Those really ARE ants, not people.
They had a terrible time with them that year (the ants, not the people).
In this present era of "super" this
and "mega" that, the old Cyclone looks pretty tame. But don't let looks
deceive you - it was
a heck of a ride (and the locals NEVER had their four dogs and fries
from Nathan's until AFTER the coaster ride).
That large structure (262 ft) in the
background is the golden image of the Eagle God Krell, worshipped
by native
Coney Islanders for eons. Or maybe it's the Parachute Jump, also
worshipped by Coney Islanders for eons. Occasionally
the mechanism failed and parachute jumpers got stuck somewhere in
mid-space for a few hours until the mechanics
arrived and figured out what the heck was wrong. The screams of the
jumpers thus dangling could be heard (under the
right weather conditions) in New Jersey. But nobody ever got killed, as
far as I know. (Naturally Wikipedia has more
information - click
here if you're
interested.)
Sure, it may LOOK cheesy, but a stuffed animal (of indeterminate
species) won the heart
of many a Brooklyn lass back in the day (and usually made it easier to
convince her to attend the
famed Sheepshead Bay submarine races - full details available on
request).
Just looking at this picture makes my mouth water uncontrollably. There
is NO HUMAN DINING
EXPERIENCE that can even hope to approach a few Nathan's dogs
accompanied by fries (the
crinkly kind, often imitated, never equalled) and/or onion rings, the
whole floated to its
destination on a giant orange drink (10% orange pulp, 90% water, who
cared?).
The Nathan's hot dogs you can buy today in local stores are
amazingly true to the original - if you can't find them, Hebrew
National are just as good.
