Coney Island: Two Historical Webinars, plus Online Resources

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Online presentations (virtual tours) I can lead for classes, groups, and organizations.

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The (most-copied) Cyclone rollercoaster, Coney Island, Brooklyn

This page is under development.

Coney Island, a font of popular culture, cradle of the amusement industry, and summer respite for the well-off and the working class, has been richly documented in photography, film, audio, and video. Numerous worthy books and online exhibits have been produced.

But sorting through them takes an enormous amount of time, and even excellent single summaries, such as in a book or documentary film, aren't necessarily eclectic or current enough.

So tour guide and Coney Island aficionado Norman Oder has developed two lively entertaining, educational webinars (or virtual tours), including slides and video, to distill Coney's history.

• Part 1: The Heyday of the Amusement Age
• Part 2: From the Nickel Empire to the 21st Century

Each lasts 75-90 minutes and is aimed at anyone interested in Coney Island, including locals stuck inside, those who remember visiting Coney decades ago, or those who always wanted to go. (Here's a taste of the story of Topsy the Elephant.)

The webinar can be presented on Zoom or any other workable platform, with Q&A or chat enabled. 

My research depends on the enormous collective effort of scholars, fans, ordinary people, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

Viewer reactions to my first Part 1 tour:

• "Thanks! Great presentation!"
  
• "So much fun— thank you."
  
• "Very good presentation, loved all of it. Thank you!"

Today's Coney Island

Do support nonprofits involved in Coney, notably:

• Coney Island USA, "A nonprofit arts organization defending the honor of American popular culture," sponsor of the Mermaid Parade, the Circus Sideshow, and the Coney Island Museum, among others. 
• ​Coney Island History Project, which conducts oral history, provides access to historical artifacts, and honors community leaders and amusement pioneers. 

Coney amusement park businesses:

• Deno's Wonder Wheel Park
• Luna Park (including The Cyclone and Thunderbolt, and B&B Carousell)

Other Coney stalwarts:

• Ford Amphitheatre at Coney Island Boardwalk
• Brooklyn Cyclones, Single A team, at MCU Park
• New York Aquarium
• Alliance for Coney Island

Coney Island food & drink:

• Nathan's Famous
• Totonno's Pizza (will it reopen?)
• Gargiulo's Neapolitan Cuisine
• Paul's Daughter
• Williams Candy
• Coney Island Brewing Company
• Ruby's Bar & Grill

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Major resources
Heart of Coney Island: David Sullivan's wonderful historical site, with great images
Jeffrey Stanton's excellent Coney Island History Site, last updated 2013
America Experience: Coney Island, 1991 companion web site to Ric Burns' documentary film (see below)
U.S. History Scene, Vaudeville, Amusement Parks, & the World’s Fair, an excellent academic site


Image libraries
Brooklyn Museum: Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008 (original exhibition at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art); also Forever Coney: Photographs from the Brooklyn Museum Collection, Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull), and​ Goodbye Coney Island?

Library of Congress has an enormous trove.

New York Historical Society: and also search at this link. Smithsonian Institution; National Gallery; Google Arts & Culture; International Center for Photography; Museum of the City of New York; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); Whitney Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York City Transit Museum; Guggenheim Museum; Cooper Hewitt Design Museum; American Museum of Natural History; American Folk Art Museum; Jewish Museum.

Video/flim
Blueprint Coney Island, lively 28-minute documentary produced by New York City in 2017
America Experience: Coney Island, 58-minute documentary produced by Ric Burns in 1991.  Available on DVD and digitally via Kanopy (if your library subscribes)
Defunctland: The History of Coney Island, a well-researched 40-minute episode, from 2020, with five stories from Coney Island
Channel 13, Treasures of NY: Coney Island Museum

Books, nonfiction
Coney Island: Lost and Found, by Charles Denson
Coney Island: the People's Playground, by Michael Immerso
Coney Island: A Postcard Journey to the City of Fire, by Richard Snow
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008, ed. by Robin Jaffee Frank, et al.
The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century, by Claire Prentice
The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies, by Dawn Raffel (also BBC audio documentary Life Under Glass, by Claire Prentice)
Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked-Tailed Elephant, P. T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison, by Michael Daly
The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, by Woody Register
Amusing the Million, by John Kasson
Going Out: The Rise & Fall of Public Amusements, by David Nasaw
Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York, by Kathy Peiss

Books, fiction
Dreamland, by Kevin Baker
The Museum of Extraordinary Things, by Alice Hoffman
Coney, by Avram Ducovny
Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion, edited by Louis Parascandola & John Parascandola (inc. non-fiction)

Coney Island in popular culture
Including film, music, theater, and more: Wikipedia has a good list

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