Page 479 - Demo

Summer Fun A Token Away:New Life In The Old BoardsBY LIZ KOCHMounds of hotdogs and french fries still characterize Nathan%u2019s Hotdogs on Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, and the black and white maze of the Cyclone elevated against a wall of high-rise apartment buildings leaves no question of the authenticity of history in this once world famous playground. Over the years, the pungent aroma of black tar, sticky in the hot sun, and the wet wood from the piers has wafted over the boardwalk to mingle with the pink sweetness of cotton candy, as roller coasters cars heaved down rickety tracks.Starkly, the spindly wood frame of the cyclone%u2014still in operation%u2014takes its place in the landscape. The Parachute Jump, once an attraction of great obsession at Coney Island, is a relic now, standing alone at the tip of a field that was once Steeplechase Park. Rats scurry under the boardwalk and its elegant industrial silhouette stands on the ever narrowing periphery of the Coney Island playground. On a pier that stretches narrowly out into the ocean, crab cages fly into the water and teenagers high dive into the dark choppy waters, scrambling madly in the air before the final plunge.Coney Island today is nostalgia. What was, still stands. It%u2019s a constant reminder of Brooklyn%u2019s roots. Thundering cars on the Cyclone maintain a link to the past and the boardwalk ride still nurture significant obsession as 14-year olds crowd on machines that spin endlessly, upside down right side up, forward and backward to the beat of music. However, demons leering from the spook houses look more like cultural artifacts and a side show featuring a man who drives a five-inch spike throughlii o u c a u w i w i a i l i C c a X c ( T iu d id u u l C d i ,a real spike, a real axe and a real head,%u201d says the silver sequined announcer,) musters a few chuckles, but gullibility to pay $2.00 to see this feat has vanished.Reporter Liz Koch and friend at Coney Island.The past cannot be brought back to Coney Island, but the temptation is strong, especially when history has a physical presence; a powerful reminder of the fantasy by the sea shore at the turn of the century. For a group of artists, known as the Coney Island Hysterical Society, it is history and the absurdity of bygone traditions that they hope to restore to Coney island. These memones returned briefly to the boardwalk this weekend when these artists, brought back a relic of the past, a fast vanishing breed of silliness kiown as theContinued on Page 11%u25a0 %u25a0 > %u25a0%u25a0 X , Km i * %u2018 . X . %u25a0 ' ^ - mm * *****i ^ ^ m .%u2022 . * * s u n > : %u00ab ** * %u00ab r xri ^i \* 1 ^\# !x%u25a0- .%u00bb* ' - ...%u2019/i ^1 i %u25a0x.*'* - V^ v ' * ^*%u00bb> *s . ** >*N***fc%u00ab,..~1 x *- _ %u2022 < > 31mAugust 28,1986, TH E PHOENIX, Pag* 9