In October of this year, the Croton Free Library and Croton Friends of History will host a presentation of lost New York City amusement parks from authors and educators Barbara and Wesley Gottlock (see www.crotonfriendsofhistory.org)
That reminded us of Coney Island in its heydey....Click on the photos from the Everything Croton archives--circa 1880's. Enjoy! UPDATED--SEE PART 2 HERE http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2014/07/part-2-lost-amusement-parks-cfoh.html
And remember Freedomland in the Bronx? Freedomland was a U.S. history-themed amusement park in the
Baychester area of the borough of The Bronx, New York City; it opened in 1960 and closed in 1964. Click on the link to see a great old photo courtesy of
Flickr friend Jim Griffin http://bit.ly/1rjCk6s
Freedomland was one of the best amusement parks ever. It was difficult to understand why it closed. My Dad and I were there almost every weekend and it was very reasonably priced. Some of my happiest memories are from that place and it sparked a life long love of American history.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 60's, there was still some hope for Coney Island, however small. Then came urban renewal and whole tracts of neat small scale architecture that was still salvageable were torn down to make way for oversized multi-storied ugly buildings of little character and zero charm. You know the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I was in Coney Island was in 2003. What a mess.
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