Coney Island

<p> Before the Civil War Coney Island boasted a beach a dozen small hotels with ramshackle bathhouses some chowder stands and a few saloons. After the war it was taken over by powerful individuals who made its 0.7 square miles a domain of the wealthy. By 1905 with the population of New York City at four million the city's amusement park builders designed an entertainment wonderland on the island that even the poor could enjoy creating a nickel empire where visitors paid five cents for the subway five cents for a Nathan's hot dog and five cents for a ride. In 1910 Coney Island saw 20 million visitors--more than Disneyland and Disney World combined could claim 70 years later adjusted for population growth. Through the decades the island has seen changes of fortune floods and fires cycles of decay and rehabilitation. Yet the ultimate power on the island was and is the government of the city of New York which--for good or ill--has made Coney Island what it is today.</p>