POTW: Beach

[View of beach at Coney Island], 1958, V1974.4.528; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.

There’s nothing quite like a beach day at Coney Island. Personally, I love that the proximity to Coney Island allows New Yorkers and tourists alike to experience the beach without leaving the city. This photo was taken in July 1958, but in some ways, it doesn’t look much different than a Saturday scene today---crowds, families, umbrellas, sprawled all along the coast line. This year, Coney Island is open one week longer (until September 13), so there’s even more time to take full advantage of a Brooklyn summer.

In the mid-19^th century, Coney Island was a seaside getaway for the upper middle class. By the turn of the century, Coney Island was the most popular amusement park in the world, thanks in part to popular attractions and accessibility. Coney Island has changed and evolved over time, but it still remains an extremely popular destination. According to NYC Parks, there were roughly 11,453,890 visitors to Coney Island last summer. If you’re interested in learning more about the vast and fascinating history of Coney Island, Brooklyn Historical Society has extensive resources to get you started.

This photograph comes from the John D. Morrell collection.  Morrell was a photographer and Assistant Librarian at BHS, and donated over 2,000 photographs to the photography collection. The subject matter is primarily of Brooklyn neighborhoods taken between 1957 and 1963. To see more images from this collection, take a look at this gallery.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org