The boardwalk runs about two and a half miles. From October the beachfront empties out completely.
What Coney Island looks like
Coney Island is a beach with a boardwalk about two and a half miles long. Behind it is what is left of an amusement district that was once much bigger.
The has been running since 1920. Some of its cars are fixed and some slide on rails as the wheel turns, which is why the ride looks unsteady from the ground. The , a wooden coaster from 1927, is on Surf Avenue at West 10th Street.
The stands at the western end. It was built for the 1939 World's Fair in Queens and moved here afterwards. It has not carried a rider since 1968. It is lit at night and it is visible from most of the beach.
Between them there is a mix of newer rides, arcades, food stands and a lot of paint. The signs are large and repainted often. Some of them are hand painted. Nathan's has been on the Surf Avenue corner since 1916.
The useful thing about Coney Island for a production is the season. From October the rides shut down and the whole strip empties. On a weekday the boardwalk and Surf Avenue are close to deserted.
Brighton Beach is a mile east along the same boardwalk, with a Russian speaking commercial strip under the elevated line on .
Films shot on Coney Island
Coney Island has been filmed steadily for fifty years, and off season it empties out enough to close streets.
Two films, one boardwalk, twenty one years apart
Both end here. One uses the beach as a place to escape to, the other as the place you were always going back to.
Darren Aronofsky shot on location in and around Coney Island from 19 April to 16 June 1999. The locations included the boardwalk, the amusement parks and Brighton Beach. Sara Goldfarb's apartment is in Brighton Beach, a mile east along the same boardwalk. The scene on YouTube
Coney Island is where the Warriors are from and where the film ends. The gang spends the night crossing the city to get back to it. The scene on YouTube
What Coney Island can double for
Coney Island can stand in for an American seaside resort past its peak, a fairground and 1970s New York.
