Coney Island in Popular Imagination
"Ach, it's just like what I see when I dream of heaven."- Girl from New York (Peiss 115)
Coney Island, even for its humble beginnings and its crowded streets, really was like a dream to many people. Within the boundaries of Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase, lights blazed, music hummed and the real world faded into the background. Coney Island represented a place where people and their imaginations were no longer confined to the workday world. This opportunity for escape inspired people to create in many ways. Art, in any form, is typically a portrayal of a previously repressed feeling, so thereby the study of it can help us to better understand the sentiments of people at any given time, and how those sentiments change over time. On this site, we will attempt to learn more about the people visiting Coney Island through the study of their artistic expressions, specifically in the genres of music, film, and literature.
