» Coney Island

A wedding procession heads toward Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park at Coney Island

Shane Kavanaugh — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:32:22 +0000

After a rainstorm lets up, fog and clouds move in over the Coney Island boardwalk

Eleanor Miller — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:19:37 +0000

Charles Denson, author, reads from his book in front of a jellyfish tank at the New York Aquarium

Eleanor Miller — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:04:52 +0000

Denson appeared as one of half a dozen poets and writers who performed in the first annual PARACHUTE: the Coney Island Performance Festival.

Suzie, an elephant with the Ringling Brothers Circus, makes an appearance on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island

Eleanor Miller — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:01:03 +0000

Suzie was given a hose bath by local firefighters and police officers as part of Ringling’s efforts to promote its last few shows of the summer nearby. It was the Circus’s first performance under a traditional tent since 1956, and the first time it has appeared in Coney Island. Performances continue through September 7.

NBC reported that Brooklyn’s Engine Company 245 didn’t want to participate in the photo opportunity, but they cooperated after being ordered by city officials.

Coney Island Mermaid Parade King Neptune Harvey Keitel

Khristina Narizhnaya — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:08:19 +0000

Despite the pouring rain, a large crowd gathered behind road blocks on Surf Avenue to watch the costumed revelers, floats, antique cars, a monster truck and Keitel in the 27th annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade.

The parade, created in honor of Coney Island’s Mardi Gras that ran from 1903 to 1954, celebrates Coney Island’s mythology, art and self-expression. This year, the parade was bigger than ever, with performers from Ringling Brothers Circus in attendance, among the 300-plus paraders.

Dick Zigun, who founded the parade in 1983 to revitalize the then-dilapidated amusement park, said the parade gets bigger every year. Indeed, this year, after a long battle with the City, the parade was expanded by three blocks.

Many of the revelers carried signs that read “Don’t shrink Coney, fix the plan!” in light of the City Planning Commission’s recent rezoning decision that would put four high-rises into what is now the amusement district – significantly shrinking the size of the historic strip. Save Coney Island and other community organizations are urging the City to reconsider.

Below street level on Coney Island Avenue table tennis contests rage on the tables of the Brooklyn Table Tennis Club.

timothy.persinko — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:10:36 +0000

Managed by Nison Arinov, a table tennis champion from Tajikistan, the club hosts players, many from former Soviet republics, late into the night, six days a week.

For immigrants, sports can maintain a link to an identity and a culture left behind in another country. Click here to read more about the way that a community has grown around table tennis in southern Brooklyn.

For more reporting on immigration across the borough by students at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, view Brooklyn Bridges Cultures.