Take a trip to Russia for the cost of a subway ride, sit on the beach, sample New York’s most famous hot dog, brave the cyclone and other amusement park rides, visit the New York Aquarium and watch baseball. Not traveling with kids? start later- try a Russian spa and follow up with Russian banquet & elaborate Russian-Vegas style cabaret and cab home!
Best time to visit: All year.
Length of trip: Put aside at least 4-5 hours, train ride takes 1 hour
Difficulty level: Lots of walking (about a 1 and 1/2 miles from Brighton Beach to Coney Island) and stroller friendly.
Suitable for: All age groups - who don’t mind a walk
Other Comment: Great for gifts bring a kite, towels, swimsuit
Views: From Q train leaving Manhattan – spectacular
Advance Planning: links to web sites are in red
Coney Island Events Calendar for parades and celebrations
Coney Island, Manhattan and Brighton Beach hours, rules, safety
The Swim Guide reports on water quality and safety level at NYC beaches
The New York Aquarium for opening hours, feeding times, shows and entrance fees
Luna Park NYC: Cyclone, Thunderbolt &other rides location, opening hours, tickets and day passes
Advance Planning: links to web sites are in red
Coney Island Events Calendar for parades and celebrations
Coney Island, Manhattan and Brighton Beach hours, rules, safety
The Swim Guide reports on water quality and safety level at NYC beaches
The New York Aquarium for opening hours, feeding times, shows and entrance fees
Luna Park NYC: Cyclone, Thunderbolt &other rides location, opening hours, tickets and day passes
The Coney Island Museum & Store hours and location
The Coney Island Circus Side Show for times, cast and dates other that summer season
The Mermaid Parade A wild costume parade held mid June click for details
The Brooklyn Cyclones for tickets, fireworks calendar and special nights (April-September)
Magic at Coney Island There's a special Halloween show and lessons can be booked
The Coney Island Circus Side Show for times, cast and dates other that summer season
The Mermaid Parade A wild costume parade held mid June click for details
The Brooklyn Cyclones for tickets, fireworks calendar and special nights (April-September)
Magic at Coney Island There's a special Halloween show and lessons can be booked
Flicks on the beach Outdoor 40 ft inflatable screen -beach at W12th Street: July & August
Russian Bathhouses For adults ready to brave the experience
Mermaid Spa to try a Russian Banya (sauna). Mermaid has been written about in the New York Times and the New Yorker. For more reading about Banya's
Tatiana's Restaurant & Show - 3152 Brighton Avenue for elaborate weekend Russian/Las Vegas style dinner & show if you are exploring the area without kids. Check out the times and book. Here's and enthusiastic description of the experience https://www.theinfatuation.com/new-york/reviews/tatiana-restaurant-nightclub. Their instagram posts say it all!
Subway Stop: B or Q Train to Brighton Beach
Events: Hot Dog Eating Contest (July 4th see Coney Island Events Calendar), Mermaid Parade (June)
It's a long train ride so you will get a chance to hear this man's voice many times. Below is a cute documentary about the man behind the announcer voice on New York City Subways.
START: Take the B or Q train to Brighton Beach and descend the stairs. Look to the right towards the Coney Island parachute jump and follow Brighton Beach Avenue westwards under the train tracks walking in the direction of the parachute jump (photo below)
START: Take the B or Q train to Brighton Beach and descend the stairs. Look to the right towards the Coney Island parachute jump and follow Brighton Beach Avenue westwards under the train tracks walking in the direction of the parachute jump (photo below)
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You will be immersed in a foreign world - in all things Russian (language, faces, food and music). This areas is known as Little Odessa since it was originally settled by Russian Jewish refugees and the population expanded during the 1990's when Russia began to open up its borders. Neil Simon's play "Brighton Beach Memoir" is set here and is semi autobiographical.
Off beat shopping opportunities abound along Brighton Beach Avenue.
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| Brighton Beach Store |
Street vendors and bakers sell Pirozhki dough pockets with savory or sweet fillings, cheap and delicious. Also worth trying are Ukrainian boiled dumplings stuffed with meat or potatoes or cabbage called Vareniki (link to article about dumpling eating in Brighton Beach )- a good place to sample them, but bring cash, is Varenichnaya at 504 Brighton Avenue. For Russian grocery stores try Taste of Russia, St. Petersburg Books & Gifts, Net Cost Market or Tashkent Supermarket an Uzbek supermarket all marked on the map and along the route. Tatiana’s at 3152 Brighton Avenue and 6th Street is another great restaurant and is also famous for it's cabaret club. Farther out at 1141 Brighton Avenue is Kashkar. Kashgar is a city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The cuisine is influenced by its location along the silk road - with an emphasis on lamb, mutton and hand pulled noodles with Middle Eastern, Chinese and Indian spices.
Walk west to Nathan's on Surf Avenue (nearest subway stop: West 8th Street, New York Aquarium if you don't feel like walking). Coney Island is an essential part of New York social history in 1873 25-30,000 people would make their way here at weekends. The stretch of boardwalk and beach thrived after Luna Park opened in 1903. It is said 250,000 came on opening day, since then it has gone through a few iterations and was recently re-furbished and re-opened. Luna Park was the first permanent and enclosed amusement park. The wooden Cylone rollercoaster (featured in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall") dates back to 1927.
Trailer for a documentary about Nathan's made by Nathan Herdwerker's grandson
Nathan’s website claims that the restaurant is the home of the first hot dog in the United States. Nathan Handwerker a polish immigrant established the business in 1916 using his wife Ida's recipe and sold them for 10 cents each. Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor who were working as singing waiters at the time told him that he could beat the competition if he cut his price to 5 cents and the rest is history. Al Capone was a regular customer and worked as a bouncer at the nearby Harvard Inn and Cary Grant (then known as Archibald Leach - newly arrived from England, cut and fried potatoes at Nathan's). Since its opening Nathan's hosts a 4th of July hotdog eating contest (click to find out more).
Woodie Guthrie settled here in 1940 at the age of 28 - he left his native Oklahoma during the dust bowl and headed first to California giving voice to the living conditions of his fellow migrants through his songs. He eventually found his way to New York City relieved to find a place where he could work free of censorship. It was here he wrote "This Land is Your Land". Arlo Guthrie was born here as was another famous singer Neil Diamond. In 1918 Harry Houdini performed his "Vanishing Elephant" illusion at the local New York Hippodrome theatre.
Continue on down to the New York Aquarium at Surf Avenue and west 8th Street. The aquarium is the oldest in the United States of America and has recently been renovated after being damaged during hurricane Sandy.
Further along you will find the Cyclone a very scary ride. The now defunct Astroland website stated: “Time Magazine quoted Charles Lindbergh as saying that a ride on the Cyclone was more thrilling than his historic first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Story has it that Emilio Franco, a mute since birth, regained his voice on the Cyclone, uttering his first words ever – ‘I feel sick’!”
A new addition to stomach churning experiences is the recently installed Thunderbolt. The original ride, dating back to 1927 was taken down and replaced in 2014. Below is a short documentary called "Under the Roller Coaster" and tells the story of a woman who lived under it.
Here is a preview video of the new Thurnderbolt ride provided by the New York Times.
The Coney Island Circus Side Show is at Surf Avenue and West 16th Street is slightly macabre but worth a visit. Sword swallowers, contortionists, snake charmers, fire eaters, chain saw jugglers are par of the performance. Shows are run continuously, last about 45 minutes and are held daily during the summer season and see "Advanced Planning" for September dates. According to the website "hours are subject to weather conditions". Tickets cannot be reserved and can be purchased at the door. The Circus Side Show also offers a series of classes (for 18 years old and over - fire eating, snake charming, sword swallowing and bed of nails are amongst the skills being taught) during August as well as a circus banner painting class see the link above ("Advanced Planning")for details.
Also check out the calendar for magic shows and the Museum of Interesting Things bounding ball sing a long 16mm movie.
Here is a preview video of the new Thurnderbolt ride provided by the New York Times.
The Coney Island Circus Side Show is at Surf Avenue and West 16th Street is slightly macabre but worth a visit. Sword swallowers, contortionists, snake charmers, fire eaters, chain saw jugglers are par of the performance. Shows are run continuously, last about 45 minutes and are held daily during the summer season and see "Advanced Planning" for September dates. According to the website "hours are subject to weather conditions". Tickets cannot be reserved and can be purchased at the door. The Circus Side Show also offers a series of classes (for 18 years old and over - fire eating, snake charming, sword swallowing and bed of nails are amongst the skills being taught) during August as well as a circus banner painting class see the link above ("Advanced Planning")for details.
Also check out the calendar for magic shows and the Museum of Interesting Things bounding ball sing a long 16mm movie.
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| The Mermaid Parade |
The Mermaid Parade at Coney Island is held on the first Saturday of the summer and starts at noon on Surf Avenue and West 21st Street. 2017 Queen is Debbie Harry. Participants wear mermaid or sea creature costumes and parade to the beach to open the summer swimming and sea gods are appeased. Suitable for children? It can be quite bawdy. The website answers: “.. its an art parade, not a showcase for naked girls. There’s always at least one little girl’s birthday party marching...”
Don't forget to try the beach.
You might be able to enjoy ore even enter a film for the Coney Island Film Festival held annually in the first few weeks of September see Coney Island Film Festival
Finish the day by picking up tickets for minor league baseball (the Mets) at the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium two blocks west from Nathan's (Stillwell and Surf Avenues) – Games start at 7pm and are played throughout the summer. The website calendar lists firework and promotion dates. With good weather you can’t go wrong. Another option if someone is looking after the kids, is a to make your way down to Mermaid Spa - 3703 Mermaid Avenue- a Russian bathouse and sweat off the walk. The bathhouse has featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The New Yorker. It has "three Russian steam rooms, a dry sauna, Turkish bath, two ice-water pools, a Jacuzzi, and several other relaxing amenities inside a lodge-like wooden hall. You can also book a massage or a traditional ‘platza’ service which involves a whole-body massage using a birch ‘venik.’ “We wanted to create an environment that was similar to an authentic Russian bathhouse, or ‘banya..."
.jpg/240px-Coney_Island_beach_(June_2016).jpg) |
| Coney Island Beach |
Don't forget to try the beach.
You might be able to enjoy ore even enter a film for the Coney Island Film Festival held annually in the first few weeks of September see Coney Island Film Festival
Finish the day by picking up tickets for minor league baseball (the Mets) at the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium two blocks west from Nathan's (Stillwell and Surf Avenues) – Games start at 7pm and are played throughout the summer. The website calendar lists firework and promotion dates. With good weather you can’t go wrong. Another option if someone is looking after the kids, is a to make your way down to Mermaid Spa - 3703 Mermaid Avenue- a Russian bathouse and sweat off the walk. The bathhouse has featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The New Yorker. It has "three Russian steam rooms, a dry sauna, Turkish bath, two ice-water pools, a Jacuzzi, and several other relaxing amenities inside a lodge-like wooden hall. You can also book a massage or a traditional ‘platza’ service which involves a whole-body massage using a birch ‘venik.’ “We wanted to create an environment that was similar to an authentic Russian bathhouse, or ‘banya..."
If you are exploring the area with out kids - experience and elaborate Russian style dinner and cabaret (at weekends) at Tatiana Restaurant Brighton Beach Avenue - you might need car service home!
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