I had been in Coney Island all day with the Hot Dog Eating Contests’ at Nathan’s in the morning and just walking around the amusement area and the Boardwalk. It was a perfect day to be in Coney Island. The Boardwalk and the beach area by the amusements were packed with people. I got to see Miki Sudo defend her title and then the return of Joey Chestnut and his return to claim the crown again. That was a lot of fun.
I had gotten there in time to watch the entertainment before the competitions. This is why it is fun to come early. Plus you want to get a good viewing location.
Video of the entertainment at 9:45am. You have to get here early to see everything.
By the late afternoon, I had toured the whole area and visited the Aquarium. After a long walk on the Boardwalk and beach I wanted to head home. I had gotten so much sun and must have walked two miles in the sun. I took a long walk along the shore and walked through the waves to cool down. The water felt fantastic.
Enjoying a long walk along Coney Island’s famous beach
I passed Nathan’s where the contest had taken place hours before and it still had lines of people waiting to get their delicious hot dogs and French fries. The sign was up from the contest earlier in the day.
The sign just outside of Nathan’s
Nathan’s in the late afternoon
My blog on the Nathan’s Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest:
Once I got on the subway, I started to get hungry again. I thought, why not just get some dumplings in Chinatown before I head home. I could tell that the tourist season was really in swing as Chinatown was packed with people. I realized that I really didn’t want just dumplings but a full meal. I know where I wanted to go so I headed to Wonton Noodle Garden on 23 Pell Street (not to be confused with the one on Mott Street) for dinner.
Mei Lai Wah/Wonton Noodle Garden at 23 Pell Street
I have been enjoying both restaurant locations since 1978. I took the advice from the waiter and ordered the General Tso’s Chicken and an order of the House Fried Rice., which is a ten ingredient dish. The meal was excellent and was the perfect way to end the afternoon.
My meal that night General Tso’s Chicken with an order of House Fried Rice
The General Tso’s Chicken
The House Fried Rice
What an excellent meal
After dinner, I noticed crowds of people walking south down Catherine Street towards the Brooklyn Bridge area. I had thought that the fireworks were on the other side of the island but they were on the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, so I decided to stay and watch the fireworks. I had not planned on doing this but it was a nice evening and I thought it would be fun to see the fireworks again. I had not seen them live since 1994. What a show when it got dark!
Walking down Catherine Street in Chinatown just below Canal Street
The crowds gathering just as it was getting dark
Then the fireworks began around 9:30pm
The crowds were packing in just as the fireworks started. It was such a fantastic display. Some people got really rude as they pushed themselves and their families through as the fireworks were going on. Thank God I am so much taller than most people because I could see them from the fence in the park.
The display started at the top of the Brooklyn Bridge
New York City still leads the holidays
It just started to dazzle everyone from where we were standing
It was dazzling for the next forty-five minutes
Here is a preview of that evening as the fireworks really got started
The middle of the display
The grandest part of the show
Then started the finale
The finale
I read recently that the residents from Brooklyn were put through hell trying to see the fireworks. That was pretty sad to hear considering this is one of the free events in the City that people anticipate and I heard the lines were like chaotic. I had just walked into the Public Housing parking lot and stood my ground. I was not moving from the spot by the fence.
Chinatown after the fireworks display was over
Chinatown at the end of the evening.
The Brooklyn Bridge at the end off the evening
It was the perfect day and the perfect night what a way to end the evening. This is why I love New York City so much!
Check the Macy’s website and get to the location at least an hour before it gets dark. Then plant yourself in your location because last minute people will try to squeeze their way in front of you.
I came across this interesting museum/gallery when I was walking around Coney Island. The museum is a few small rooms located in one of the buildings in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. The museum is not related to the Coney Island Museum on Surf Avenue.
The small gallery space has a wealth of information and some interesting artifacts on Coney Island’s history both past and present.
The main room had artifacts and pictures of Coney Island’s past amusement history. There were many photo’s of the old parks, especially Steeplechase Park before its closing in 1965. It shows its development, growth and changes after the 1907 fire that destroyed the park.
There was all sorts of artifacts from that time as well as the former Astroland that was replaced by the new Luna Park. If you know the history of Coney Island, this can fascinating to read.
The second room had the later history when the Island’s amusements fell into disrepair and the whole island seemed to fall apart. The pictures show a very run down Coney Island.
The outside pictures show Coney Island in its heyday when during the 1930’s and 40’s before and during WWII, the island being a place of relief for so many New Yorker’s especially the working class.
The inside of the gallery
The main gallery
The Steeplechase Exhibition
Coney Island in ruin in the 1970’s
The history of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park
The display outside the museum
The mechanical display that sings and dances
The Miss Coney Island robot is a throwback to old technology and campy robotics that is fun to watch. For a quarter, you can take an interesting video with this robot.
The Deno’s Map of the park
The history of the park
The History of the Museum:
(From the Coney Island Historical Coalition website)
The Coney Island History Project’s 2025 exhibition center season begins Memorial Day Weekend with a combination of free indoor and outdoor exhibits. Visitors to the exhibition center are invited to take free souvenir photos with Coney Island’s only original Steeplechase horse, from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name, and the iconic Cyclops head from Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park’s Spook-A-Rama, Coney Island’s oldest dark ride.
The real Midway
I took pictures after the Mermaid Parade and showed how busy the amusement section was that day. There is so much potential to update the amusements and modernize the area with new rides and concessions. There is so much that can be done here. I already see new luxury apartment buildings being built and the revamping of the main shopping drag.
I have to admit that I have had a love affair with Coney Island since my first trip there at four years old. My parents took us there with our cousins in 1974 and I still remember my first Nathan’s hot dog and crinkle cut fries (which still taste the same fifty years later). I still remember riding Deno’s Haunted Mansion ride (I rode it three years ago and it was still the same cheesy ride) and I always remember all the times I have dipped my feet into that polluted beach (I have only swum on it once). I even wrote my senior paper in both high school and Grad School at NYU on Luna Park with a group of apathetic classmates, some of whom made me do all the work. Yet I still come back for more.
I had not attended the Mermaid Parade since the late 1990’s and had wanted to come back but it was one thing after another just to get down here that weekend. I had to plan it like D-Day almost two months in advance. I started my day early I was finishing my walk of the Avenues of lower Chelsea (this is on a separate blog) and all my classwork, housework and bills were already finished, so my day was open.
The poster for the Mermaid Parade this year
I left early for the City and started my day with breakfast at 9th Avenue Deli at 769 Ninth Avenue, one of my favorite late-night places that also makes a wonderful breakfast. It’s been all about the pictures recently when dining out, so I needed a picture of their special French Toast platter. They make it so good.
The French Toast Platter at 9th Avenue Gourmet Deli is the best
Everything I have ever ordered here has been terrific and the prices are so fair. The platters can feed two people easily and their cooks do such a good job especially at breakfast.
They make enough food for two people to share
I figured a large breakfast would keep me going for the rest of the day. They give you four large slices of French Toast, two Scrambled eggs and four pieces of bacon. It was a great breakfast and enjoyed the meal. I was fine through dinner.
I took the Q express outside of Macy’s Herald Square and got down to Coney Island by noon. I had already checked out the parade route and settled by the Cyclone Roller Coaster and the entrance of Luna Park, far away from the subway entrance. The best part of being by Luna Park you got to see the parade as it turned to the Boardwalk. Plus, I wanted to visit the Aquarium later that afternoon.
Looking down Surf Avenue before the parade
Surf Avenue by the Coney Island Museum and other amusements
The entrance of Luna Park on Surf Avenue before
In some ways, the parade reminded me of the Halloween Parade with all its craziness. The energy level and the excitement just build as the parade starts. The initial part of the parade was the police and the fire departments making a big entrance with all the bells and whistles. They brought a lot of excitement to the start of the parade.
The video of the beginning of the parade with the NYPD and the FDNY opening the parade.
Then a group of skaters followed them and got the crowd all excited as they skated past us. The kids were going nuts over this.
The video of everyone was cheering the skaters when they performed down the street.
About twenty minutes later, the opening of the parade started with music, cheers and well wishes. Stupid me had the perfect view and I didn’t turn my camera on while I was filming the beginning of the parade. This video captures the excitement of the parade as it started.
The video of the start of the parade
I was able to catch my mistake and film the rest. Still the excitement built and it was a grand opening of the parade. The performers and drag queens brought so much creativity and excitement to the beginning of the parade.
The video of the opening of the parade
The costumes and make up were amazing.
The parade turning on Tenth Street right by the Cyclone, which was running every ten minutes with people screaming all the time.
The costumes and floats gave the parade a Carnival atmosphere.
The costumes were fantastic
Everyone really got into it.
Some revelers got really creative
All the floats were so full of energy and the music was great!
Revelers dancing on the floats
The parade goers dancing by the floats were having such a good time on this beautiful day
Mermaids dancing down Surf Avenue
The Jellyfish on display
The Jellyfish dance on Surf Avenue was so much fun.
All I could think about was Shirley Temple singing the “Codfish Ball” when she was a toddler. Funny enough, I think Shirley Temple would have loved this parade.
“At the Cod Fish Ball” with Shirley Temple
The parade continued on with all sorts of dance teams, drum bands and costumed people walking down Surf Avenue. The crowds really swelled as the parade went on and it was tough to maneuver for elbow room.
By the middle of the parade, the crowds kept growing.
The costumes got more and more elaborate. I did not remember the parade like this but then a lot has changed in thirty years. You could tell that people put a lot of thought into their outfits.
A purple octopus leading assorted sea creatures down Surf Avenue
A sea of mermaids
The NY Aquarium had an interesting float
Followed by an assortment of fish
The video of one of the drum lines. It looked like they were having so much fun.
More mermaids walking down the street
Greeting the parade goers
Performances with the Hula Hoop
Jugglers
More mermaids walking down the street
The mermaids greeting parade goers
More bands and costumes
The floats got very elaborate
A video of the puppets joining the parade and led by the L Train band. This reminded me so much of the Halloween Parade in the Village on Halloween Night. It was our version of Mardi Gras!
Some of the Mermaid costumes were so creative
Whole families really dressed up for this
Towards the end of the parade, the energy just got bigger as the party continued to the Boardwalk.
The last of the floats coming down Surf Avenue
This video of the drum line led us down the Surf Avenue and up to the Boardwalk for the ‘Unlocking of the Sea’ ceremony.
The floats had to turn off on Surf Avenue and 12th Street, but the marchers made their way to the Boardwalk and the partying and music continued to make its way down to the Parachute Drop where the ‘Unlocking of the Sea’ would take place. This would open the beaches for the Summer Season (the Summer Equinox was the day before)
I had enough time to grab a Pineapple-Lime ice, and it was the best $5.00 I spent my money on. It cooled me inside and out. These ices vendors have the best desserts!
The parade continued down the Boardwalk to the beach
A video of these festive Mermaids, ‘The Tail Shakers’, who led the way down the Boardwalk who energized the crowds. This is when you have to stop letting the ills of the world get you down and just have fun! With all the craziness going on in the world this was such a fun distraction. Our part of the world was having so much fun. ‘1999’ was such an ironic song for this moment!
The parade led to the Parachute Drop and the Steeplechase Pier where the rest of the service took place at 4:00pm. The ‘Unlocking of the Sea’ was an old tradition on Coney Island. It was to open the beaches at the beginning of the Summer and since the Solstice was the night before this was the first full day of summer. There are old pictures had King Neptune and Miss Coney Island opening the beaches in Coney Island’s past. All I know is that the lifeguard had to keep shooing the crowds away as the excitement built at the cermony.
The key to ‘Unlock the Beaches’
The key and the bands approaching the sea
The Key Ceremony led by the bands
The ‘Sea Unlocking’ at the beach with the beach bathing beauties.
The ceremony was a mob scene and as soon as the ‘unlocking’ was over the crowds started to disperse. This was much to the relief of the poor lifeguard, who must have been glad we were gone.
After the ceremony was over, I walked around Coney Island to get something to eat. Talk about crowded! There were lines everywhere and forget about Nathan’s. The lines were still thirty deep in every direction. Even the little pizzeria by the subway jacked all their prices up and a pizzeria on Neptune Avenue would not let you eat inside. I did not want to be ripped off that afternoon for a meal. I was going to stop in Chinatown on the way back into Manhattan, but I wanted to stay in Coney Island longer, so I explored beyond the area off the Boardwalk.
I finally found a new Chinese restaurant that opened a block from the beach on the Coney Island shopping strip on Neptune Avenue called Famous Rotisserie & Grill at 1525 Mermaid Avenue.
Walking around the Midway trying to find something to eat but every place was packed with people or the prices had been inflated.
Famous Rotisserie & Grill at 1525 Mermaid Avenue was once a Spanish Chicken restaurant
I had a combination platter of their version of Lemon Chicken and Pork Fried rice. The food was good, and the portion size was large. It fit what I was looking for that afternoon (after I had finished, I wished I had gone to Chinatown).
The Lemon Chicken and Pork Fried Rice combination platter
The food was good and they give you a nice portion size for $10.00.
The inside of the restaurant
Their current menu and prices
The one thing that stood out about this late lunch/early dinner was the service. The woman who ran this restaurant was so friendly and accommodating to her customers I was really amazed by it. She catered more to the local resident than to tourist trade.
After lunch was over, I took one more walk around the amusement area before I left for the day. The crowds were still all over the place from the restaurants to the boardwalk. Between the parade, the beach and the weather, it was wall to wall people everywhere. By this point the Aquarium had closed.
While walking through Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, I came across the small museum, the Coney Island History Project at 3059 West 12th Street, which is inside the park. This small gallery tells the history of the development of Coney Island as an amusement area. From its development to its decline to its current rebirth, the area has had so many ups and downs.
This interesting little gallery/museum tells the stories of various times of Coney Island’s history. The museum displays a variety of artifacts in different points of the island’s history (I have attached several videos that will best explain each section of the museum and of the island’s history).
The outside display of Coney Island in its heyday in the early 1940’s
The front gallery with amusement artifacts
These pieces of former rides show the creativity of Coney Island rides and attractions. This is the nostalgia that visitors remember.
The history of Steeplechase Park, the second major amusement park after Sea Lion Park
Steeplechase Park of the past, the Steeplechase ride for which the park was named after
The history of Steeplechase Park and Luna Park of the past
Coney Island of the 1970’s and decline of the island
This video from the 1970’s contains many of the artifacts that the museum now has on display
The video from the movie “The Warriors” which what many thought Coney Island had turned into in the 1970’s.
Many thought the island of the movie ‘The Warriors’ in the 1970’s and that was not far off but like the rest of New York City, it keeps morphing and changing. It keeps surprising you. Trust me, it is not a Disney theme park.
The history of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park
The Miss Coney Island robot that dances.
Outside of the museum, there were murals on the history of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park.
The history of the park
The map of the park
As I left the island around 6:30pm, it was time to go. The Freak Bar at Coney Island USA was in full force with revelers after the parade. It looked like everyone was having a good time.
I took one last walk down the Boardwalk at twilight. Coney Island is a pretty amazing place. It still has complexities and wonders. It can be seen from many different aspects. I see the wonder that generations have seen here. Coney Island is not just a place, it’s an idea of the mid and an imagine. While it might never reach the heights it did before the Dreamland Fire of 1911, each generation has their Coney Island memories. I know I do.
Coney Island Boardwalk at the end of the day
CBS This Morning: ‘The People’s Playground’
The day was a lot of fun, and you have to experience Coney Island once in your life if you are from out of town.
I have been coming to Coney Island since 1970 and I have to say that it is still has a grittiness to it even while other parts of Brooklyn have been under hyper gentrification. There may be lots of building going on around the amusement area but still there is a feeling of edginess to it around each corner and as you leave Surf Avenue to walk the side streets.
Arriving in Coney Island in the morning for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
I had to leave the house early to take the bus and then the subway to Coney Island. The internet said that the Women’s Contest started at 10:30am and I wanted to get in the viewing area before that. Thank God, the City was quiet and both the bus and subway were right there when I needed them. Talk about timing.
I lucked out for the hot dog eating contest. I thought it was going to be cloudy all day and it ended up being a very sunny and pleasant morning when I got there. The crowds had not been that big when I arrived so I got a good spot near the stage that was perfect for taking pictures. The only problem was the women’s contest did not start until 11:00am. The entertainment was very good and kept the crowd engaged.
The band kept everyone pumped before the contest began:
I got close to the stage and being tall I was still able to get great pictures and view the contest up close. Trust me when I say that people take this contest very seriously and there is a lot of pomp and circumstance to all of this. Last year’s female winner, Miki Sudo, the woman from Japan and the 2021 winner all looked very determined to win this year. These woman had looks on their faces (and I mean all of them as I was close enough to all of them when they announced their names) that they were there to win!
Nathan’s was the place to be on the 4th of July
The MC for Nathan’s, George Shea, has been doing this for a long time and I could tell took this contest just as seriously as the contestants. He was just as engaged with the crowd as he was with the contestants and made sure between the entertainers as well as the contestants had a good time.
The MC for the afternoon George Shea
The MC had started out by saying that Joey Chestnut would not be coming this year because of endorsement he made with an all natural vegetarian hot dog and he did not want a conflict. I read later that you as a contestant must pledge their support to Nathan’s Hot Dogs, which I believe is true. It also opened the contest to a new winner which made the Men’s Division so much more exciting.
After the speeches, announcements and entertainment were over, it was time to eat and they started the Women’s Division first. Most of these women were pretty thin and well-built in their category and most were competitive eaters. Some had won numerous contests that I could never win let alone contemplate ever participating in. What it could do to your health would worry me but that did not take the fun out of the contest.
We started the contest with the National Anthem and these two annoying hot dog mascots who were always in the way of our shots.
Then the Bugaboos came out to perform and work he crowds before the women made their entrance
Then the women came out and their names were announced like prize fighters coming into battle. Some of these women were serious eating champions of things like Mac and cheese and strawberry shortcake. I was impressed as I could never do that.
The women’s Division before the start of the contest
There was a lot of anticipation between the returning champion, Miki Sudo, the Japanese competitor and the 2021 champion. This was serious competition. The top three competitors were going to go at it.
The returning champion thrilled to have won the title again
Reining Champion, Miki Sudo, ate a record 51 hot dogs to keep the Women’s Division title
Winner Miki Sudo giving the crowd a welcoming speech on their support
The women showing great sportsmanship at the end of the contest holding their trophies and the pink belts
Then it was time for the Lemonade Chugging Contest. There was one guy who was the raining champion and he was about 400 pounds. I do not know how anyone could beat him.
The men and women of the Lemonade Chugging contest
Then they were off and running. After it was over one poor guy got so sick they had to delay the men’s competition just to clean up. So they brought back the entertainment and we were delayed by twenty minutes. Once they were cleaned up and reset, they brought out the Men’s competitors like the ladies. Who won what eating contests in the past and the ranks they fell in the world competitions were announced as they entered the stage area.
I have never heard of most of these competitions but these guys won dumpling, mac and cheese, hot peppers and chicken wings like pros. They were also announced like prize fighters and again almost all these guys were in excellent shape.
It was almost a photo finish how it went back and forth in this contest but only one winner prevailed and that was Patrick Bertoletti with 58 hot dogs. The other guys put up the battle but he just steamrolled ahead of the competition.
The winner Patrick Bertoletti holding the flag
The proud winner after the interview holding the ‘Mustard Belt’
After the competition was over, Nathan’s was mobbed with people ready to eat their own hot dogs and I did not feel like dealing with that crowd, so I waited until the crowds died down. I went to walk around the amusement park area and see what was going on there. The place was mobbed with people after the contest and people still arriving to Coney Island by subway.
The crowds on the Midway by Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
People still walked around with their foam Nathan’s hats on around Coney Island
I waited on lunch and took a tour around the amusement area which was mobbed after the contest. Deno’s had lines I had not seen before and families waited patiently to get on the Wonder Wheel and into the Haunted Mansion.
This was just a small glimpse of the growing lines at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park at 3059 West 12th Street
What amazed me was the amount of tourists versus the locals that I saw and heard in the crowds. It is nice to see the tourists rediscover Coney Island again. Even walking along the Midway with the new Luna Park in the distance, it still has that rough feel about it. I sometimes wish they would do more with Surf Avenue as it really does look unattractive. Nothing like the pictures from 1910 when the amusement area was at its peak in Coney Island innovation.
I then made my way to Luna Park, which was a little quieter than Deno’s. I keep thinking is because Deno’s has more adult rides where Luna Park is more geared to kids and families. The space they have in both parks limits both the types of rides they offer and how far they can expand.
We discovered that when my graduate school paper in Customer Relations from NYU on Luna Park discussed these challenges and those of the ‘Harvest Fest’ Halloween event and the first ‘Frost Fest’ during Christmas time. Our group visited the park to experience what Luna Park had to offer:
After taking a walk through both parks and dodging the crowds, I took a walk on the Boardwalk and headed to the aquarium before lunch. I love the characters on the Boardwalk. People were doing everything from barbecuing and selling food to singing, playing disco and salsa music and dancing to showing off their giant snakes (ugh). Everyone was having such a good time on the 4th of July and it showed.
There is nothing like the Coney Island boardwalk
The beach was busy but not as packed as I thought it would be on the 4th of July. I remember seeing pictures of the beach in the 40’s after WWII and there was no place to move. There are some old movies of what Coney Island was like in the 1940’s and 50’s where you could not move on the beach. Even at the turn of the last century with work rules changing, ocean bathing became a new nation phenomenon even in 1904 (how bathing suits have changed!):
Dancing the “Cake Walk” on the beaches of Coney Island
The Coney Island beach started it all. Sun bathing got its start on this beach
Not as busy as I would have thought but the day had not started yet
I headed over to the New York Aquarium for the afternoon. I wanted to see the seal show and walk around the shark tanks again. The aquarium like the rest of the boardwalk was really busy but this was filled with families escaping the heat of the beach and the boardwalk with airconditioned buildings and nautical displays.
The New York Aquarium at 602 Surf Avenue has gotten much better since Hurricane Sandy. The aquarium has upgraded itself since the flood
The New York Aquarium is one of the reasons why I joined the Wildlife Conservatory again. I love the seal shows and walking around the ‘Spineless’ exhibition and watching the jellyfish move around. This aquarium is so different in feel than the Jenkinson Aquarium on my recent visit to Point Pleasant. Just a different set up and way to approach the animals. The first part of the aquarium you enter is the coral reef displays.
The coral reef exhibition at the aquarium shows what a healthy reef should look like in the ocean
The fish passing by in the reef
I got there as the seal show was starting. The seals in the show were both born at the aquarium so they only know life in captivity. Sometimes I think they do have a bit of a New York attitude.
The Seal Show at the New York Aquarium
The show was mobbed with people watching the seals do all sorts of tricks but I could see very disciplined animals just having fun with the crowd. It also gives them a bigger tank to move around in.
The seals know when to ham it up
The seals that live at the aquarium were born here and are native New Yorkers
The seal and his trainer welcoming the crowd
Good communication
The seals perform like pros and react beautifully with their human trainers. There seems to be a real bond here
I think it is an excellent way for humans to understand other mammals
This is one of the best parts of the aquarium to experience on a nice day. The breezes are fantastic, the seals are so talented and the staff take such good care of not just mammals but the performance area, making it comfortable for everyone. You have to see the show at least once.
The view of the aquarium and beach from the top of the theater
Then it was time to visit the Shark Tank exhibition which is the newest part of the aquarium and the most impressive display of wildlife.
The Shark exhibition
I love walking through the Shark halls as you feel like you are in an underwater adventure. The first time I had experienced this was when I was on Sentosa Island in Singapore at their aquarium and that feeling of exploring the deep by walking through it. You can see the sharks swimming on top of you. I am glad they created the same sort of tanks that you can walk through to experience the deep from the bottom looking up.
Experiencing life under water
The thrill of seeing a shark on top of you at a safe distance is a great experience. There is underwater magic going on here.
The underwater magic of the sea
When I arrived at the main tank, that is when I could see the sharks and stingrays up close along with all the colorful fish.
Seeing one of the baby sharks up close
The sharks interacting with the other fish in the tank
The school of sharks in front of us
I walked around the aquarium looking at the penguins home, the coral reef tanks and the ‘Spineless’ tanks with all the unusual jellyfish swimming around.
The jellyfish are so elegant swimming around
They are the most beautiful creature up close but don’t get near those tentacles in real life.
The penguins were milling around themselves in their home as they waited for their feeding. They standed direct and the group of them looked like they knew what time it was for them.
The Penguin home at the aquarium
What I thought was interesting and caught my attention was the nautical artwork the was displayed all over the grounds. The works created by ‘Washed Ashore’, were made of plastic products found in the ocean. It really does show the consciousness we should show to our bodies of water and what we throw into them.
The Angus the Longhorn Fish sculpture sign
The Angus the Longhorn Fish sculpture
Choppers the Tiger Shark sign
The Choppers the Tiger Shark sculpture
The Nora the Salmon sculpture sign
The Nora the Salmon sculpture
These were some of the many sculptures that were dotted around the aquarium. I thought they brought light to how much plastic there is currently in the ocean. I took one tour around the aquarium and then it was back to Nathan’s for a late lunch. I thought at this point the lines would be slowing down. It was still busy even by 3:00pm.
Surf Avenue in the mid afternoon and things are changing fast here
The lines never stopped at Nathan’s at Surf Avenue. The contest ended at 1:00pm but lines on both sides of the restaurant were out the door and when I got in line there were literally thirty people behind me. They were fully staffed and that line went quickly. I was ordered and eating my lunch within ten minutes. The staff worked really hard that day and they got all the customers through the lines very quickly.
The lines at Nathan’s at 1310 Surf Avenue in Coney Island on the 4th of July seemed endless
I love going to Nathan’s. I have been eating here since my first trip here with my cousins in 1974. I still remember what I ordered then, a slice of pizza and a Coke. Since then it has been a hot dog, a medium fries and a Coke.
My Nathan’s meal when visiting Coney Island
I love the crispness of the garlicky hot dog and the crispness of the fries. The fries here are legendary and I remember them winning awards in the 1970’s.
The best lunch on the 4th of July
No wonder people eat these hot dogs by the dozen
The fries are amazing
Williams Candy next door has been a Coney Island institution for years and their windows are filled with all sorts of candy apples and marshmallow treats on a stick.
The crowds kept coming at Nathan’s
What I like about Williams Candy is the assortment and the smells of cotton candy, popcorn and ice cream when you walk in the door.
I was eyeing the candy coated marshmallows but when I realized that the other marshmallows were dipped in the candy coating and then rolled in the sprinkles, I chose the red, white and blue one.
The Marshmallow on a stick at Williams Candy
I can’t tell you how good this is when you bite into it. Between all the sprinkles packed on top and the crunchy candy coating was sugar heaven.
You can’t miss this sugary treat. What a great patriotic dessert!
I now had to work all this off so I went to tour the boardwalk and decided to walk down to Seagate at the end of it. It was an interesting walk. Everything was going on that afternoon. Families were out barbecuing, disco dancing, line dancing and dancing to salsa music. There was a lot of energy on that Boardwalk.
The Boardwalk was jammed that day
With all the talk on the revival of Coney Island, I passed the old parachute jump and it still looks it is going to need a lot of work in the future.
The parachute jump
The funny thing about Coney Island is that it is an island of contrasts. On one hand there is a lot of building going on in the central part of the island with luxury housing being built around the baseball field (where Steeplechase Park once existed) and then you have some of the most dangerous public housing in the City just two blocks west of that. Then at the very end is Seagate, a gated community that seems to keep to itself on the other side of the fence.
I walked to the end of the Boardwalk and back watching families barbecue, dance and having a good time. By the time I got back to the amusement section of the island both the aquarium and the museum were both closed, Nathan’s was still packed and this section of the Boardwalk got busier as people were leaving the beach and wanting to get dinner.
All that walking was making me hungry again as it was getting closer to dinner time. Both Gargiulo’s Italian Restaurant and Totonno’s Pizzeria were both closed for the day and the rest of the restaurants on the Boardwalk were either packed or everything was deep fried and I did not want that after my meal at Nathan’s for lunch so I decided to head back to Manhattan.
I did not know if there would be fireworks on the beach that evening but with the clouds rolling in and the threat of rain, I did not want to get caught in it. The subways were mobbed and the bulk of the people were illegally walking through the emergency doors. I swear nothing changes. No one was watching what people were doing.
When I got back to Manhattan, I did not want to run around looking for a place for a quick dinner. I remembered that there were a few Chinese restaurants by the Port Authority and I stopped at Awesum Dim Sum at 612 Eighth Avenue for quick dinner before I left for home. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for food you don’t equate with the 4th of July.
I love the selection of Dim Sum at the restaurant and ordered a small dinner for myself before I left the City. I had to have the Bacon Wrapped Fried Shrimp, which I was craving, the Scallion Pancakes and the Cream filled buns for dessert. Everything was cooked to order, fresh and was excellent (see TripAdvisor review).
Dinner that night at Awesum Dim Sum, Bacon Wrapped Fried Shrimp, Scallion Pancakes and the Cream Filled Buns
It was a nice change from barbecue foods and since I already had a hot dog for lunch, I thought this would make a great dinner. It was just enough and made the perfect meal. Then I was on my way home. Their Fried Shrimp with Bacon is excellent. The shrimp mixture has a nice sweetness to with the contrasts of the smokiness of the bacon.
The Fried Shrimp with Bacon
The Scallion Pancakes were crisp and had a nice taste especially with the dipping sauce.
The Scallion Pancakes
The Cream Buns were the perfect way to end the meal. They were crisp and sweet on the outside because of the rice dough and rich and creamy on the inside. I thought it was a nice change and a great way to end the day.
The Cream Filled Buns
It really was a nice 4th of July and I really enjoyed my day in Coney Island. I have to admit that the neighborhood is rough when you leave the beach area but like the rest of the City, you just need to watch were you walk and stick to the Boardwalk area, you should be fine. The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is something everyone should experience once.
I had to plan my trip back to Coney Island like D-Day to see the contest again. I had been on the Island recently for the Mermaid Parade and could not believe how fast the 4th of July weekend arrived.
I was so tired from being in the City the day before trying to finish walking Chelsea, going to one of my fellow volunteers Memorial Services at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and then a Jazz Night at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. That on top of posting grades for class, I was pooped from all the running around.
I got off to a late start that morning still tired from running around Brooklyn the night before. By the time I caught the bus at 8:00am and got into the City just before 9:00am, I knew I was behind schedule.
I had planned on having breakfast on 23rd Street at a place I liked but there was not enough time. So I stopped at Villa Pizza inside the Port Authority for a breakfast Stromboli.
Villa Pizza inside the Port Authority
The assortment of Breakfast Stromboli
The breakfast items at a pizzeria
For a chain pizzeria inside a bus terminal, breakfast here was not bad. I had always seen the Breakfast Strombolis in the case and wondered what they tasted like.
My breakfast the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Stromboli with a freshly squeezed orange juice
The Bacon, Egg and Cheese Stromboli
The Breakfast Stromboli
The selection of both breakfast and lunch dishes at Villa Pizza inside
After breakfast was finished I took the Q back down to Coney Island. The subway was packed with people heading to the shore. People got off at all the beach spots and when I got into Stilwell Avenue, Nathan’s was already packed with people trying to get to the stage area. I ended up standing outside the press stage with an ‘Exit’ sign blocking my views of the screen (that’s why there is an exit sign in all of my pictures and videos).
Arriving at Nathan’s as the band was performing
Nathan’s has been in this spot since the 1920’s
The band that had entertained last year
The brass band playing before the contest
The band really got the audience fired up and with some local dance groups performing and then the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ performed, it was time for the contest to begin.
First was the Ladies competition
Miki Suto was defending her crown
She won her record 11th belt
After a series of entertainment, the Men’s Eating Contest started. The crowd went wild when they announced Joey Chestnut’s name. The place went wild.
The crowd was ten times what it was when I got there
The excitement built before the contest
The crowd was all for Joey Chestnut
Then the man of the hour got on stage
The excitement building before the contest
The crowd going crazy during the contest
The crowd was going crazy during the competition
The contest that I could from behind the bleachers
The man of the hour Joey Chestnut won the contest with 70.5 hot dogs. Last year’s winner came in second with 53. Both the Men’s and Women’s winners did not come close to their records. It was not like last year but it still was an exciting contest.
The celebration after the contest was over for the 4th of July
After the contest was over and the winners took their pictures, I wondered around Coney Island and explored the Boardwalk and amusement areas.
There is such an energy in Coney Island on the 4th of July
Walking through Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park
Walking through Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park
The famous Wonder Wheel
The Spook A Rama, my first ride on Coney Island as a kid
The Boardwalk on the 4th of July afternoon
Looking down the Boardwalk from the Aquarium
The beach by the Aquarium
I decided to go to the NY Aquarium before lunch. Every restaurant was a line so I figured to come here first.
I made I in time to see the Sea Lion Show
The Sea Lion Show
The second group of sea lions
The end of the sea lion show
After the Sea Lion Show, I toured the Shark Tanks and walked around the exhibition.
The Shark exhibition
The Shark exhibition
The underwater tanks
After a nice walk around the Aquarium, I was getting hungry and decided on a late lunch at Nathan’s. I figured that the lines would be down at this point and when I got there, it was only a ten minute wait to order.
Arriving back at Nathan’s Famous for lunch
My favorite lunch at Nathan’s, a plain hot dog, medium fries and a Coke
The taste has not changed in fifty years
Yum!
Lunch at Nathan’s is always an experience. You have to share the tables outside when it is busy and you never know who you will be sitting next to for lunch. Some woman parked herself at the table and asked if she could eat with me. I guess I looked safe.
After lunch, I took one last tour around the Boardwalk and Surf Avenue and realized I want to put my feet in the water.
Off went the shoes as I walked along the beach
Even though the beach was crowded with families, it was not the crowds that I saw in old pictures when thousands of people would pack the shore on a summer weekend or holiday. Still to walk these iconic beaches on the 4th of July is quite the experience.
The Coney Island beach on July 4th
I made my way back to the subway and walked along Surf Avenue. It is amazing to see the changes to this area in the last 100 years.
Passing Nathan’s again across from the subway
The sign for the hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s
The Mermaid Parade sign from two weeks ago
It really is a fun experience and you have to add the Hot Dog Eating contest to the bucket of things to experience when you are in New York City.
If you have never visited the Brooklyn Botanical Garden when visiting New York City you are missing a lot. I have been a member of the garden since 2002 and fell in love with walking around the gardens when visiting the Brooklyn Museum next door. It is the most relaxing place to walk around and just think. It is also nice to grab a book, sit under a tree and just relax.
The Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
One of the benefits of membership are the private event nights that the Gardens have for its members. ‘Rose Night’ is one of my favorites. This is when the Crawford Rose Garden and the surrounding rose gardens to the main one are in full bloom and on display. Because the weather has been so hot lately most plants have been blooming about two weeks ahead of their normal schedule.
The entrance to the Cranford Rose Garden on Rose Night 2024
The Cranford Rose Garden
The crowds were large on the night of Rose Night at 2024
The Crawford Rose Garden was no exception as the recent hot weather and two rainstorms put some strain on the rose bushes and some of them were going out of bloom the night of the party. Still the roses were ablaze with color and the fragrant smells of the garden were prevalent all over the garden. The event draws a very large crowd and people were all over the place picnicking and relaxing while listening to a jazz band that was performing inside the cherry trees.
The Glenn Crytzer Quartet performing on Rose Night 2024
The large crowd of members on Rose Night, a private members event
I started my day working at the Soup Kitchen working in the prep kitchen for the morning. They kept me busy making a cucumber and tomato salad and cutting kale for a side dish they were making the next day. One thing I like about working at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen is that the work is never dull. They always keep me busy.
Since I had plenty of time before the event, I decided to take a trip down to Coney Island to explore any changes that were going on in the amusement center. I wanted to visit the New York Aquarium and see the new ‘Shark Tanks’ exhibition and revisit the Coney Island Museum. When I arrived at the beach about 45 minutes later it was beautiful, clear and sunny on Surf Avenue.
The sign welcoming you to Nathan’s
The afternoon started out at Nathan’s at 1310 Surf Avenue for lunch (see review on TripAdvisor). I swear that I eat at Nathan’s in the suburb malls and it never tastes as good as it does in the original restaurant on Coney Island. Be prepared to face the lines for the rest of the summer as beach season approaches.
Their hot dogs and French fries are the best but they do not come cheap. I think this restaurant is getting more and more geared to tourists wanting to visit Coney Island. The hot dog was $4.75 and the French fries were $3.75, which is a little ridiculous considering a pack of their hot dogs are $1.99 and a bag of their frozen French fries are $1.99 on sale at the supermarket.
Their hot dogs are the best
Nathan’s French Fries are best!
Still their hot dogs were delicious. They have a nice garlicky snap to them and are nicely grilled and their French fries are cooked to perfection. It is nice to enjoy your lunch at their outside tables where you can breath in the fresh salt air. After finishing my lunch, I visited the New York Aquarium at 602 Surf Avenue.
The aquarium is finally updating itself as this is the first addition to the park in years. I got there in time before the last sea lion show and that was fun. The ‘Sea Lion Celebration’ as they call it takes place in the summer at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm and 5:30pm. The trainers look like they are having a good time with animals. These sea lions were born and raised at the aquarium so they are used to being around humans. The surprising part is that they act like humans with their responses. Unlike a zoo, these mammals get out and get their exercise. It is an interesting show as they are very talented and seem to enjoy working with the trainers.
I was able to walk through the ‘Ocean Wonders: Sharks!” exhibition before the aquarium closed for the evening. I found it fascinating about the history of sharks and their place in ocean world and where they are on the feeding scale. They hardly care about eating humans and like one of the displays said that ‘Jaws’ gave them a bad wrap. They are bottom dwellers who eat all the things that are ‘left over’ and are a good cleanser for the sea.
The Shark Tanks
We as humans unfortunately over-fish them or with some of the Asian countries, they will cut off the fins of the sharks for meat and then throw them back into the sea where they drown, which I think it the cruelest thing you can do to an animal. Its like being buried alive and the aquarium showed the results of what happens to this fish when it happens.
The last large tank before you leave has several variety of sharks and fish which sets up an almost feeding ecosystem for them and it looks almost graceful watching the sea go by. They even have a small crawl tunnel where you can travel under the fish to see them up close. At the top of the exhibition, they have a new restaurant, ‘Oceanview Bites’.
The tunnel under the tanks
After the aquarium, I visited the Coney Island Museum at 1208 Surf Avenue (See reviews on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com). This is the most underrated museum that covers the history of Coney Island from just being dunes that Walt Whitman read poetry on to the modern day amusement parks to current developments.
The museum covers this history of the three great amusement parks, Steeplechase, Luna and Dreamland Parks especially in their heyday. The amusement area of Coney Island still is considered one of the most innovative in history and most developments in amusement rides took place in Coney Island.
Each room covers a part of the history of Coney Island from its years as a luxury resort, to seaside travel to the island, development of the amusement industry, to modern times and what the new developments might bring to the area. I was lucky enough to meet the curator of the museum, Lisa Mangels-Schaefer, whose family has a rich history on the island as a manufacturer of amusement rides. Her grandfather had manufactured and maintained many of the amusement rides in the park.
As the only two at the museum at the time, she gave me a personal tour of the museum, explaining the many displays and artifacts of the museum. She also told me stories of how her family used to manufacture the amusement rides back at the turn of the last century.
Some of the manufactured items by Ms. Mangels-Schaefer’s family
There are a lot of interesting artifacts at the museum from illuminated post cards to old amusement rides to many nostalgic pictures of the area from various times of history. Each gallery covers another theme of the history of the area. Don’t miss the displays of the amusement rides and the hall of fun house mirrors. For a $5.00, this museum is a real treat.
The Main Gallery of the museum.
After the museum, I walked on the boardwalk for awhile and then just put my feet in the ocean. After a long day of working in the kitchen, it started to catch up to me. It was nice to feel the cool water and breath in the salt air. Coney Island has its problems as I could see but still it is a place to relax and have fun. I just laid on the beach, relaxed and let the sun shine down on me. The view of the Rockaways in the distance is really nice and on a clear sunny day, the views were wonderful.
By 5:00pm, it was time to go back up to the Botanical Garden for the ‘Rose Night’ cocktail party and tours. I was smart taking the Q back as I got off by the back entrance and did not have to face the crowds of the main entrance by the Brooklyn Museum. I got there at the opening at 6:30pm and the place was already mobbed with people. The main part of the gardens by the cherry trees must have had about three hundred people sitting down having their picnic dinner.
The Rose Garden in bloom
The crowds walking through the gardens
While everyone else was conversing on the main lawn, I took the time to walk the gardens and see the Crawford Rose Gardens in bloom. It had been hot over the last two months and all the flowers were blooming two weeks earlier than usual, so a lot of roses had already bloomed and had fallen off the branches due to two recent rainstorms.
The Rose Garden Fountain
Still there were lot of species of roses and many were still at the height of blooming and made a very colorful and fragrant display while touring the paths. Many types of roses had the big blooms and smelled like perfume. Others lined the trellises and created a beautiful display overhead. You really have to take your time to admire the true beauty of the garden which only has about two weeks of blooming.
Crawford Rose Garden inside the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
After I left the Crawford Rose Garden, I walked the back fountain area which had large rose bushes that were all in bloom. The fountain had been cleaned and turned on for the event so it made quite an impression in color and design with the way the rose bushes were growing.
The Fountain in the Summer of 2023
The fountain in the spring of 2025
The Fountain in bloom on Rose Night 2024
For the rest of the evening, I walked all the different garden concepts from the Rock Gardens to the Shakespeare Gardens to the new water recycling gardens that had just been completed. All the tulip, daffodil and magnolia gardens were long gone but still a good memory of visiting a couple of months earlier.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Rock Garden
The Rock Garden on Rose Night 2024
The only problem with the event is that it has gotten so big. When it was much smaller it was more intimate and concentrated in one part of the garden but now there are more members, and it is the first official ‘picnic night’ in the garden so it has gotten crowded.
Walking through the Rock Garden in Sprinv 2025
In the post pandemic years, they stopped making that wonderful ‘rose cocktail’ they used to make for the event and had canned and bottled beverages that were between $8.00 to $12.00 which I thought was a little ridiculous. I know you have to raise money but $8.00 for a non-alcoholic canned beverage.
In 2024, they brought it back and now the cost is $15.00 (less the member discount). It is not the one I remembered from the past put still good and was relaxing after a long business trip.
The Rose Night Cocktail
The Rose Night Cocktail in 2024 was made of blush wine, juices and a little rose essence.
I just sat back and enjoyed the drink and watched the other members relax with their families as well. It was a beautiful late Spring evening and a nice way to start the upcoming Summer season.
In 2019, I had dinner at Family Pizza at 720 Flatbush Avenue, whose pizza is amazing. They have the richest tomato sauce which is the basis for any good pizza and the food here is excellent.
They make their own tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil and you can taste the flavor in the sauce. I had a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich. Talk about an amazing sandwich.
Not only was it loaded with fresh chicken cutlets but topped with several handfuls of melted mozzarella cheese. The sandwich was a gooey delight and the perfect dinner. They have nice outside seating and I like watching the characters walk by.
The flowers in bloom
Still, it was nice to have the gardens for the members only night and the newly renovated Japanese Gardens had opened again so I spent the last part of the evening walked around the wooded paths and stopping at the pagoda to look at the man-made lake that now feed the entire Botanical Garden its water supply. You could still hear the jazz band on the main lawn from here and it was a nice place to just sit and relax and enjoy the sun setting.
The Japanese Gardens
The Japanese Garden in the early Spring when the Cherry Blossoms were out.
It is a simple evening of walking paths and looking at flowers while listening to music but still isn’t that what a pleasant evening in a garden is supposed to be?
Returning to Rose Night again June 11th, 2025:
I had the day off from summer classes at the college and arrived in Brooklyn early and was able to get into the Gardens before 6:00pm and was able to tour the gardens with no crowds. It was perfect for picture taking.
The Crawford Rose Gardens in the Summer of 2025
The array of colors in the gardens that night
Walking through the archways when everything is in bloom
The gardens were an array of all sorts of colors
Purples and greens
Reds and greens
I walked around all the beds to see the dazzling display of colors
The beautiful display of colors
A combination of roses makes an interesting display
The brilliance of colors adds to the roses
The purple flowers were dazzling
The roses at the back part of the garden
The statue in the back of the gardens
The back of the Crawford Rose Gardens
The back of the Crawford Rose Gardens
I left the rose garden to explore the rest of the gardens before the concert started. The crowds were not huge at this time but when I finished my walk of the gardens the place was packed.
The Cherry Blossom lawn before the start of the concert.
I took a long walk around the gardens to see everything in bloom. All this rain made everything so lush.
The was the most unusual rose bush. I never saw anything like this.
I took a walk to the back of the gardens to see the Water Shed Gardens, the Rock Gardens and the Children’s Gardens. The whole place was spectacular.
The Water Shed Gardens
People picnicking in the Water Shed Gardens
The flowers in the Water Shed Gardens
Touring the Rock Gardens
The Rock Garden Pathways
What vibrant colors in the Rock Gardens
The unusual fountains in the Planting Gardens
I thought they were very interesting
I walked through the Children’s Gardens
The Children’s Garden building at the start of the summer
The Lotus Pools
The Magnolia Gardens after the blooming period. They are so green and lush.
The sphere in the Magnolia Gardens
I then walked through the Shakespeare Gardens which were in full bloom
Walking through the Shakespeare Gardens
The beautiful flowers in the garden
The Cherry Blossom Lawn was packed when I got back and more people were walking through the back entrance.
The New Orleans Renaissance Group entertained that night
The band was excellent and played all the classics plus some of their original works
Here is the band playing one of their songs that evening. This was the best shot I got as all the parents were dancing with their kids that night.
Overall Rose Night was another wonderful evening and I look forward to it every year. There will be more wonderful theme nights going forward at the Gardens.
The future of Coney Island under the Bloomberg Administration:
Open: Saturday and Sunday 10:00am-6:00pm/Monday-Friday 8:00am-6:00pm
Admission: Adults $18.00/Seniors (over 65) and Children over 12 $12.00/Children under 12 Free/Portion of the day’s tickets are free to community members who need them/Winder Weekends Pay as you wish.
In 2017 before I left for Brooklyn, I had a busy day running around Newark and then in Brooklyn visiting both the Newark Museum and Coney Island. I love how everything gets planned on the same day. Everyone was preparing for the Solar Eclipse on Monday, so both the Newark Museum and the American Museum of Natural History are getting ready for the viewings. So I stopped at the Newark Museum first today to see what they were planning knowing that New York was going to be very busy.
The Newark Museum is running a series of members mornings with a early morning tour of the museum and a light breakfast that seems to be catching on with the membership. We had a early morning tour of the kinetic sculpture of Uram Choe, a Korean artist who specializes in metal working sculptures that move on motion. His one piece upstairs in the Asian galleries opens up like the sun would in the morning and his downstairs on the second floor piece is a serpent eating itself, which is based on an old legend.
Mr. Choe’s is a South Korean born artist from an architect background. He was educated at the Chungang University in Seoul and graduated with both a B.F.A and M.F.A. from the college. Choe’s works push the genre of moving kinetic art toward its newer-generation iterations, such as robotic art (Wiki).] Each one of his pieces moves on a series of motors based on motion and is placed with such detail and the way it moves is so intricate.
The Newark Museum (See TripAdvisor review) is going though a major renovation where they will be opening the original entrance to the museum in the Fall after twenty years and hopefully a new beginning for a museum with a major identity crisis.
The museum has such amazing works to see in a beautiful setting but the problem is that Newark still has a negative image to most suburbanites. No one I know wants to go there and that is a real problem for the city. The museum in a great area of the downtown that is being rebuilt and refigured with all sorts of new housing and lofts but it will take time to shake the riots of the 60’s from people’s minds.
They just opened the new American Indian exhibition and refigured the American Art wing to reflect the development of the United States from Native American time to the present. Their Asian and African galleries are very detailed but the biggest problem they have is the imagine of an ‘African’ museum which they can’t seem to shake. It is such a gem and try not to miss going there.
We had a long talk in the gallery about the artist and about the development of Korean Art from Ancient times until today and then the museum had a beautiful Continental breakfast on the top floor of the Ballentine House. This was Mrs. Ballentine’s daughter’s section of the house that was built in the late 1890’s when they moved in after her husband’s death. The room, now used as the trustee’s room, is a look back on the Gilded Age and the invention of electricity in modern homes. It really showed me the treasure trove of artifacts that exist in this small museum.
After the tour, there was a quick tour of the museum and then a train ride to Manhattan and then a long subway ride on a beautiful clear sunny day to Coney Island. The whole thing took about two hours and I got there by three o’clock.
The contest was gloomy at both times I visited but everyone was eager
The Annual Sandcastle Building Contest in both 2017 and in 2024, I thought would be much bigger than it was. Only about twenty people were competing in it in 2017 and in 2024 about the same amount. With all the artists living in Brooklyn and in the Metropolitan area, I thought this would be a bigger deal than it was but still the works coming from it were spectacular. Several mounds of sand in one section of the beach outside of Luna Park were used but still the imagination of the work was spellbound.
The piles were set with numbers along the beach
Artists and families starting to work around 12:30pm
Getting ready to start
By 1:00pm, everyone was getting to work for the 4:00pm deadline
Most of the works that I saw were some forms of castle which seemed to be the object that everyone based their idea on but some people were a little more creative. There were bears, mermaids and in 2017, one artist even dug out a complete hole and had the imagine of a woman lying in the sea.
In 2024, the creativity was the same with themes of brownstone neighborhoods to mermaid queens to just a simple smile in the sand. There were professionals whose sand creativity was part of their artistic employment to families just having fun and spending time together.
This simple face just appeared on one of the piles at the end of the contest
The creation of the Shark sculpture
The Shark Sculpture in process
The Shark almost finished
The finished Shark Sculpture
Another artist created this Shark display
The Coney Island Alliance hired an artist to create this masterpiece. It just shows the creativity of some artists.
The Coney Island Alliance sculpture in form in the beginning
He kept carving and sculpting
The piece took form
Almost finished
The finished sculpture for the Coney Island Alliance was just beautiful
The final work that represented the Coney Island Alliance. This was the ultimate piece done by a professional artist. I loved the details on this. Some of the professional artists did works to welcome everyone to the contest and their detail work was interesting as you see in the picture above. This was not done by a group of ten year old’s.
Still there were all sorts of works of art created by people of all ages and they showed their stuff by creating their interpretations of their views of New York City and mythical animals that roam the woods, beaches and streets of the big City. Some were fun, some were whimsical and some just stood out in their creativity.
The ladies putting the final touches on the Rat with Pizza sculpture
My favorite sculpture of the contest the rat with a slice of pizza
The start of Beware of Dog sculpture done by this mother and son team
The finished Beware of Dog sculpture
The final touches of Beware of Dog. The details were very clever
These artists created their own affordable brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn
Then there was the Tales of Two Coasts, New York and Los Angeles, which had real estate details of their own.
I loved this look of Los Angeles, CA
This was the New York City side of the sculpture
Home ownership continued with this kitchen sculpture
Some of the mythical creatures included mermaids, animals and creatures large and small.
This family was sculpting the most clever cat
The finished Cat Inquiry sculpture
Another family was finishing this Hammerhead Shark towards the end of the contest
This Sea Maiden appeared in the sand
Rebirth and Birth Sculpture
This penguin found a home in the sand
This Heart with a Sunflower was in its final stages when I saw it last
The Magical Train was one of the first sculptures done
A Castle with a Moat was created
The mighty Elephant was being worked on towards the end of the contest
The iconic New York Hot Dog is happily served
The Shellebrity Sightings sculpture
The Phoenix sculpture on the beach
One of the most detailed sculptures I saw the creation of the Mermaid Queen.
The creation of the Mermaid Queen
The Mermaid Queen takes shape
The finished Queen Mermaid with her Crown
The finished Mermaid Queen
There was also the creation of the Sand Witches with their big smiles.
Creating the Sand Witches
Creating the main character
The Sand Witches sculpture
The creation of Do Not Feed the Bears
The finished Do Not Feed the Bears sculpture
Another Mermaid appears
Here and there during the contest and for the rest of the day, the sun peaked out now and then giving us some sun but the rest of the day remained cloudy. Still that did not dampen the spirits of our artists and by 4:00pm the winners were announced. The Winners were sculptures numbers 63, 07 and 39 with the People’s Choice being 01 (I am not too sure I have everything numbered) but the ones above are my favorites and worthy of all the picture taking.
In 2017, I walked along the beach to relax my feet and as I walked, I could not believe how empty the beaches were for a Saturday afternoon in August. By the water it was full but towards the back by the boardwalk it was empty. In 2024, the incoming hurricane weather kept people away as the beaches were closed for swimming. The surf was really rough that morning and afternoon and the weather was gloomy. Even when I visited on the 4th of July, the beaches were not as crowded as I would have thought. Not the Coney Island of yesteryear when every spot was full. I guess its just not that place anymore.
Taking a walk along the gloomy and almost empty Midway by Luna Park
After a long walk along the beach, I dried off and walked the boardwalk to the end to Seagate, a private community at the end of the boardwalk. Along the way, I passed by the Coney Island Houses, one of the more dangerous housing complexes in Brooklyn. I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was to build low-income housing along the shore front but that made no sense to me.
It looked like the complex was having a barbecue, that is until two guys went after each other in the basketball court area as the DJ was announcing a kids dance. She was beside herself to tell them to calm down. Then you had two groups of people trying to calm the situation down. It was not a pleasant scene.
I got to the end of the boardwalk and decided I wanted to see all of Surf Avenue to see the real changes on the island since the closing of the amusement area. I agree with an article I read years ago; it still is like a war zone.
They built all this public housing outside Seagate and as you walk along Surf Avenue until you get to about where the rehab center is, it just looks like Beirut. The whole area is full of rundown looking public housing and the street itself is a shell of the once glorious resort if it ever was that. If there are ever going to get this island back into shape, the city seriously needs to rethink this part of the island.
I walked the entire length of Surf Avenue down to Brighton Beach and really looked at the stretch of the island facing the shore. By Brighton Beach, the area got so much nicer and more built up. Even in some of the pockets before the amusement area, they are building new condos along the boardwalk in between the projects. Even still, even when you reach Nathan’s, there is just too much wasted opportunity along the shore front.
Walking on the Coney Island Boardwalk in 2017
I turned around and walked up Stillwell Avenue by the subway spot and there they are starting to knock down the block and replacing it with low rise apartment buildings. This is where all the hipster people must be living. It looks like more of this area is about to come down.
In 2024, I got to the beach at 12:30pm and walked around the shore until about 2:00pm watching everyone build their creations. Then I walked around Deno’s Wonderwheel Park, watching the patrons on the Wonderwheel and going into Spookarama, their haunted house ride.
Spookarama in Deno’s Wonderwheel Park
The haunted display by the ride
The haunted display in the park
In 2017 for dinner, I went to Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano at 1524 Neptune Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets (See TripAdvisor review). This place is harder to get into than any trendy restaurant in Manhattan. They only make so much dough and as a matter of fact the smaller pizzas sold out before I got there and it was 4:30pm when I ate my lunch/dinner. The place was busy the entire time I got there. The only bad thing about the restaurant is the seating. They need to reconfigure their tables to accommodate more people. You can’t seat a single person like myself at a six top table.
The menu is so simple. Either you get a small or large pizza with a choice of ten toppings for $2.50 extra. The drinks were pricey with a bottle of Coke being $2.50. The pizza was $20.50 for the large or $18.50 for the small. The place is cash only.
The pizza was wonderful and with the size and the quality of ingredients, well worth the money. You get a large pizza that is a large pizza with fresh tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella, which gives it a different flavor from the shredded processed cheese most places use giving it a creamy flavor. The whole thing was topped with fresh basil and I added sausage to it. Cooking it in a coal brick stove gave it a nice smoky flavor. Needless to say, the owner could not believe I ate almost the entire pie at one sitting.
Totonna’s Cheese Pizza
I met Louise Ciminieri, the current owner and the granddaughter of the original owner. She told me how the business passed down from her grandfather to her uncle and then to her. Her uncle had a habit of only making so much dough and after it was gone, the restaurant closed for the day. A little strange for a business to make money.
Owner Louise Ciminieri of Totonno’s Pizza
She could not have been nicer or more welcoming to me and seemed to get a kick at the fact that I made such a fuss in meeting her. I told her of all the reviews online and the fact that my own mom had eaten here probably when her uncle first owned the business. She has not changed the place much over the years and she explained how the neighborhood has changed so much since they opened. What was once an Italian neighborhood is now all car repair places.
After dinner in 2017, I took once last walk around Surf Avenue and then headed back to Manhattan where I ended up spending the rest of the evening at an outdoor concert in Bryant Park. It was nice to just relax and listen to the music.
In 2024, I passed the pizzeria and it still has not opened for in house dining but people were buying pizzas to go. I thought I saw the owner sitting at the only booth left inside but I was not sure. I have to say that without in house dining, there is no reason to go. There is no place to eat around the restaurant (it is not the best part of Coney Island) and I don’t want to drag a pizza three blocks back to the beach to eat it on a bench. The pizzeria is only open on the weekends as well, so I searched around Mermaid Avenue for someplace else to dine.
Here I found Pizza on the Run at 1627 Mermaid Avenue near the side entrance to the subway station. I had passed the place many times but the outside always looked a little shoddy and I avoided it. Big Mistake! The pizza is amazing!
I have to admit that the pizza was a little pricey at $3.50 a slice but the slice was oversized and their sauce on the pizza was delicious. It was so well spiced and gave it so much flavor that I enjoyed every bite.
The Cheese slice was amazing and I plan on going back in the future and trying more items here.
After lunch was over, I gave myself some time before the contest was officially over and walked around this section of Coney Island. Little by little it is getting better. As the luxury rentals along Surf Avenue are getting ready to open for residents, I can see that they are trying to fix up Mermaid Avenue behind it. A lot of the businesses that had been there a few months ago are now closed and the side walks from the subway station down three blocks are being fixed. Along the walls was a bright mural welcoming people to Coney Island from the subway side.
The Welcome to Coney Island mural by Mermaid Avenue
Danielle Mastrion is a Brooklyn-born, New York City based painter and muralist who specializes in large scale, brightly colored murals (Artist bio).
Coney Island Surf Avenue businesses next to Nathan’s
On the way back to the beach, four other murals stood out as well. These are located on the walk down the sidewalk to Nathan’s on Surf Avenue.
Mural One
Mural Two
Mural Three
Mural Four
After the contest winners were announced in 2024 at 4:00pm, I left to head back to Manhattan. It was such a gloomy day. There was not much else going on that afternoon and people were leaving the beaches. As I took a look back at the shore, the waves were really coming in meaning the storm was on its way up the coast (we did get hit in Sunday).
I headed back to Manhattan to see the movie “The Funhouse” at the MoMA. They were having a retrospect on director Toby Hooper’s movies so I had already seen “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Poltergeist” .
The trailer for “The Funhouse” by director Toby Hooper
After the movie was over, trying to find a restaurant for dinner was trying in of itself. I had not realized how many restaurants in Midtown were closing at 9:00pm even on Friday night post-COVID.
I went into Murray Hill and the restaurant I had planned to go to had already closed at 8:45pm so I looked at my dine around program and found that Dim Sum Garden at 338 Lexington Avenue. I was really in the mood for Chinese food that evening and it came highly recommended.
I was able to order before the kitchen closed and it was a nice dinner. The food was so fresh and it looked like everything was made to order and homemade in the kitchen. The Shrimp Balls were especially good. They were made with sweet shrimp meat, nicely coated with rice flour and deep fried perfectly. It was one of the best Dim Sum meals I have had in a awhile.
My dinner of Soup Dumpling, Shrimp Balls and Roast Duck Rolls
The Shrimp Balls
The Soup Dumplings
The Roast Duck Rolls
It was a fun and very productive day and a great way to end the trip to Coney Island. The weather may have been a bit gloomy both times I visited Coney Island for the contest but it did not damper the spirit of the event. It looked like everyone had fun.
The Coney Island Sandcastle Building Contest is held each August.
Please check out my recent blog on the Coney Island Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th, 2024:
I had finished the Manhattan Valley neighborhood earlier in the day when the Soup Kitchen was full and they did not need me. So, I walked the lower part of the neighborhood to finish it off and then walked across Central Park to the beginning of the new subway stop for the Q subway train at 96th Street and Second Avenue. As I had written on Day Sixty-Six on my walk, this subway line is really nice and take time to look at the artwork at the stops at 96th, 72nd and 63rd Streets.
The 96th Street stop my starting point
If you are going to take the Q to Coney Island leave yourself plenty of time because it is over an hour to get from one end of the Q to the other. It was a beautiful warm clear sunny day around 84 degrees and a perfect day to go to the shore.
The 96th Street artwork in the terminal
I love the Q train! I love the new section of the subway with its interesting art and the fact that it is so clean. That and the fact they the E subway has the newest cars to stretch out in. It makes it a pleasure for the long trips.
The artwork on the 96th Street station
You get some of the best views of the city from the subway once you cross over into Brooklyn. You get a great view of lower Manhattan when exiting from underground plus you get to see the old parts of Brooklyn with views of the ‘Brownstone’ neighborhoods. There’s another area that keeps changing with gentrification.
The subway ends at the Stillwell subway stop. This rebuilt stop was the first part in the renovation of the island to make it a more 24-hour resort. Most of the other plans have been scrapped or were never enacted. To be honest with all of you, the amusement area of Coney Island is still dumpy and has not been much since the Luna Park fire of 1946 and the Dreamland fire of 1911. They keep trying though.
The changes on Surf Avenue keep happening every month
Even when I went to Coney Island as a kid in the 70’s, it was rundown then. Please don’t get me wrong, Coney Island can be a lot of fun and you can have a great day out here but don’t get too lofty of expectations of what it is like (See reviews on TripAdvisor). Don’t venture too far from Nathan’s after dark and follow the crowd back to the Stillwell subway station after dark if you stay for the films on the beach or the fireworks.
The Coney Island Museum Bar is a great place to relax when you get to Coney Island.
I have been down for the Mermaid Parade in the Spring several years ago and will be going to the Sandcastle Building contest next week. There is a lot going on during the summer and it is good to check out these activities. The Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s draws thousands to the island to watch their hero’s devour hot dogs at record speed.
Still the I love to explore the changes to the island and walked around Surf and Neptune Avenues after I got there. I wanted to see if Totonno’s Pizza was open that day so I walked for two blocks Neptune Avenue and I will tell you that though the area is changing it still is not a great neighborhood.
Totonno’s is in the middle of a commercial area with a series of garages and car repairs at 1524 Neptune Avenue. The worst part was that it closed for the day. The restaurant is only opened from Wednesday to Sunday so it’s for another time. I did get to see the back part of the island and found where the original Coney Island Creek was located. This is where the original Sea Lion Park and Luna Park were located back in the early part of the century.
I changed my plans around and walked the length of Surf Avenue and started my walk around the amusement area which runs from the Aquarium at West 8th Street to about West 16th Street. Even with the rebuilding of Luna Park on the footprint of the old Astroland, Surf Avenue needs a major makeover. The chain restaurants have added a little life to it but still some of the blocks are a series of rundown buildings and old-time amusements.
The Coney Island Boardwalk
I stopped by the Coney Island Museum at 1208 Surf Avenue and the museum part was closed for the day but the side show part was open but I had missed the show. I walked around some of the open exhibitions on the outside and it is interesting to see some of the artifacts from the old amusement days.
My next stop was the famous Cyclone Roller Coaster on West 10th Street (see review on TripAdvisor). This is the most amazing and exciting ride on the island and one of the things you should see while you are in New York City. It is $10.00 to ride the coaster but it is well worth it! That first hill you go down is so mind-blowing. You feel as if the cars are going to fly into the sea. It rolls up and down those hills back and forth facing the buildings across the street and the sea. Of all the amusement parks I have been to there is nothing like the Cyclone.
I walked into the Luna Park area and saw the improvements that have been added to the park. The problem with Luna Park is that it’s mostly kiddie rides and not much for adults with the exception of the Log Flume Ride. Luna Park was rebuilt on the old Astroland which had closed by in 2008 and is trying to capture the old magic of the island with upgrades on rides and concessions. It even recreated the original entrance of Luna Park across the street from the old park. Still, it will take a lot more work on the park and more added rides in the future. I give them so much credit for revitalizing the park with a new look.
I walked after that to Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, 1025 Regielmann Boardwalk, which I had not been on for about seven years and the famous Spook-a-Rama, which I had not ridden since I was about eight. The Wonder Wheel was built back in the 20’s and with a height of 150 feet, has great views of the ocean and of the island. Both rides were $8.00 and were well worth it for the day.
When riding the Wonder Wheel, make sure to get one of the cars that slide. Not only do you get the view but you get the excitement of sliding around. When you reach the top of the Wonder Wheel, it has the most breathtaking view of the boardwalk area, the beach and ocean and a view of the whole island. The breeze is so refreshing up there and you feel like the world is your own. Talk about seeing the world go by.
Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park at 1025 Regielmann Boardwalk
After the Wonder Wheel, I walked over to Spook-a-Rama, also $8.00, which I first rode when I was eight and it has not changed that much since then. It does have a few thrills that do pop out at you that will have you jumping. There have been a few updates on it with video displays but for the most part I remember it being much scarier as a kid. I will let you know though the first couple of things popping out at you will still have you jumping out of your seat but still it’s not the Haunted Mansion at Disney Parks.
Spook-a-Rama at Deno’s Wonderwheel Park
The entrance of the Spook-a-Rama
I had enough time to go to the New York Aquarium located at West 8th Street, just past the Cyclone. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, most of the Aquarium was seriously damaged and most of the park is still under construction. The Coral Exhibition is still interesting especially with the destruction of the wreaths around the world and the Sea Lion demonstration is a lot of fun. The Sea Lions are such hams and seem to love the crowds. What I thought was interesting is that both of them were born in New York City at the Bronx Zoo, so they have only known humans. Still, they look like they are having fun. They seem to love waving to the audience and the crowds love them back.
While I was walking on the Boardwalk, I caught this group of people dancing to the BeeGees. The 1970’s have never really ended.
My last stop of the evening was dinner at Nathan’s at 1310 Surf Avenue. This hot dog chain was founded in 1916 and is still in their original location. They have the best hot dogs and their French fries are some of the best in the industry. When you go you have to have the original hot dog with mustard, the regular fries (which is a large order anywhere else) and their famous Orange-aid. It is the best meal.
On a hot sunny day, it is nice to sit out on the tables right next to the restaurant. There is something about the sea breezes, the salt air and hot dogs and fries that make a phenomenal combination. It is a meal that is part of the beach experience and that was worth the trip alone.
My favorite meal at Nathan’s: A Hot Dog, French Fries and an icy Coke
Before it got too late, I was back on the Q Train back to Manhattan. I’m sorry but sensible people still get out of Coney Island before it gets dark. Even though the subway station on Stillwell and Surf Avenues is very safe and there is a police station there, it’s better to leave before dusk. I don’t care how many artists have moved into the area.
The subway ride took just over an hour to get back to Manhattan but it was still light out when I left the shore area and got my last glimpse of the ocean pass by. There is nothing like watching the sun reflect on the beach. The best was that we passed lower Manhattan before we went under the tunnel and watched the skyline brightened by the lights in the office towers. If you want to see an amazing site, it is when the city lights come on and the skyline is ablaze. It is like a picture postcard and impressive. When people think of New York City, this is what they imagine.
Coney Island Beach
When I finally got back to 96th Street, I had some time to look at the artwork again and stretch around the station. I still love to see museum quality art in a subway. Then it was off back on the Q back to midtown.
For the price of a round-trip ticket on the subway, it is fantastic voyage around the city on the new Q. Artwork, amusements, skyline views and the beach. What more could you want?
From Q to Q Beginning to End from 96th Street to Stillwell Avenue
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