Nastalgic Look at Coney Now and Coney Then

[pilotank]

It's always nice to look back on places that once what was. Coney Island holds true in this regard.

A look back at Coney yesterday, surprisingly reveals a majority of the park is still intact today as it stood in 1971 during it's last year as an amusement park.

http://members.aol.com/y2coasters/coneyohio.html

Recent trips to Coney show many attractions and buildings still exist, however some now have different uses.

Still present are:

Sunlite Swimming Pool

Games Building

Lake Como

Brick and stucco souvenier building and candy store

Moonlite Gardens

Auto Gate/ River Gate

Two Picnic Pavillions

Turnpike Building

Ferry Landing

Administration Building

German style Biergarten

Cafeteria w/ bathrooms

Rides Building

Two Baseball Fields

These can be seen at:

http://coneyisland.KICentral.com/photo/thu...ls.php?album=34

or you can just go and walk around the park, which I reccomend because you can almost feel and hear the old amusement park as well as enjoy today's park.

There also many plants and trees that have survived close to 40 years, most notably some Ginko trees that lined The Mall and were shaped like Push-Up Novelty Ice Cream. Also, it appears the remnants of the Turnpike still exists on the north side of Lake Como.

There may have been some I missed. Please respond if you know of any others.

pilotank

[XGatorHead 8904]

Last Friday I attended the Moody Blues concert at the new National City Pavilion. When going to Riverbend I always park in the lot next to River Downs, but this time I decided to park in the other lot, just so I could walk through Coney. That was the first time I had walked through in many, many years, and the first time that I ever paid any attention to any of it (the only other time I walked through was for a Jimmy Buffett concert, and let's just say I wasn't in very good shape to remember much! ).

I took the time to walk around, and I must say Coney is a fine little park. I found myself wondering what it was like in it's heyday; I unfortunately was born a little too late to experience that. My company is having a picnic there on 6/21, but I won't be able to make it because my daughter has a dance recital at 3:00 that afternoon, and by the time that's over and the drive down there, we wouldn't have much time to enjoy anything. Oh well, maybe some other time. There's plenty there for us all to enjoy.

And the concert was good. Even though I was in the back section, the seats were great! I highly recommend this venue. With it looking so much like the main Riverbend pavilion (only smaller), it threw me off when I was able to see the Python and Rock-O-Plane to the right of the stage!

[CoastersRZ]

There are no remains of the old turnpike cars at Coney, either on the north shores of Lake Como, where the house the tents for the annual flower show every April, or the turnpike building as you call it.

Yes, the administration building is still there, as is the old games building, which still houses games, as well as the group sales office, employee cafeteria, rides office, and a few food stands including Skyline.

The old biergarten at the back of the Administration building is no longer a food stand but used as Coney`s comissary for preparing food for company picnics. The old cafeteria building is now Coney`s warehouse and maintenance building. The old Dodgems, Whip and Cuddle Up building is now known as Moonlite Pavilion, and is home to special events. The Lakeside Pavilion still remains from Coney`s hey day and is home to Coney`s live shows, the Museum Shop (a gift shop) as well as season pass processing. Additionally, the current LaRosa`s building across from the entrance to the Famous Fairways Mini Golf is also a building that predates 1972.

There is not much left of existing rides at the park. The tunnels/bridges that the Coney Island and Lake Como Railroad used to pass under the parking lot at on the north west side of Lake Como are still there. Other then the buildings and the train tunnels, not much remains in terms of remnants of rides from Coney in its hey day.

[raptor]

ah, I miss the days when you could go over to Coney and get on a ride or two before a concert at riverbend, but since they did away with tickets it is hardly economically feasable.

[CoastersRZ]

Ah yes. The good old individual ride tickets! Those were abandoned after the 2002 season I believe (although, it might have been after the 2003 season). But it has been about five years since those were last used. Individual tickets cost 50 cents, and the kiddie rides required two tickets, while most of the adult rides required three. The Pepsi Python required six tickets to ride.

[pilotank]

There are no remains of the old turnpike cars at Coney, either on the north shores of Lake Como, where the house the tents for the annual flower show every April, or the turnpike building as you call it.

On page 224 of Cincinnati's Coney Island by Charles FJ. Jacques, Jr., there is a park map ca. 1971

which shows the Turnpike building as the current building where shows are performed today on the south-east corner of Lake Como. In addition, that's where I remember boarding the cars when I was a kid. I can still see the neon colored lights lining the turnpike where the ornamental gas lights are now. The La'Rosa's building is the former souvenir building and candy stand next to the old Skee Ball building.

pilotank

[flightoffear4thtrain]

In the candy section at Jungle Jim's Market, they have the candy set on top of three of the old bumper cars that used to run on the dodgem at Coney Island. The colors of the cars are green, blue, and red and they say Coney Island on the front.

[CoastersRZ]

Pilotank, the current live shows building (called Lakeside Pavilion now) was NOT part of the turnpike care ride. If you take a visit to the great site Cincinnati Views, they have an extensive section on Coney Island. Included in this section is the aerial image that I linked to below.

You can clearly see that the Turnpike "building" was indeed separate from the Lakeside pavilion, although they were located immediately adjacent to each other. The old site of the turnpike building is now the home to the Ferris Wheel, and has been since the Ferris Wheel was installed at Coney in 1990.

[pilotank]

Pilotank, the current live shows building (called Lakeside Pavilion now) was NOT part of the turnpike care ride. If you take a visit to the great site Cincinnati Views, they have an extensive section on Coney Island. Included in this section is the aerial image that I linked to below.

You can clearly see that the Turnpike "building" was indeed separate from the Lakeside pavilion, although they were located immediately adjacent to each other. The old site of the turnpike building is now the home to the Ferris Wheel, and has been since the Ferris Wheel was installed at Coney in 1990.

Thanks for the info, and that is a great photogragh and website.

It's obvious that ca. 1971 map is eroneous in it's depiction.

Do you know what happened to the trains after the park closed?

My brother in-law actually has an original horse drawn wagon that was used in the ride.

pilotank

[CoastersRZ]

I unfortunately, do not know what happened to the train from Coney Island.