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Coney Island


The park was an immediate success. Dreamland amusement park opened on May 14, 1904 on 15 acres of land seaward of Luna Park, across Surf Avenue. Ex-Senator Reynold and his associates built it at a cost of $3,500,000. While most of its attractions were copied from Luna Park, it did have some original ones like Midget City and the Haunted Swing. In the beginning it attracted enormous crowds, but most visitors found the park's cultural and architectural pretensions dull. They preferred to go to Luna Park. Dreamland burned the night of May 27, 1911 just hours before it was scheduled to open for the season. Samuel Gumpertz opened his Dreamland Circus Sideshow along the Surf Avenue after the fire on the old dreamland sit. He displayed a collection of "human oddities; midgets, giants, bearded ladies, fat ladies, skeleton man, albinos, legless men and women, pinheads, and even a Bentoc head-hunting chief"(website). The freak show began in a tent almost from the day after the fire, but Gumpertz soon built a permanent structure. It was a rousing success. .
             In 1920's the subway's expansion to Coney Island and its nickel fare brought millions of visitors to New York City's nearest beach. The Wonder Wheel, one of the Coney Island's landmark attractions, was installed along the Boarded near W. 8th. Its 130 foot diameter wheel carried 150 people in 24 cars. While 8 cars were stationary, 16 cars slid from the inner wheel to the outer wheel and back while it turned. The first section of Coney Island's boarded, stretching for half the length of the resort, opened. Its wooden planked boardwalk was 80 feet wide and cost $3,000,000. After the summer season ended, Surf Avenue, the Bowery, and several alleys near the Bowery leading to the boardwalk were widened for better fire fighting access. 175 buildings and attractions including Ben Hur Raace, Rocky Road to Dublin (both coasters), Stauch's Resturant, and Henderson's Dance hall were razed to make room for improvement.


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