Coney Island Impact on Urban Life

Daniel Salehinasab

U.S. History

December 16, 2014

Mr. Ward

Thesis: Coney Island impacted urban life by bringing the different social classes together.

Coney Island

Towards the beginning of the nineteenth century, the separation in social classes began to grow. In order for a successful society, the gap between social classes should not be too large. And even if they are, they should be prevented from growing or be suppressed. Millions of urban Americans began to turn to poverty and failed in partaking in the American dream. poor living conditions and hardships were the few problems of many Americans at the time. With population on the rise, problems began to increase. Due to the massive overcrowding, lots of diseases were spread. Sanitation was also a huge problem. Big cities faced more and more problems with their increasing populations. The increase of population also resulted in an increasing crime rate. Coney Island is where all these social classes came together. At first it was only the wealthy and the poor that came to Coney Island. But soon the middle class took interest in Coney island as well.

Times grew harder and people needed a place to relax and enjoy. This is where Coney island came in. Coney Island began as a long strip of beach but soon transformed over time. Coney Island was a stepping stone in transforming the social norms at the time. The elements of Coney Island "constituted the counterculture of Victorian America; their activities, and an inversion of genteel cultural norms" (Kasson 29). Coney Island was where people came to forget about their troubles and relax. With all the hard times, it was nice to have a place where they could just come and relax. Coney Island was seen as a mixing place, where people came to for one purpose; to take a break from their lives. Coney island was a popular area where people of all social classes came and were unified for one sole purpose. This did eventually lead to the downfall of Coney island.

As social groups began to mix in Coney island, the groups were separated by the different amusement parks and hotels. The two luxury hotels are where the high class and sometimes the middle class were; the Brighton beach hotel and the Manhattan beach hotel. The enclosed amusement park was specifically designed to lure in the middle class. The sea lion hotel was where the lower class began to refuge. As the amount of the lower class increased in Coney Island, so did the amount of criminals. This did impact peoples opinions of Coney Island. But, the higher and middle class were always protected by the guards that patrolled the island. Coney Island effectively gave way to all social classes to participate. A class divide did exist in Coney Island. The different social groups were scattered across the island in different parts.

Luna Park

At first Coney Island was mostly intended for the higher and lower class. The social classes were separated geographically by the east and west end. The increasing population of the lower class lead to crime and corruption. Without the help of private enterprise, the middle class would not have a place at Coney island. The creation of the amusement park is what really brought all the social classes together. The creators knew that they needed all the social classes to be active in Coney island to insure the survival of the island. Therefore, they decided to appeal to the desires of the middle class in order to lure them in. With luring the middle class into Coney island they successfully brought all three social classes together.

Coney island transformed peoples views not only on their free time but themselves. Coney Island was a key factor in urban life at the time. Bringing all three social classes together for one sole purpose; leisure. This was genius, and it unified  the classes making them realize that even with the difficulties of their daily lives and the separation in classes they are all still the same. And they all have the same needs.

Works Cited

McBeath, Carter John. "Coney Island ." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
I used this source to get information about Coney Island in general

See J. Kasson, Amusing the Million (1970), and W. Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements(2001).
This source gave me a brief description about Coney Island in general

Devitt, Nora. "Coney Island: Early History." Coney Island: Early History. Creative Commons, 2006. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
This source gave me a lot of information about early Coney Island

American Experience. "Coney Island." PBS. PBS, 2000. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

This source had a timeline about COney Island

Ushistory.org. "The Underside of Urban Life." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
This source gave me a really good view on the impact of Coney Island on urban life

Lethem, Jonathan. "CONEY ISLAND VISIONS." NYCfuture. Center for an Urban Future, Nov. 2008. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
This source demonstrated the passion and visions people still have about Coney Island today