Helen Zelon

Published in: New York Magazine’s website

One of the city’s last great outposts of urban decay, Coney Island’s current resurgence began in the mid-eighties, with the efforts of Dick Zigun and the Coney Island Hysterical Society to preserve and restore the landmark neighborhood. But this beachfront is far more than an archivist’s trove. It’s a thriving nexus all summer long, as crowds upward of 10,000 a day throng the beaches and boardwalk. Three seasons a year, bus- and train-loads of eager locals and international tourists flock to the thrill rides that line the boardwalk–from the famous, wood-track Cyclone to the double-ring Wonder Wheel. While some may find the area a bit tacky, developers envision Coney Island’s glitz-and-glamour reinvention, complete with four-star hotels, a water park, a tourist-ferrying dirigible, and an extravagantly restored boardwalk with retail outlets to rival Vegas. But it’s the simple, tactile charms of today’s manifestation that make it hard to resist: the scent of corndogs, the rasping call of the carny barkers, and the white-noise thump of the breaking surf on the beach.

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