Coney Island

Coney Island is an Instagram paradise

Eye On Real Estate

August 24, 2016 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
You know you're in Coney Island when you see the Wonder Wheel. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
Share this:

It’s an Instagram paradise.

There are so many quirky, scenic spots to photograph in #coneyisland — Brooklyn’s very own Atlantic Ocean beachfront getaway.

What are your favorites? Here are a few of ours.

* The Wonder Wheel, Coney Island’s 150-foot-high Ferris wheel, was built in 1918-1920.

This city landmark is located on the boardwalk at 3059 W. 12th St.

* The Parachute Jump is nicknamed the “Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn.” It was built in 1939 for the New York World’s Fair and moved to its location on the boardwalk at W. 19th Street in the early 1940s.

When this ride was operational, it had parachutes hanging from it with seats that people sat on. That was a half-century ago. The remaining 262-foot-tall structure is a city landmark.

* The Riegelmann Boardwalk — that’s its formal name — is an endlessly entertaining place to photograph and people-watch.

This past July, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the iconic 2.7-mile wooden walkway as a scenic landmark. The hashtag #LandmarkTheBoardwalk is its fans’ rallying cry.

* A famous old boardwalk restaurant at 1001 Boardwalk West, Paul’s Daughter,  is worth a photo because of Mama Burger.

She’s a fiberglass figure who stood on the restaurant’s roof with a companion figure, Papa Burger, until Superstorm Sandy knocked her over. This past May, she reappeared, freshly painted, by Papa Burger’s side.

* The beach is so busy in the summer, full of colorful umbrellas, smiling (because they’re not at work) sunbathers and squawking sea gulls stealing people’s spilled snacks. Can you say Visual Overload? It’s great.

* Thor Equities has turned a vacant lot it owns at 1320 Bowery, which has frontage on Stillwell Avenue, into the Coney Art Walls.

The exhibition consists of a collection of murals painted by street artists, some of whose work has hung in museums. Thor CEO Joseph Sitt curated the murals with Jeffrey Deitch, the former director of MOCA LA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

And there are food vendors who were chosen by Smorgasburg.  

* The Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk at 3052 W. 21st St. recently opened. Its inaugural summer concert series is going strong.

The amphitheater’s tent-like structure is so big that you have to stand on the beach, far from the boardwalk, to fit it into a single photo frame.

In addition to the new structure, the Childs Building, a city landmark constructed in 1923 as a restaurant, is also part of the amphitheater complex. The landmarked building would normally be a supremely Instagram-worthy photo subject. But at the moment, it’s shrouded in construction netting.

* A new home for the sharks is being built at New York Aquarium, which is on the boardwalk and uses 602 Surf Ave. as its address. There are lots of photogenic fish in the parts of the aquarium that remain open during construction.

* Walk east past the aquarium to the Brighton Beach end of the boardwalk and you’ll find beachfront Russian restaurants.

Café Volna at 3145 Brighton 4th St. is our favorite among them. (There are wonderful things to eat and photograph slightly inland on Brighton Beach Avenue, but that’s a story for another day.)

If the weather’s too hot for eating borscht, another menu option at Café Volna is caviar on Russian pancakes. And the cherry dumplings are delicious any time of year.

 

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment