Conney Island, New York City

Dreamland

Coney Island is a peninsula located South of the Brooklyn borough in New York. This piece of land was a popular beach resource by the end of the XIX century and first half of the twentieth century. A steam boat departing from Manhattan would make the first massive connection of the island with New Yorkers this would be definitely established with several railroad developments in the following years. This transport infrastructures created a successful amusement industry that started with horse race tracks at the beginning of the XX century to the construction of more popular spots such as amusement parks, by the mid 20’s up to 1,000,000 people would go visit the island. Dreamland was one of the gigantic parks built in the area and was reduced to ashes in one of the frequent fire outbursts. Leisure, hotels restaurants amusement parks and gambling where big business in those days.
After WWII Coney Island began to lose popularity as a middle class leisure resource which was followed by abandon and social decay,

high prices and low business margins where resulted as a dangerous mix. The area began developing social housing projects by mid 50’s, completely changing the population paradigm, decay and business foreclosures followed. Nowadays this piece of land facing the Atlantic Ocean has a population of around 60,000 and debate still comes along with the area, the cause: the number of development plans that have been drafted over the area still under the shadow of gambling and real estate speculation.
The visitors social, ethnic and economic range has changed over the years, mostly because of the area’s development plans and socio economic changes the country has gone through over the last decades. Coney Island has gone from being a popular middle class leisure resource for New Yorkers to a more broad range of ethnicities and cultures, which can be seen and enjoyed in a regular summer day trip along the seafront, boardwalk or leisure parks.

by the mid 20’s up to 1,000,000
people would go visit the island.