Coney Island

Though it's star is faded and it's best days are behind it, Coney Island's legend of thrill rides and cut-loose fun drew me. I've seen the archival footage of the old rides. I've watched the 4th of July hot dog eating competition on TV. The place is as American as apple pie, baseball and... well hot dogs. I had to see it.

What struck me first was what I'd somehow expected least: the vastness of the beach. The stories of the Coney Island Boardwalk surely hint that there must be surf there, yet I wasn't prepared for the sheer size of the beach. Easily 75 yards wide at high tide, the beach stretches a good mile or more down the seashore. The day we visited the masses congregated along the waters edge, which left the beach feeling empty due to the wide empty stretch from the boardwalk to the people, but then quite dense once the towels, umbrellas and coolers were reached. Given the startling lack of shade, and the summer heat, I can't blame everyone for wanting to be in the water.

The best part of this beach, however, is the people watching. Rare is the city with a true beach on its subway lines, or at least a city so big and vibrant as New York. This leaves the sand and boardwalk littered with all shapes, sizes and nationalities of people. You can see hipsters sporting jeans, vests and fedoras laying next to a large hairy New York Italian next to a young Asian couple out sight seeing. Poor and more well off, they're all there, which makes sitting on a bench in the shade even more rewarding.

Of course the beach is great, Coney Islands great boardwalk rides are what made it famous. Retooled with modern games and rides, the waterside parks are still a good time, even if the luster has wained with America's access to rides has increased with mega theme parks like 6 Flags, Bush Gardens and Cedar Point (my favorite). Set up more like a summer carnival than a theme park, the rides are all pay-as-you-ride, so if walking around watching others ride is your thing, it won't cost you a dime, but what's the fun in that? Riding one seemed like a requirement for visiting, and why ride anything but the granddaddy of them all: the rickety wooden roller coaster.

Named the Cyclone, and having been operating for over 75 years, the roller coaster is the oldest ride on the boardwalk still in use, easily the most terrifying. Though less high than modern coasters, even modern wooden ones, the allure of riding such a historic structure seems. Strapped in and climbing to the top of the first hill, there is a sweeping realization that this isn't a slow ride, as the chain clicks double time up the hill, and the sweeping view must be enjoyed because its gone in a blink. At the peak most of the cart puts their hands up for that first hill, then the beating starts. Plunging and twisting down the first hill, the wood, the lack of shoulder support, the gap between knees and the restraining bar give a feeling of falling unlike that on other coasters. Crashing to the bottom of the first hill, then up and around the second, every muscle strains to keep to keep body within the cart, and not somewhere among the broken, abandoned sunglasses below. A few brave souls keep their hands up for the second hill, but by the third hill survival is foremost on everyones minds, and hands stay down, gripping to the safety bar, muttering last minute prayers, begging the roller coaster spare their lives. In a flash, the ride is done, though en route the duration seemed startlingly prolonged. Nothing like unbridled terror to make time slow down. My knees were wobbly afterwards. I loved it.

Really, I quite liked Coney Island. Were it not so far my home, I'd return more often. Sure you could nitpick its negatives: no shade, the 'landmark' discontinued old rides boarder on eyesores for want of paint, the food stores price gouge like you were at a ballpark. The biggest negative surprise is the lack of seaside restaurants and bars to enjoy a cool, shady drink. Yet, the prestige, the outrageous mixing of people, the rides, the atmosphere and the classic food make up for everything (for those scoring at home, we enjoyed hot dogs, corn dogs and a funnel cake). There most certainly are better, more entertaining places to visit in New York, but how bad can a trip to Coney Island be if it's like a day at the beach?