coney island adventure day.

there was only one way to bid farewell to brooklyn once again and that is with a visit to a place very dear to our hearts - coney island. we missed it on our last trip through new york and won't be back through until coney season will be almost (if not entirely) over. in recent years, there has been a lingering sense of urgency about visiting coney island as land developers have purchased all the property where coney's boardwalk businesses operate. but more on that later. but first, a to-do list for coney island.

1) go eat some junk at nathan's.
fries, shrimp, corn dogs, lemonade - all good choices.



2) rides.
i am ashamed to say we felt too broke to do anything this time, but the cyclone is pretty amazing. last time we came to coney island, it was with jen and mike (without whom there was a noticeable hole in the experience this time). we all rode the cyclone together and, in a way, i didn't want to sully that experience.





3) poke around.
the is all sorts of weird crap to discover. this tine melissa helped us out with some tips - like the lady who dances for a quarter. shoot the freak was also pretty awesome, but mostly because of the barker's incredibly bored delivery of things like "yeah, shoot him in the head. freaks gotta die".





4) souvenirs.
we actually didn't delve too deeply in the souvenirs of coney island last time we were here, but there are some surprisingly interesting outlets of merch to be found. other than post cards, i don't normally go in for souvenir junk. i mean, there are some notable exceptions like the new york snow globe with a plastic bag instead of snow at the andy warhol museum. but most of the roadside schlock shops we have encountered all have the same stuff. but coney island is unique in the extent to which souvenirs fit it. this time, we discovered an interesting shop called lola staar - a boardwalk shop featuring all the touristy stuff you would expect (shirts, key chains, pins, post cards) but with the distinction of all being independently designed. i kind of fell in love with a lovely screen print there by michael micael motorcycle.oh, and we saw this on the wall:



...too bad aitor won't be around to compete.

we also discovered this interesting installation:

what an amazing project. see? how does this place manage to seamlessly integrate political installation art and the midway aesthetic? this is a very special place. it would a real shame to have it all turned to condos, too. liz who works at lola staar gave us some information on the potential rezoning/destruction of coney island. if you are interested in saving coney island, you can check out the information that has been put together here. if you are a new york resident, you can also feel free to write your mayor a letter.