Coney Island

Coney Island , beach resort, amusement center, and neighborhood of S Brooklyn borough of New York City, SE N.Y., on the Atlantic Ocean. The tidal creek that once separated the island from the mainland has been filled in, making the area a peninsula. A seaside resort from the middle of the 19th cent., rail service made it an extremely popular resort, attracting up to a million visitors on hot summer days. The beach, the 2-mi (3.2-km) boardwalk, the New York Aquarium, and the many notable eating places were other attractions. Although it remains a popular attraction, Coney Island has declined considerably since its heyday in the 1920s and 30s; its residents are the poor and elderly. Since the 1950s, high-rise apartments (many of which have fallen into decay) have replaced much of the amusement area.

Bibliography: See J. Kasson, Amusing the Million (1970), and W. Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements (2001).

Coney Island a resort and amusement park on the Atlantic coast in Brooklyn, New York City, on the south shore of Long Island.

Coney Island, New York/USA Konijn Eiland Although no longer an island, it was called by the Dutch ‘Rabbit Island’ and this name appears to have been Anglicized.