Coney Island in popular culture

Coney Island has been featured in films, television shows, cartoons, and theatrical plays.

A view of the Wonder Wheel with the former Astroland Park in the foreground.

Nathan's Famous

In literature

Coney Island is often mentioned in literature, including O.Henry's stories.

• In "Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century" by John F. Kasson, the author "examines the historical context in which Coney Island made its reputation as an amusement park and shows how America's changing social and economic conditions formed the basis of a new mass culture."
• Coney Island features prominently in Joseph Heller's novel, Closing Time.
• In "Coney" by Amram Duchovny, a tale about 1930s Coney Island as told from the perspective of a 15-year-old Jewish boy as he relates his interactions with his family, the group of freaks from Coney's sideshow, the midget who owns the bike shop on the boardwalk, the wheelchair crime boss with arson on his mind, and many other colorful characters from this historic Brooklyn landmark.
• Poem "Coney Island" by Jose Martí in 1881
• A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a classic collection of poems from the Beat era. The title was inspired by Henry Miller's work.
• Coney Island Wonder Stories, edited by Robert J. Howe and John Ordover, 2005, contains science fiction and fantasy stories set in Coney Island throughout its history, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Steven Popkes, Maureen McHugh, Mike Resnick, J. R. Dunn, Kij Johnson, Paul Levinson, and other writers.
• In Kevin Baker's book Dreamland, much of the drama and pivotal moments take place in the vicinity of Coney Island and its amusement parks.
• The Electric Michelangelo, a novel by British novelist Sarah Hall, is set partly in Coney Island and describes much of the amusement area as it was at its peak prior to World War ii and describes some of its post-war decline.
• Rachel Trezise's short story collection, Fresh Apples, contains a story called "Coney Island" set partly in Coney Island in Brooklyn, and partly in Coney Beach, Porthcawl, South Wales, a beach and funfair named after New York's Coney Island.
• In the comic book G.I. Joe, the character Scarface lived under an abandoned roller coaster on Coney Island.
• In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby invites Nick to go to Coney Island after his meeting with Jordan Baker.
• In It's Like This, Cat, Dave and Cat go to Coney Island in a chapter.
• The Last Shot, by Darcy Frey, follows a group of high school basketball players from Coney Island.
• Hubert Selby Jr's novel, Requiem for a Dream, is set in Coney Island.
• Samantha at Coney Island by "Josiah Allen's Wife" (Marietta Holley), 1911, was a popular young-adult novel in the early 20th century.
• In Twelve by Nick McDonell, a novel about a group of rich kids in Manhattan who pass their time taking drugs and partying, the protagonist, White Mike, visits Coney Island. The amusement area is described very negatively (shabby, run-down, deserted, no kids, but hookers and drug dealers).
• The Warriors by Sol Yurick is the 1965 novel that inspired the 1979 movie with the same name. The novel itself is loosely based upon Anabasis by Xenophon. Today, some Coney Island gift shops sell t-shirts and other merchandise based on the film.
• "Wonderland" a poem by Trash about the Junkyard Baseball Venue. The poem, set in Coney Island, follows a young man's journey from a local park (the mythical Junkyard) to the major leagues.
• In the Super Mario World episode "Mama Luigi," Mario meets up with Luigi and Yoshi and says, "Luigi, King Koopa has the Princess locked up in his Coney Island Disco Palace. And I fought my way out, and I've been looking for you ever since!"

In music

Jason Sebastian Russo at Coney Island filming a Hopewell music video, April 2009

• An early musical reference came in 1926 with "Coney Island Washboard Roundelay", music by Hampton Durand and Jerry Adams, words by Ned Nestor and Aude Shugart. The song is commonly accompanied by a percussionist playing a washboard.
• "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" was written in 1948 by Les Applegate and is often included in the repertoire of a barbershop quartets.
• American country singer Jimmy Davis references Coney Island in his song "Where The Old Red River Flows".
• Australian modern classical composer Don Banks (1923–1980) composed a short orchestral work called "Coney Island" around 1960 to 1961, which gives a vivid musical picture of the amusement park. It was included on an L.P. record, "Musical Merry-go-round", released in 1961, with music by various composers inspired by the circus and fairground world, played by the Sinfonia of London, conducted by Douglas Gamley and Robert Irving.
• American singer-songwriter Lou Reed's 1976 album is entitled Coney Island Baby and features the track "Coney Island Baby".
• American rock band Aerosmith has a song called "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)" from their 1979 album Night in the Ruts.
• The debut album of the American jazz band The Lounge Lizards contains a song called "I Remember Coney Island".
• American rock band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts has a song called "Coney Island Whitefish" from their 1982 album Album.
• American rock band Velvet Underground has a song called "Coney Island Steeplechase" on the 1986 album Another View.
• British Group Swing Out Sister recorded a track called "Coney Island Man" during their "Kaleidoscope World" sessions and featured on their single "You On My Mind" in 1989.
• Pop group New Kids on the Block filmed parts of the video for "Please Don't Go Girl" at Coney Island. Several rides including the Wonder Wheel and the Hell Hole are shown.
• American rock band Mercury Rev references Coney Island in the song "Coney Island Cyclone", from their 1991 album Yerself Is Steam.
• American synth-pop band The Magnetic Fields references Coney Island in "Strange Powers" from 1994's Holiday''.
• American alternative rap / alternative rock group Fun Lovin' Criminals has a song called "Coney Island Girl" on their 1996 album Come Find Yourself.
• American rock band Death Cab for Cutie have a song called "Coney Island" from their 2001 album, The Photo Album.
• American singer-songwriter Tom Waits has a song called "Coney Island Baby," on his 2002 album Blood Money. He also references Coney Island in his songs "Table Top Joe" from the 2002 album Alice and "Take It With Me" from the 1999 album Mule Variations.
• New York singer/songwriter and banjo contortionist, Curtis Eller has a song "Coney Island Blue" on his 2004 album "Taking Up Serpents Again"
• Brooklyn, New York indie rock band, The Honey Brothers (which features Adrian Grenier on percussion) have a track titled "Coney Island Baby (I Am Yours)" which is available for download at their MySpace URL.
• German punk band The Flunkeys released a single from their 2007 album, No Riot, called "Coney Island".
• American Detroit, Michigan native rapper Bizarre's 2007 album release is titled "Blue Cheese 'n' Coney Island" referring to the style of chili dog.
• American band Beat Circus' 2008 album entitled Dreamland, references the turn-of-the-century Coney Island theme park Dreamland in several of its songs including Coney Island Creepshow and Hell Gate, and includes historical images and postcards of early Coney Island donated by the Coney Island Museum.
• The Franz Ferdinand song Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On features lyrics about a girl in New York, and includes the lines '"But if you run you can run to the Coney Island roller coaster / Ride to the highest points / And leap across the filthy water'".
• The Godspeed You! Black Emperor song "Sleep" features Murray Ostril reminiscing over the glory days of Coney Island, supposedly in a post-apocalyptic existence.
• Cyndi Lauper's 1994 DVD entitled "Twelve Deadly Cyns And Then Some" contains footage of the singer spending an afternoon at Coney Island. Refer to IMDB for verification.
• In 2008, reggaeton singer De La Ghetto filmed some parts of his video Es Dificil in Coney Island. The Wonder Wheel is visible in some parts of the video.
• The 311 Song "Welcome" from their album Music makes reference in the lyric "A Coney Island of the mind it's mine // I swipe the sweets strip the beats in the sunshine"
• British band Tears for Fears' song Call Me Mellow on their album Everybody Loves a Happy Ending includes the lyric '"We'd live on ice-cream on Coney Island '".
• The indie/folk-rock band Good Old War have a song called "Coney Island" on their debut album, Only Way To Be Alone.
• Coney Island is mentioned in David Bowie's song "Slip Away" from his album Heathen.
• American Hip Hop artist Bobby Bloodbath of Coney Island, NY references his hometown in a guest appearance on "Concerto del Muerto" a track off of the Wax and EOM album entitled Liquid Courage, released independently by AGP in December 2008.
• American rap group Onyx mentioned the place in the start of their song "Shut 'Em Down".
• In 1982, the music video of Even the Nights Are Better by Air Supply featured the Coney Island.
• Brooklyn based hardcore/post-grunge band Life of Agony filmed a music video for their single "Through and Through" on Coney Island beach in 1993.
• Popular gothic metal band Type O Negative's first compilation album Least Worst Of features a upward looking view of the Coney Island Parachute Jump on the album cover.
• Coney Island is mentioned immediately between references to Brighton Beach and Riker's Island by American rapper Necro in the track "I Need Drugs," from the same album, released in 2000. This line in the song implies Coney Island and Riker's Island both have major drug abuse problems even though Riker's Island is a sprawling, isolated New York penal colony.
• Coney Island is the place where Joey Ramone took his girlfriend in Ramones song called Oh Oh I Love Her So.
• The song "Topsy's Revenge" by the band Grand Archives tells the story of the infamous death of Topsy, the Coney Island elephant, famously electrocuted by Thomas Edison.
• English singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell has a song called Coney on his 2007 album "Man On The Roof"
• The song "Coney Island" by Plastiscines French Rock band in their album "About Love" Release 2009 by Nylon Records
• British band The Coral have a song called Coney Island on their 2010 album Butterfly House

Onscreen, in film

• The 1999 Bollywood movie Aa Ab Laut Chale has few scenes and a song "Janeman Janeman" that were shot on the boardwalk of Coney Island. Aishwarya Rai wore a swimsuit in this song which made it a bit controversial in the movie's native India.
• In A.I. (2001), directed by Steven Speilberg and featuring Haley Joel Osment, David and Teddy take a submersible to the Blue Fairy, which turns out to be a statue from a submerged attraction at Coney Island. Teddy and David become trapped when the park's ferris wheel falls on their vehicle.
• In the film Alien Nation, James Caan's character makes a reference to a Coney Island Whitefish.
• In the movie Angel Heart, Mickey Rourke goes to Coney Island, to gather information on his case. The Wonder Wheel is seen in the background.
• Alvy Singer, the lead character in Woody Allen's 1977 semi-autobiographical film classic Annie Hall lived in Coney Island as a child in a house that was under the Thunderbolt rollercoaster that shook wildly every time the coaster made its rounds. Alvy's father ran the bumper cars' concession.
• A Coney Island amusement park is the setting of the Rhedosaurus' last stand in the 1953 sci-fi film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
• The final scene of the 2008 movie Cloverfield shows the main characters on the ferris wheel at Coney Island
• It was the title and the setting for the 1943 Betty Grable musical, Coney Island.
• The 1998 drama He Got Game takes place in Coney Island.
• The 1985 movie Heaven Help Us contains a scene where Andrew McCarthy and Mary Stuart Masterson's characters spend a date at Coney Island, and kiss passionatley(and possibly go even further than that) under a boardwalk during a rainstorm.
• The 1927 silent film It, starring Clara Bow, features a trip to the park and a tour of the historic rides.
• Coney Island will be portrayed in the film Last Days of Coney Island, written and directed by Ralph Bakshi.
• In the 1973 Peter Bogdanovich film Paper Moon, Moses Prey (played by Ryan O'Neal) tells Addie (played by Tatum O'Neal) to "Eat your Coney Island and drink your Nehi".
• In the critically acclaimed 1953 independent film Little Fugitive, a small boy runs away to Coney Island after thinking he has killed his brother.
• In the 1968 Disney comedy The Love Bug, David Tomlinson and Buddy Hackett spend an evening consuming a barrelful of Irish coffee. In a drunken exchange, Tomlinson asks Hackett "What part of Ireland did you say your mother was from?" Hackett cackles back "Coney Ireland!"
• In Madigan, Coney Island is the backdrop for a scene wherein the title character and his partner speak with a local bookie to get information on their suspect.
• Coney Island is a location in Darren Aronofsky's first two films, Pi(1998) and Requiem for a Dream(2000), specifically Brighton Beach for the latter. Darren Aronofsky grew up in Brighton Beach.
• In the film The Pick-Up Artist, Molly Ringwald's character lives in Coney Island, right across from Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.
• In Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Remo Williams (played by Fred Ward) is seen doing workout exercises on the Wonder Wheel, as well as playing boardway games on Coney Island.
• The 2000 film adaptation of Requiem For A Dream took place in Coney Island.
• In the 1982 film Sophie's Choice, the characters played by Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol spend "Dress-Up Sunday" at Coney Island. Prior to this, Sophie exclaims "Coney Island - Oh boy!" with unparalleled enthusiasm.
• In the 1928 silent film Speedy, Harold Lloyd spends a day at Coney Island with his girlfriend.
• In the 2009 movie The Taking of Pelham 123, the scene with the run away 6 train into Coney Island.
• In the 1948 film Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven, Mandy (Florence Bates) takes Eddie (Guy Madison) to Coney Island where Perry (Diana Lynn) works in swimsuit in an amusement booth.
• The Three Stooges slapstick comedy team, composed of brothers Moe, Shemp, and Curly Howard, all hailed from Brooklyn and made several references to Coney Island.
  • In the 1946 Western-themed The Three Troubledoers, Curly quips: "Badlands Blackie is no match for ol' Coney Island Curly, n'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk."
  • In the 1946 pirate-themed Three Little Pirates, Moe advises that the great "Maharaja" (Curly) has fair maidens on his islands of "Coney" and "Long."
• The 2008 movie Two Lovers is set in Brighton Beach. Starring in the movie is Gwyneth Paltrow whose mother Blythe Danner played in the movie Brighton Beach Memoirs.
• The 2005 film Unknown White Male begins with the lead character waking-up on Coney Island with a sudden case of retrograde amnesia.
• In 2003 in the movie Uptown Girls, with the late Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning's character runs off to Coney Island.
• Perhaps the most famous fictional residents of Coney Island come from Walter Hill's 1979 cult film The Warriors. Based on Sol Yurick's novel, the film charts the progress of a street gang called "The Warriors" as they travel from their Coney Island turf up to a meeting in the Bronx, get framed for killing a powerful gang leader, and then have to fight their way back to Coney Island with gang members and police chasing them.
• Coney Island is seen at the end of The Other Guys, with a peacock flying overhead.

Onscreen, in television

• The American Dragon: Jake Long episode, "Flight of the Unicorn" (November 3, 2005), features Jake, Trixie, and Spud taking a vacation at Coney Island and discovering an actual unicorn on display, which they try to rescue and send to its herd in Central Park.
• In a Dora the Explorer episode, Dora and Boots go to "Coney Island".^{[citation needed]}
• In the The Golden Girls episode, "Sophia's Wedding"(1988), Sophia mentions that her late husband Sal and his business partner used to run a pizza & knish stand at Coney Island.
• In the Seinfeld episode, "The Subway" (January 8, 1992), Jerry Seinfeld travels to Coney Island to retrieve his stolen car, but ends up just going on the rides.
• Several episodes of The Sopranos have scenes at Coney Island, including the episode "Where's Johnny?"(March 21, 2004).^{[citation needed]}
• In an Ugly Betty episode, Gio takes Betty and DJ (Daniel Junior) to Coney Island to hide from his grandparents who are going to take him back to France.
• The Wizards of Waverly Place episode, "Detention Election" (March 19, 2010), contains a B-story wherein Jerry Russo, Max Russo, and Harper get stuck on a ferris wheel at Coney Island.
• Coney Island is the setting for the Wonder Pets episode, "Save the Squirrel!", wherein the Pets saved a baby squirrel from a ferris wheel and then from the Cyclone rollercoaster.
• Coney Island was the base for Dr.Blowhole in the Penguins of Madagascar episode, "Dr.Blowhole's Revenge" where the penguins discovered where he was so they can rescue King Julien and defeat Blowhole.

Onstage

• Neil Simon's 1983 play Brighton Beach Memoirs (also a 1986 movie) depicts growing up in the Coney Island area, and features scenes with the Coney Island rollercoaster in the background.
• Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, takes place on Coney Island. It opened in London on March 9, 2010.

In video games

• In the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, also produced by Rockstar Games, a take on Coney Island, "Firefly Island", is featured in the game, complete with an amusement park, and a take on both the Cyclone, Parachute Jump and Wonder Wheel.
• Much like the film, Rockstar Games' take on The Warriors is based in a miniaturized version of Coney Island as well as other parts depicted in the film.

References

• [1].
• "Coney Island: The People's Playground," by Michael Immerso.
• Immerso, Michael (2002). Coney Island: the people's playground (illustrated ed.). Rutgers University Press. p. 176. ISBN 0813531381, 9780813531380. http://books.google.com/books?id=i4POVzmwY9cC&pg=PA176&dq#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 

• Rabinovitz, Lauren (2004). "The Coney Island Comedies". In Charlie Keil, Shelley Stamp. American cinema's transitional era: audiences, institutions, practices (illustrated ed.). University of California Press,. ISBN 0520240278, 9780520240278. http://books.google.com/books?id=cB2MfzmdwYkC&pg=RA1-PA171#v=onepage&q=&f=false.