The history behind “Coney - A Trip to Luna Park”
Rabbits over Coney Island - Original concept art painting.
This story has been in development for a long time. While I was living in Brooklyn, we would often visit Coney Island, go to Nathans and, of course, ride on the Cyclone. But there was something about Coney Island that occupied a different place in my mind.
So I started to do research on the beginnings of Coney, at the turn of the century. Searching databases like images in the Library of Congress, and other NYC specific sites, I found amazing pictures of what Coney was like back then. The clarity and depth in the images so good that I felt as if I could step right into the pictures.
This inspired me to create a story about that time in Coney Island, Brooklyn. I found out that the word “Coney” was derived for the Dutch word for Rabbit.
The Story was Born!
The narrative has gone through changes in the last few years.
The main characters are:
Millie- A young girl who lives in Coney Island.
Selena - A Rabbit living in the dunes at the edge of the ocean.
Fred Thompson- The ACTUAL creator and designer of Luna Park.
The REAL Fred Thompson- Making his Creations!
Skip Dundy- his real life partner. I have taken some creative license regarding his rather nasty personality.
Skip attacks Selena. The REAL Skip Dundy might have been nicer.
Illustrations drawn from History
My concept of a trolley riding across the dunes in Coney Island. Trolleys were a good way to travel back then, and Millie is taking this ride home. Note the steamship in the background. Passengers from Manhattan would board these steamships that brought them to the pier at Coney.
This is my interpretation of how the building of Luna Park might have looked. Steeplechase Park was already in operation. Feltman’s frankfurters, the predecessor to Nathans was THE place to get a hot dog back in the day.
This view of Luna Park at night is composed by archival photographs as reference for my painting.
This image is an adaptation of an archival photograph of Luna when it first opened.
This painting is a composite of actual photographs taken at Luna ca. 1904
This is taken from a picture of the main promenade in Luna Park.
Partially based on actual reference pictures, I used my own artistic license to make this shine!
If you Google search for “A Trip to the Moon” in Coney Island, you will mostly likely see this picture. I have adapted it, of course, but very few images exist of the actual Airship.
A rear view of the Airship as I imagine it might have looked, based on the image that I found.