Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-01-29
GAY CONEY ISLAND
THE MOST NOTED PLAYGROUND OF
OUR COUNTRY.

OUR COUNTRY.
All Kinds Of People all Forms Of Amuse-
ment -Boatinf Surf Bathing - Music
Everything to Eat and Drink that Money
Will Buy-Chutins the Chutes s-Jumbo-
Human Tobossan-The Mersehaum Pipe.
Through Which You Slide Down Hill
Rolling Balls. Device to Simulate Huge
Roulette Wheel.
This is the one place in the United
States where it is Fourth of July the
year round. That is, that the acme OF
boisterous fun seems to be OH all the
time. You can hear the rumble of the
multitude as You approach the city
where miles away in the conversation
of those bound cityward or returning
from the most memorable event Of their
sight. eeing in visit to the great city.
Here the feats of the worlds greatest
performers are of everyday occurrence,
in endless succession, and everybody
seems to arrive with smile of antici-
patton and return with an expression OF
content ment and satisfaction. To visit
New York and not see Coney Island, is
to eat dumping without the sauce, or
drink q cocktail without the top-sheaf
farewell of the cherry.
The first object sighted in approach,
miles away, is Jumbo" an immense ell
ephant, standing isolated on plain. On
near approach, however, it assumes gi-
gantic proportions, and on inspection it
2urns out to be a large restaurant, en-
tered by winding stairway in the trunk
by which curiously-inclined visitors as.
cend to get square meal.
That's the way it seemed when visited
by the writer quarter OF a century ago,
and from the record it seems to have
not only kept up its gait but made q
progress that corresponds with the
geometrical progression of the leading
city and State.
Coney Island is now at the top crest
of the greatest year ever enjoyed by
any pleasure park since the days of
old, when ancient Greeks turned to
groves of trees for their relaxation
from the city's life and thus started
the fad.
This handful of sand fashioned into
an island, and by q fortunate accident
placed only half an hour from the big
gest city Of the new world, has never
experienced such a summer as the
present.
One million rides at 10 cents per day
is the average Of the patronage that
has rewarded the most ingenious de-
vices for the pleasure of amusement
hunters that man has ever yet thought
out.
The chute the chute, the tob0ggan,
the ticker, the trip to the moon, mer-
ry-go-round. human toboggan, ride on
the camel and all the other hundreds
of curious devices have drawn as nev-
er before. Boats and cars have car
ried unending professions of thous-
ands to this wonderful place Of fun,
with its mile after mile Of peerless
beach. its strange medley of queer hu-
man activities, its astonishing min
Cling Of noise. laughter, song and folly
"Coney has hit its high spot this
year." to put it In the language that is
the vogue on the island.
And Coney's high spot Is something
to comment on. for the island has had
q wonderful career. In a way the
great success of this year is tho re-
ward Of virtue. for the steady effort
Of the last few years to do away with
all that was questionable, and permit
only on the island the cleanest Of fun.
has converted Coney into a place
where little offends, and the enterprise
of private capital Is so we'll pleased
with the result that the place will new.
er be permitted to fall back again.
Coney is the place for the production
Of thousand novel sensations. It is
virtual enchanted land. where the
only things that keep the visitor in
touch with the practical life he has left
is the boundless supply Of eatables and
drinkables.
The cloud piercing towers, the sea
Drawing piers. the countless shifting
throng. dazzling in its holiday attire,
might take man from the world he
has known were 1t not for the fire.
quent announcement from countless
venders that frankfurters. popcorn, taf-
fy. oyster. clans. candy. lemonade and
ice cold soft drinks were never so good
or frequent.
Trolley cars. railroad trains. steam.
boats. launches, carriages and automo.
biles take their freight Of pleasure
hunters to C0ney. The day has pass
ed when the island is the pleasure
point for the poor alone. The rich 60
out for frolic. and the husband whom
business keeps in the city while his
family hibernates at shore or noun
tains takes his night runs out to Con-
ey. and In many cases has a better
time than the wife and family far
away.
The night scene in itself Is enough
to attract the crowd. All that the
amazing genius of the power Of elec-
tricity can do to make the place look
different from anything on the terres-
tial ball has been accomplished. In
brilliant lines Of fame the towers and
buildings are dotted out against the
blue Of the sky.
The man who would make a round
of the sensation producers has arrang.