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The Bowery Boys: New York City History

#264 The Landmarks of Coney Island

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.73.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2018

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Coney Island Boardwalk -- officially the Riegelmann Boardwalk -- just became an official New York City scenic landmark, and to celebrate, the Bowery Boys are headed to Brooklyn's amusement capital to toast its most famous and long-lasting icons. Recorded live on location, this week's show features the backstories of these Coney Island classics: -- The Wonder Wheel, the graceful, eccentric Ferris wheel preparing to celebrate for its 100th year of operation; -- The Spook-o-Rama, a dark ride full of old-school thrills; -- The Cyclone, perhaps America's most famous roller-coaster with a history that harkens back to Coney Island's wild coaster craze; -- Nathan's Famous, the king of hot dogs which has fed millions from the same corner for over a century; -- Coney Island Terminal, a critical transportation hub that ushered in the amusement area's famous nickname -- the Nickel Empire PLUS: An interview with Dick Zigun, the unofficial mayor of Coney Island and founder of Coney Island USA, who recounts the origin of the Mermaid Parade and the Sideshow by the Seashore boweryboyshistory.com EXTRA: Supporters of the Bowery Boys on Patreon will receive an extra bonus clip discussing two other Coney Island landmarks -- Childs Restaurant and the Parachute Jump. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Bowry Boys episode 264 landmarks of Coney Island.

0:06.0

Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.

0:09.0

Hey.

0:10.0

Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.

0:13.0

Join us for as little as $1 a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.

0:21.0

Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.

0:25.0

And this is Tom Myers.

0:27.0

We're doing a remote recording, a remote location today before a very special show.

0:33.0

A celebration of all things Coney Island, the food, the fun, and most importantly, the history.

0:40.0

Now, Coney Island's story goes all the way back to the Dutch days.

0:45.0

Even Henry Hudson docked his boat near Coney Island shores.

0:49.0

But today, we are not telling that story.

0:52.0

No, no, no, no.

0:53.0

No, we're not telling a chronological history of Coney Island.

0:57.0

We have a couple shows in our back catalog that do the trick for that.

1:01.0

In a way, this is a tribute to one specific place in Coney Island, the Coney Island boardwalk,

1:07.0

which was just bestowed the honor of scenic landmark by the landmark preservation commission.

1:11.0

That's right, like just now.

1:13.0

This month is exciting.

1:14.0

In May of 2018.

1:16.0

So we are spending the day in Coney Island having fun with our recording equipment running around

1:21.0

and visiting most of the official landmarks here on Coney Island from the rides to historic buildings.

...

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