Coney Island - a peninsula on the southern tip of Brooklyn. Once it was the largest entertainment center in the United States, here now a residential area and an ocean beach.

In the short story by O. Henry "Penny fan of" millionaire fell in love with the shop, he proposed to her and promised to show the wonderful place where gondolas among the palaces and temples go between the Hindu elephant. Millionaire offers a journey through the world, and the poor girl has decided that he wants to ride it to Coney Island, and gave a "penny fan 'resignation.

The misunderstanding was because at the junction of the XIX and XX centuries, Coney Island has been a seaside resort with a variety of entertainment. Millions of visitors come there to escape from the summer heat or thrills on local attractions. "Luna Park" covered newfangled electric lights in the park "Dreamland" visitors were taken on a small railway by imitation Venetian canals and the Alps. These elephants went there too. Poor, poor saleswoman!

At the beginning of XX century in "Dreamland" The view is amazing at the time the exhibition of existing incubators for premature babies. This ward has one wall of glass, and through it-and staring onlookers who paid a dime. So Dr. Martin Coney argued necessity of new technology (in hospitals while the incubators are not used). Many premature babies have been saved in the "Dreamland", the parents it was not worth anything - the cost is covered by the visitors.

In the forties, Robert Moses, "the builder of New York" took the Coney Island. He blew a few entertainment districts, in their place to build an aquarium and an ice rink. Last amusement park was closed in 1964. In the fifties, "Rabbit Island", as its name translates from mixed Dutch-English, became a peninsula when partially filled Strait Coney Island Creek.

Now Coney Island consists of three quarters - Sea Gate, Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach, which has long lived people from the Soviet Union and the new Russia.

Neighborhood Sea Gate ("Sea Gate"), on the western tip of the peninsula - private. On three sides it is surrounded by water, and a fourth - closed fence. The inhabitants of the quarter its beaches and marinas, the streets quiet summer all go in bathing suits. It is private life.

But on Coney Island a lot of space for the public space. Almost five kilometers takes the famous ocean beach, separated from the living quarters of the wide wooden promenade. Here the mass of cafes and shops. In the recent new "Luna Park" is full of modern attractions. New York Aquarium, coming right on the waterfront, offers to watch the games, sea lions and otters.

At the corner of Surf Avenue and Stillwell Avenue, you can visit the historic diner - "Famous Nathan's frankfurters." Frankfurter - a hot dog, which in 1916 began to make prescription wife Ida Polish immigrant Nathan Hendverker. His clients included Al Capone, Cary Grant, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - say, Roosevelt entertained these hot dogs the British royal family in 1939, and ordered them to yourself in Yalta, when it met with Churchill and Stalin.

This snack - a piece of the old Coney Island as parachute tower near the "Luna Park". It was built for the World Expo 1939 - important visitors rose by 58 meters and jumped with a parachute. Now the tower is not working, but completely renovated and stands on a wooden quay as a reminder of the former New York.