Coney Island Summers

Coney Island is as gaudy, tacky, trashy, offensive and irresistable as you might think. Ron and I paid a visit there on Sunday. It was a very rainy day, but my heart was set on it, and I only have a week left in New York. Also, it's kind of nice to be near the ocean when it's raining, I think. So, we sat on a smelly, humid New York subway train for one hour. We perked up immediately, however, when we got off the train and smelled the fresh ocean air. Invigorating! Our first stop was Nathan's, a mega-famous hot-dog joint. Nathan's has been around since 1892, and it hosts the annual Fourth of July hot-dog eating contest. In 2001, a Japanese man ate 50, setting a new record. I hate hot dogs, so I had a hamburger and fries. It was truly delicious! The fries were the crinkle-cut kind, and I was fully satisfied. After Nathan's, Ron and I headed to the boardwalk for a nice stroll. It was just drizzling at this point, and there were a lot of people around, some even frolicking in the ocean! We walked by the "Shoot the Freak" game, in which you can shoot at a human target. The "freak" wasn't on his pedestal, but as I stopped to take a picture of the sign the carnie who runs the attraction said, "You want to shoot the freak? He's around, hold on I'll get him." I declined. Another carnie, who ran one of those horse-racing games, held up a sign between games that said "Big Ass Prizes."

There are a lot of rides at Coney Island, and they are all basically of the Ex variety. They are also expensive ($5 per ride! per person!) so Ron and I chose one, the Wonder Wheel. I thought it would give us a nice view of the island. The ride was kinda lame, but we did notice a preponderance of mobile homes tucked among the rides, leading us to believe that the carnies live on-site. And have no doubt about it my friends, Coney Island is staffed entirely by carnies. After our two cursory spins around the wheel, we hit the fairgrounds again, and ducked into a circus sideshow because it was raining heavily. The sideshow had all the standard sideshow acts - a woman who eats fire, a man who hammers nails into his nose, a woman who swallows swords and then contorts her body inside a box as the box is filled with more swords, a woman who can channel electricity through her body, and a woman who does an erotic dance with a DEADLY boa constrictor. There was also a "wolf" man from Mexico, who has a genetic condition that causes him to grow hair all over his face. His talent was tightrope walking, but it serves mainly as a justification for staring at his face. I was already feeling uncomfortable with this whole sideshow business, but that sealed the deal; I had to leave. And that was pretty much the end of our day at Coney Island. We hopped on the N train and rode it ALL THE WAY to the end of the line, to Queens. We travelled through 3 boroughs! It took forever, but it was worth it, because in Queens our friends Risa and Jeff kindly fed us stir-fry and sushi. That's right, we ate sushi! No fish though, TG.