A visit to Coney Island in 1922, Brooklyn, New York

Let's time-travel to 1922 and go to Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. This photo is from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions) because they study historic advertising. I just like to time-travel, so come on! 

Like most people who've never been to Coney Island, the only things I know about it are from movies. I distinctly remember one of the Three Stooges calling himself "Coney Island Curly"! So please bear with me, I'm no expert. In fact, I had my number one history adventuring expert (who prefers to remain anonymous) identify this area exactly, and it's kind of interesting. I'll see if I can explain.

We're looking west on Surf Avenue towards 16th Street (that's the intersection back there). For those of you who are familiar with this area nowadays we're just east of the baseball field. This used to be the edge of Steeplechase Park. If you look very closely, you can see a sign that says "Kensington". Here, I'll zoom in for you:


And here's a Google satellite view showing what's left of the walk:


How about that? Anyway, let's look around, and I want to start with the cars, especially that amazing roadster. If you know the make and model please let me know and I'll update this post1


Now let's take a closer look at the Steeplechase area.


Looks like fun! I could go for some of Bonomo's Ice Cream right now! By the way, the Bell Buoy Bowling Alley was at 1520 Surf Avenue, for those of you who like to be precise. Maybe we should go over to Goldman's Restaurant, Delicatessen, and Bakery right across the street.


Now I'm getting hungry! I'm so hungry that I could eat a... say, is that your horse over there by M. Kahn's Meat Market? And if I were driving that car, it would go A-OOO-gah, make the guy on the bicycle jump! 


I see by the clock over at M. Millet it's 11:30, so I guess it's time for me to go. Thank you visiting Coney Island with me! Now you can call me "Coney Island Brad"!

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