At the southern tip of Brooklyn, a strip of sand the Dutch named after rabbits became the world's first great playground for the masses. Here the sausage in a bun was popularized, some of America's first roller coasters were built, and millions of workers discovered that leisure could be bought for a nickel. Twelve stops between the gate of private Sea Gate, the beach where it all began, the restaurant covered in sea creatures, the parachute tower of Steeplechase, the station of the Nickel Empire, Nathan's hot dog stand, the wheel that swings, the glittering park of the Moon, the 1927 wooden roller coaster, the aquarium on the ashes of Dreamland, the beach of crowded Sundays and the Little Odessa of Brighton Beach. Approximate audio duration: 22 minutes.
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Coney Island: la playa que inventó el entretenimiento masivo
En la punta sur de Brooklyn, una franja de arena que los holandeses llamaron isla de los conejos se convirtió en el primer gran parque de diversiones de masas del mundo. Acá se popularizó la salchicha en pan, se construyeron algunas de las primeras montañas rusas de Estados Unidos y millones de obreros descubrieron que el ocio podía comprarse por un níquel. Doce paradas entre el portón del barrio privado de Sea Gate, la playa donde empezó todo, el restaurante decorado con criaturas marinas, la torre de paracaídas de Steeplechase, la estación del imperio del níquel, el puesto de salchichas de Nathan, la rueda que se balancea, el parque iluminado de la Luna, la montaña rusa de madera de 1927, el acuario sobre las cenizas de Dreamland, la playa de los domingos multitudinarios y la pequeña Odesa de Brighton Beach. Duración aproximada de audio: 22 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~22 min of audio · 5.84 km on foot (~1 h 30 min walking) · about 2 h in total
You are standing at the gate of Sea Gate, where Surf Avenue comes to an end. Beyond it lie houses with gardens, quiet streets and a security booth. It is a private community, one of very few in New York, and you cannot enter without an invitation.
This western corner of Coney Island was known as Norton's Point. In the 1870s and 1880s it had a terrible reputation: gambling houses, illegal prize fights and prostitution. The whole area earned the nickname Sodom by the Sea.
At the end of the nineteenth century, investors bought the point and turned it into a residential enclave for well-off fami…
2
The Island of Rabbits
Look at the sand and the open Atlantic. You are at the western end of Coney Island's beach, which runs almost five kilometres to the east. Before the parks, before the lights, this was just dunes and grassland.
The name almost certainly comes from Dutch. The settlers of New Amsterdam called it Conyne Eylandt, Rabbit Island, after the animals that swarmed among the dunes. Before them, the Lenape came here to fish and gather shellfish.
And it was a real island. A creek separated it from the rest of Brooklyn. During the twentieth century much of that channel was filled in, and today Coney Islan…
3
The Boardwalk and the Restaurant of Sea Monsters
You are on the boardwalk, the great promenade of wooden planks running alongside the sea. Look at the white building on the landward side, covered in colourful figures: fish, shells, ships, the god Neptune.
The boardwalk opened in 1923. It runs about four kilometres, from Sea Gate to Brighton Beach, and is more than twenty metres wide. It bears the name of Edward Riegelmann, the Brooklyn borough president who pushed the project through.
Before it, the shoreline was cluttered with piers, bathhouses and private businesses reaching down to the water. To build it, the city widened the beach with…
4
Steeplechase and the Parachute Tower
Look up. That red steel tower, about seventy-six metres high, is the Parachute Jump. Today it stands still, but for nearly thirty years it hoisted people seated beneath a parachute and let them drop, guided by cables.
It was not born here. It was built for the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens. When the fair closed it was moved to Coney Island, and in 1941 it began operating inside Steeplechase Park.
Steeplechase was the first of Coney Island's three great parks. George C. Tilyou opened it in 1897. Its star attraction was a race of mechanical horses on rails, where visitors competed again…
5
The Nickel Empire
In front of you is the Stillwell Avenue terminal, the end of four subway lines. It is one of the largest terminal stations in the world, and it was rebuilt in the early 2000s with a roof covered in solar panels.
This station is key to understanding Coney Island. The subway lines reached here around 1920. And the fare was five cents, a nickel, from anywhere in the city.
That changed everything. Before, the trip by train or boat cost more and the beach was an occasional outing. With the subway, a working family from the Lower East Side or the Bronx could reach the sea for pocket change, any Su…
6
Nathan's and the Hot Dog War
Look at the green and yellow sign of Nathan's Famous, on the corner of Surf and Stillwell. This stand has operated on the same spot since 1916.
But the story of the hot dog at Coney Island starts earlier. Charles Feltman, a German immigrant, was selling hot sausages in a roll from a cart from the late 1860s. Many credit him as the first to serve the hot dog this way, although other places also claim the title.
What is certain is that Feltman got rich. His restaurant grew to fill almost an entire block, with dining halls, gardens and a carousel. He sold his sausages for ten cents.
Nathan Han…
7
The Wheel That Swings
There it is: the Wonder Wheel, Coney Island's great wheel. It stands about forty-six metres tall and has been running since 1920. Look closely at the cars, because they do not all move the same way.
Of its twenty-four cars, eight are fixed to the rim, as on any Ferris wheel. The other sixteen ride on curved rails running towards the centre. As the wheel turns, those cars suddenly slide and swing out into the air.
It was designed by Charles Hermann and built by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company of New Jersey. It was assembled between 1918 and 1920 and opened to the public on 30 May 1920, Mem…
8
Luna Park, the City of Electric Light
You are on Surf Avenue, in front of today's Luna Park, opened in 2010. But the name is much older. Across the avenue, between 8th and 12th Streets, stood the original Luna Park from 1903, the park that made Coney Island world famous.
It was created by two showmen, Frederic Thompson and Elmer Dundy. They had scored a hit with a ride called A Trip to the Moon at an exposition in Buffalo in 1901. They named their park after it, and it opened on 16 May 1903.
Luna Park was a fantasy city of towers, minarets and domes. At night it was lit by hundreds of thousands of electric bulbs. For many visito…
9
The Cyclone, the 1927 Roller Coaster
Look at that structure of white beams and track twisting above the corner. It is the Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster that has been running since 26 June 1927. Listen to the clatter of the cars climbing the first hill.
The first drop is about twenty-six metres, at an angle of nearly sixty degrees. The cars reach about ninety-five kilometres an hour. For its time, it was one of the most intense roller coasters in the world.
Coney Island had history here. In 1884, LaMarcus Thompson installed the Switchback Railway, regarded as the first roller coaster in the United States. It was a gentle ride…
10
The Aquarium on the Ashes of Dreamland
You are in front of the New York Aquarium, the oldest continuously operating aquarium in the United States. It opened in 1896 in Manhattan, in the old fort of Castle Clinton, and moved to this site in 1957.
But this ground holds another story. Here stood Dreamland, the third of Coney Island's great parks. It was opened in 1904 by William H. Reynolds, a real estate developer and former state senator, to compete with Luna Park.
Dreamland set out to be bigger, whiter and more luxurious. It had a central tower more than a hundred metres high, palatial buildings and shows recreating disasters suc…
11
The Beach of a Million People
You are back on the boardwalk, looking at the beach. On a weekday it may seem wide and quiet. Now picture it without a single inch of free sand, covered in umbrellas, towels and bodies all the way to the water.
That image exists. In July 1940, the photographer Weegee captured from above a crowd so dense the sand could not be seen. It is one of the most famous photographs of New York.
It is often said that a million people a day came here in the early twentieth century. That is not accurate. In those years, summer Sundays might bring hundreds of thousands. The figures of a million appear late…
12
Brighton Beach, Little Odessa
You are on Brighton Beach Avenue, beneath the elevated subway tracks. Look at the signs: many are in the Cyrillic alphabet. Bakeries, grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants advertise in Russian.
This neighbourhood is called Little Odessa. From the 1970s onwards, tens of thousands of immigrants from the Soviet Union arrived here, most of them Jewish, many from Odessa, the Ukrainian port on the Black Sea. They found a beach that reminded them of home.
The neighbourhood's name comes from another era. In 1878, William Engeman built a grand seaside hotel here and named it Brighton Beach, afte…
How long does the "Coney Island: The Beach That Invented Mass Entertainment" audio tour take?
It has about 22 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 5.84 km walking route (~1 h 30 min on foot). Plan roughly 2 h in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "Sea Gate, the Island's Gated End" (coordinates 40.5762, -74.005). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open New York and pick "Coney Island: The Beach That Invented Mass Entertainment". No account required to start.
