Editorial: Coney boom continues

August 21, 2014 Editorial Staff

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The latest installment in the revitalization of Coney Island is the opening of a visitor’s center in the Stillwell Avenue subway station, where visitors can get all the latest info on what’s going on throughout the amusement area, and be helped by very friendly greeters whose goal is to make sure that those who venture out to Brooklyn’s southern shoreline have a great experience.

Of course, everything that’s available in Coney makes that easy.

This includes the beloved Wonder Wheel Park, with its vintage Ferris wheel; Luna Park, with its cutting-edge rides as well as the timeless Cyclone; the brand-new Thunderbolt, a 21^st century salute to a venerable roller coaster demolished a few years back; the renovated B&B Carousell, a fixture in the area since 1919; MCU Park, which the Brooklyn Cyclones call home, and where the Penn League All Star Game was just played; the New York Aquarium, the branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society which features sea life; and Coney Island USA, where the old-time sideshow has been reborn, among others.

The neighborhood also offers perennially popular Friday night fireworks and special events such as the recent Sand Sculpting Contest, as well as one of the great beaches of the Northeast, rimmed by the Boardwalk, beloved of pedestrians, who can grab a hot dog and fries at Nathan’s before strolling along the beach’s edge, stopping for a ride or two as they wish, and maybe playing a few games of Skeeball or trying their luck at the carnival games that still line the maze of streets between Surf Avenue and the ocean.

Of course, what makes Coney Island unique is its inimitable blend of attractions, old and new, meaning that, as it eases into the future, it still retains the aura of days past, and the magic that it alone evokes for many generations past and innumerable generations yet to come.