Not even an impending nor’easter could dampen spirits on Saturday, October 11, as the Coney Island Museum and Coney Island USA celebrated the unveiling of a plaque on our building denoting its land marked status…

“Home of the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Freak Bar, and the Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue has long been a part of Coney Island’s iconic landscape. Built in 1917, it’s seen many changes and weathered many storms before becoming the home of freaks, mermaids, and Coney Island USA…”

"...It is difficult to see why the strange new island which has all at once taken so considerable a place in the chart, should not permanently remain what it seems to be now — the greatest resort for a single day’s pleasure in the world."

“…the history of Coney Island is populated by extraordinary individuals whose stories are no less fascinating for being obscure.”

Before George Eastman and his Kodak camera made photographers of us all…

In the Spring of 1905, New York newspapers regaled readers with the summer’s upcoming spectacles and attractions to be hosted at the city’s amusement center, Coney Island. But one particular “exhibition” caught the attention of most New Yorkers. On May 9, 1905, The Standard Union reported: “A band of fifty-one Igorrotes from the Bontoc Province, Island of Luzon [Philippines] is coming across the continent, bound for Luna Park, where they will provide an attraction entirely different from anything ever seen in a Coney Island amusement resort.”

The Reigelmann Boardwalk, The Pride of New York

From New York to San Francisco, this Marathon Man was really going places…

It’s a fair bet that not all of these attractions would make anyone’s top 10 list:

“The diaries of James Onorato are among the Coney Island Museum’s most significant holdings.This collection of hand-written volumes and supporting materials chronicle the tenure of James “Jimmy” Onorato, the longtime General Manager of Steeplechase Park.”