolt, a roller coaster across the street from Steeplechase Park that was constructed in 1925. The ride closed in 1983. It was torn down by the city "to protect public safety" in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park.

• Tornado, a roller coaster constructed in 1926. It burned down in a fire in 1977.

Other parks and venues

Coney Island is also the location of the New York Aquarium since June 6, 1957, on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park. In 2001, KeySpan Park opened on the former site of Steeplechase Park to host the Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball team.

In August 2006 Coney Island hosted a major national volleyball tournament sponsored by the Association of Volleyball Professionals. The tournament, usually held on the West Coast, was televised live on NBC. The league built^{[citation needed]} a 4,000-seat stadium and 12 outer courts next to the Boardwalk for the event. Its promotional partner is Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment.

The beach

Coney Island still maintains a broad sandy beach from West 37th Street at Sea Gate through the Coney Island and Brighton Beach to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately two-and-a-half miles (~4.0 km). The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann boardwalk, the subject of the famous song "Under the Boardwalk", first popularized in 1964. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the north side of the boardwalk, as is the New York Aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades.

The beach is groomed and replenished on a regular basis by the city. The position of the beach and lack of significant obstructions means virtually the entire beach is in sunlight all day. The beach is open to all without restriction and there is no charge for use. The beach area is divided into "bays", areas of beach delineated by rock jetties, which moderate erosion and the force of ocean waves.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club^[9] is a group of hardy individuals who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months, most notably on New Year's Day when additional participants join them to swim in the frigid waters, recorded by television reporters covering the scene.

The communities

The neighborhoods on Coney Island, running eastward are Sea Gate (a private community), Coney Island proper (called West Brighton until the 20th century), Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and Oriental Beach.

Sea Gate is one of a handful of neighborhoods in New York City where the streets are owned by the residents and not the city; it and the Breezy Point Cooperative are the only city neighborhoods cordoned off by a fence and gate houses.

Its main subway station is called Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and is reached by the New York City Subway trains of the D F N Q. The three main avenues in the Coney Island community (as opposed to the island itself), are (north to south) Neptune Avenue (which crosses to the mainland to become Emmons Avenue), Mermaid Avenue, and Surf Avenue (which becomes Ocean Parkway and then runs north towards Brooklyn's Prospect Park).

The cross streets in the Coney Island neighborhood proper are numbered with "West" prepended to their numbers, running from West 1st Street to West 37th Street at the border of Sea Gate.

The majority of the population of Coney Island resides in approximately thirty 18- to 24-story towers, mostly comprised of various forms of public housing. In between the towers are many blocks that were filled with burned out and vacant buildings. Since the 1990s, however, there has been steady revitalization of the area. Many townhouses were built on empty lots, popular franchises have set up shop, and Keyspan Park was built to serve as the home for the Cyclones, a minor league baseball team in the New York Mets' farm system. Once home to many Jewish residents, most of those living on Coney Island today are African American, Italian American, or Hispanic.

Education

Coney Island, like other parts of New York City, is served by the New York City Department of Education.

The Coney Island neighborhood is zoned to PS 100 The Coney Island School (K-5) and IS 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg (6-8). There are no zoned high schools.

Nearby high schools include:

• Rachel Carson's School of Coastal Studies
• John Dewey High School
• Leon Goldstein High School for Sciences
• William E. Grady Vocational High School
• Abraham Lincoln High School

Mermaid Parade

The Mermaid Parade which takes place on Surf Avenue and the boadwalk, featuring floats and various acts has been produced annually by Coney Island U.S.A.—a non-profit arts organization which is dedicated to preserving the dignity of American Popular Culture. The group—which was established in 1979—also produces the Coney Island Film Festival, Burlesque At The Beach, Creepshow at the Freakshow (an interactive Halloween themed event) and houses the Coney Island Museum.

Development Efforts & Controversy

In 2006 Thor Equities purchased large amounts of land in the heart of the Coney Island amusement zone—including Astroland—and has proposed the development of a modern amusement park resort. These plans have been vague at best—with only a handful of artists renderings provided to the press and officials—and has been seen by many in the community as a transparent effort to destroy the amusement zone to make way for luxury condomium developments that would change the character of the neighborhood. And would effectively wipe out the last remnants of Coney Island's historic past.^{[citation needed]}

Coney Island in popular culture

On stage and screen

• You can see many of the long lost rides of Coney Island's younger years in action! The movie "IT!" made in 1927 and starring Clara Bow features a trip to the park and a wonderful sort of tour of the historic rides.

• "Requiem for a Dream" [2000]
• Perhaps the most famous fictional residents of Coney Island come from Walter Hill's 1979 cult film The Warriors. Based on Sol Yurick's novel, the film charts the progress of a street gang called "The Warriors" as they travel from their Coney Island turf up to a meeting in the Bronx, get framed for killing a powerful gang leader, and then have to fight their way back to Coney Island with gang members and police chasing them. In 2005 The Warriors movie was also adapted as a video game for the Playstation 2 and Xbox home entertainment systems. Both the movie and the video game open with an iconic nighttime shot of Deno's Wonder Wheel.

• We see the lead character in Woody Allen's 1977 semi-autobiographical film classic Annie Hall, Alvy Singer, living in Coney Island as a child in a house that was under the Thunderbolt rollercoaster that shook wildly every time the coaster made its rounds. Alvy's father ran the bumper cars' concession.

• Neil Simon's 1983 Brighton Beach Memoirs play (also a 1986 movie) also depicts growing up in the Coney Island area, and features scenes with the Coney Island rollercoaster in the background.

• In 1998 Spike Lee produced the movie He Got Game, which included a near Astroland, the basket ball court in Coney island houses and Abraham Lincoln High School.

• In the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, David the boy robot and Teddy the mechanized bear travel to the flooded ruins of Coney Island in a submersible (Coney Island, as well as the entire Manhattan area, is now at the bottom of the ocean because of global warming). Just when David finds a sculpture of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and starts praying to it to turn him into a real boy, the Wonder Wheel collapses on top of them, trapping them for the next two-thousand years.

• Coney Island figures prominently in the 1989 film version of Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel Enemies, a Love Story, directed by Paul Mazursky.

• Coney Island is a location in Darren Aronofsky's first two films, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, specifically Brighton Beach for the latter. Darren Aronofsky grew up in neighboring Brighton Beach Brooklyn.

• Coney Island has a reputation both locally and nationally for producing outstanding basketball players. A number of accomplished basketball players hail from Coney Island, including Stephon Marbury, currently playing for the New York Knicks and Sebastian Telfair of the Boston Celtics. Telfair was one of the top high school players in the country and one of the last to make the jump directly to the NBA. His life in Coney Island is the subject of the documentary film Through the Fire. Telfair and Marbury happen to be cousins. Additionally, Spike Lee's 1998 film He Got Game, a fictional story about the struggles of a top high school basketball player, was set in Coney Island, further cementing the neighborhood in basketball lore.

• Coney Island will be portrayed in the film Last Days of Coney Island, directed by Ralph Bakshi.

• Coney Island is the setting for the film Lord of War.

• A Coney Island amusement park is the setting of the Rhedosaurus' last stand in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

• In the 1973 Peter Bogdanovich film Paper Moon, Moses Prey (played by Ryan O'Neal) tells Addie (played by Tatum O'Neal) to "Eat your Coney Island and drink your Nehi".

• In Uptown Girls (2003), Coney Island was featured as the childhood runaway home of Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy). It was also the place where she took Ray Schleine (Dakota Fanning), to go on the spinning tea cups to get away from all the problems in life.

• In the 1953 independent film Little Fugitive the title character spends his day on Coney Island after thinking he has killed his brother.

Literature

• "A Coney Island of the Mind" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a classic collection of poems from the Beat era inspired, somewhat, by Coney Island.

• The Warriors by Sol Yurick is the 1965 novel that the 1979 movie with the same name (see above) was based upon.

• Samantha at Coney Island by "Josiah Allen's Wife" (Marietta Holley), 1911, was a popular young-adult novel in the early 20th century.

• Coney Island features prominently in Joseph Heller's novel, Closing Time.

• Coney Island Wonder Stories, edited by Robert J. Howe and John Ordover, 2005, contains science fiction and fantasy stories set in Coney Island throughout its history, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Steven Popkes, Maureen McHugh, Mike Resnick, J. R. Dunn, Kij Johnson, Paul Levinson, and other writers.

• In It's Like This, Cat, Dave and Cat go to Coney Island in a chapter.

• In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby invites Nick to go to Coney Island after his meeting with Jordan Baker.

• In "Coney" by Amram Duchovny, a tale about 1930's Coney Island as told from the perspective of a 15 year old Jewish boy as he relates his interactions with his family, the group of freaks from Coney's sideshow, the midget who owns the bike shop on the boardwalk, the wheelchair crime boss with arson on his mind, and many other colorful characters from this historic Brooklyn landmark.

• Poem "Coney Island" by Jose Martí in 1881

In slang

• "Coney Island Whitefish" is a slang term for used condoms.

• "Coney Island" is a slang term used for a style of chili hot dog topped with a dry meaty chili, then mustard and sweet onions, common in Michigan. Restaurants that serve these are commonly called "Coney Island Restaurants". An example^[10] would be "Gillie's Coney Island Restaurants" in Flint Michigan or National Coney Island of Roseville, Michigan.

In song

• The Excellents, a vocal group out of Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, recorded the doo wop classic, "Coney Island Baby," in 1962.

• Lou Reed's 1976 seventh studio album is entitled Coney Island Baby after a different song, his own, by the same name.

• Tom Waits has yet another song called "Coney Island Baby," on his 2002 album Blood Money. He also mentions Coney Island in his songs "Table Top Joe" from the album Alice (also released in 2002) and "Take It With Me" from the 1999 album Mule Variations.

• "Coney Island Steeplechase" is featured on the Velvet Underground album Another View.

• "Coney Island" is a song by Death Cab for Cutie from their 2001 release, The Photo Album.

• "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)" is a song by Aerosmith, released on their 1979 album, Night in the Ruts.

• "Coney Island Whitefish" is a song by Joan Jett.

• Coney Island is mentioned in the Ramones song "Oh Oh I Love Her So" from the 1977 album Leave Home

• Coney Island is mentioned in Sleep, a song by the Canadian band Godspeed You! Black Emperor from their seminal album Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. The track opens with an elderly man reminiscing about Coney Island in its heyday, specifically sleeping on the beach, presumably with his friends.

• Coney Island is referenced throughout the avant-garde hip-hop lyricist Aesop Rock's career, most notably his Daylight EP where he muses, "I keep my ghoul spirit concealed, until the warriors return to the Coney Isle Wonder Wheel"

• Coney Island is mentioned in a song by Fountains Of Wayne on their 1999 album Utopia Parkway called "Red Dragon Tattoo" about a boy going to Coney Island to get a tattoo to impress a girl.

• Coney Island is mentioned by They Might Be Giants in a list of New York City attractions in the song "New York City".

• Van Morrison performed a song titled "Coney Island", but that song refers to the Coney Island in County Down in Northern Ireland, where he spent some time on holiday.

• The band Franz Ferdinand mentions the "Coney Island rollercoaster" in their song "Eleanor, Put Your Boots On" from their second album You Could Have It So Much Better.

• Phish marked the beginning of its last tour with two shows on Coney Island. A recording of the first night, June 17, 2004, has been turned into a DVD box set entitled, Phish: Live in Brooklyn.

• Coney Island is mentioned in the 1920s song routine "Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean" in the last verse of the second song:

Mr Shean, Mr Shean.
I have made that trip so I know just what you mean.
But there's one light that shines so bright,
It's the brightest light in sight!
Statue of Liberty, Mr Gallagher?
CONEY ISLAND, Mister Shean!"

• The American Horrorcore-Rapper Necro says in his song "I Need Drugs":

I could go on forever mixing dope with my methadone dosage.
You could find me at Brighton Beach or Coney Island
Or Rikers Island.
My crack pipe's my violin.

On TV

• A character in the HBO special Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground rides The Cyclone while waiting for his date, only to be beaten up in the Coney Island subway station by her actual boyfriend afterwards.

• Jerry and a naked subway rider (Ernie Sabella) take a trip to Coney Island in an episode of Seinfeld.

• In Futurama, Fry is shown in a flashback to have attended "Coney Island College," which was little more than an attraction on the midway. Remembering his college days, Fry declares, "Good Old Coney Island College - Go Whitefish!"

• In The Simpsons, a song titled "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" is one of the songs performed by Homer when he was a member of the barber-shop quartet "The Be Sharps".

• Coney Island is often shown in episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series as a famous New York landmark and as a background for some scenes, like the first of kiss of a main character.

• In the Super Mario World cartoon episode Mama Luigi, King Koopa is said to, in Mario's words, "[have] the Princess locked up in his Coney Island Disco Palace," which has the appearance of a neon-covered fortress.

• On Ugly Betty, Coney Island is the place the Meade family went to on birthdays when Daniel and Alex were young.

See also

• Transportation to Coney Island

References

• Library of Congress New Netherland Website Lists Conyne Eylandt as Dutch name for Coney Island.
• "De Nieu Nederlandse Marcurius", Volume 16, No. 1: February 2000. This is the newsletter of the New Netherland Project. Cites New Netherland map labeling "Conyne Eylandt" in 1639 Johannes Vingboon map

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