Coney Island, Luna Park and Surf Avenue, 1912 (Final Sale)
This birds-eye view of the entrance to Luna Park was taken in 1912 by Irving Underhill, one of the preeminent commercial photographers of early-20th-century New York (the NYPL Digital Gallery has made 249 images from Underhill’s career available to the public). This image may have been taken to be rendered as a colored postcard or “souvenir card.” You can almost feel the sea breeze and hear the roar of the crowds from the rides, the clang of the machinery and the din of the trolleys and Tin Lizzies bringing in the daytrippers. Hugely popular in its heyday, Luna Park lives on at Coney today (albeit in a slightly different location and with a modernized interpretation of its facade) and is notable as the home of the infamous Cyclone roller coaster.
