The Other Coney Island

Sunday 10/22, Run #70: Coney Island

Distance: 9.31 miles
Time: 1:10
Pace: 7:31
Temp: 50
Dewpoint: 42
Weather: mostly sunny

click on image for interactive map



Unique Miles Today: 7.90
Total Unique Miles: 554.50
Percent of Brooklyn Run: 31.82

For the complete route click here

Notes: This morning I focused my efforts on the western two thirds or so of Coney Island, and -- as alluded to in the title of today's post -- this is the part of the neighborhood that many folks might not be as familar with. Lots of people visit the boardwalk and amusement park area, of course, and older fixtures like the Cyclone and newer ones like Keyspan Park are as popular as ever. But beyond these attractions the streets continue on to the west, with a mix of older, run-down houses, huge apartment buildings, public housing projects, and even some newer development. Up along the northwest edge of the peninsula is a small beach which fronts Gravesend Bay, and though it isn't as accesible as the ocean beaches on the southern shores of Coney Island or as clean (there was quite a bit of litter), it was also not very crowded (I had it, in fact, all to myself) and offers a fantastic view of the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge just a few miles to the northwest. Elsewhere, commercial enterprises are limited mostly to Neptune Avenue, except for the occasional bodega or small-time auto repair place, and there were a few small churches. By and large, the area also seems resistant thus far to any widespread gentrification, and though I'm certainly no expert on such things it seems like a lot of the neighborhood probably looks a lot like it did 10 or 20 years ago (which is definitely not the case in many other areas of the borough). This could all change in a hurry, of course, so I'm really glad I got to poke around the corners of this place when I did.

Anyway, except for a few short stretches of Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, I'm just about done with Coney Island now. I still have yet to run Sea Gate (the gated community at the far western tip), but I'll probably do that next week, after I figure out who I've got to talk to in order to get in there in the first place. After a day off tomorrow, I'll probably be back on the street Tuesday, so do be sure to check back then.

Today's photographic installment:


Apartment building on W. 24th Street


Mural on W. 25th Street


Kings County Wastebasket Repository, also on W. 25th



The Coney Island beach most people don't see (north of Bayview Ave)


W. 32nd Street, near the boardwalk