Coney Island Wander

I had always heard about Coney Island from the movies. When I first got to New York it was actually the only place I'd heard of in Brooklyn. So in November 2008, I decided to make my first trip to the borough and visit Coney Island.
I was expecting a big cheezy amusement park. But when I got off the subway I was struck by what a shithole the place was. Granted, it was November, but I was expecting some sort of life. Everything seemed shuttered and covered in graffiti - maybe I was too used to the Upper East Side. I didn't take many pictures because I was still in a phase of only taking pictures of the tourist attractions. I'm planning on heading out there again now that I've been here a while to see how my impressions have changed, and to get some pictures before the whole place gets redeveloped.

Click here for the wander map.



I got off the N Train at Coney Island-Stillwell Ave and headed straight for the beach. The neighbourhood looked pretty sketchy, and aside from Nathan's Famous, it was pretty closed too.
The parachute jump from the beach:

It was a beautiful sunny day, but cold I headed west along the beach to see if I could see the city from the end of the beach. Nice view looking southwest:

looking back east towards the amusement park:

 

This looked like an actual fishing boat:

  

I was pretty surprised to find the end of the beach blocked off and a gated community at the eastern point of Coney Island. I didn't realize that those existed in New York City, especially since the rest of the area seemed so getto; maybe that's why they wanted the gates. Anyway I couldn't get to the end of the beach, or see if there was any view of the city, so I got up on the boardwalk and headed back east.

  

    

I walked all the way down to the other end of the boardwalk to the end of Brighton Beach. Then I headed back up off the beach and walked under the el along Brighton Beach Ave and back to the subway. This seemed like a pretty cool neighbourhood; I didn't hear any english on this wander -- lots of Russians/Eastern Europeans. I'm planning to head back soon to explore off the boardwalk more.