Funtopia pt. 3: Coney Island & Glen Echo Park in high-resolution

Step right up!

Coney Island must have once been the most amazing place on the planet. A century ago the countless electric lights, the whacky architecture and the daring and dizzying machines must have filled the audience with awe and wonder.

The spectacular thing about these pictures is not exactly what they show, but how they show it. These are photos from 35mm nitrate or glass negatives. Besides having the sepia tilted tone, they are incredibly sharp and detailed. Click on the picture for full size and marvel at the depths and details:
Above shows Coney Islands Luna Park in 1913. The ride on the left was called "The Frolic". (click pic to maximize!)


Note the people sitting on feeble stairs in the middle of the picture? This is not a café but a ride called "The Teaser". The photo was taken in Luna Park in 1911. (click pic to maximize!)


A look down Surf Avenue in 1913 (click pic to maximize!)


One of many fires that devastated Coney´s amusement parks destroyed Dreamland in 1911. (click pic to maximize!)


Here are a few photos of Glen Echo Park, Maryland in the 1920s. (click pics to maximize!)






Glen Echo Park was one of the typical american trolley parks. Built at the end of trolley or bus lines, they blossomed during the first half of the 20th century. When race-segregation finally crumbled during the sixties, many parks were abandoned by the white population. By the end of the sixties many of the trolley parks closed indefinately.

The last picture is a snapshot from the Delta County Fair, Colorado in 1940, taken in glorious Kodachrome. (click pic to maximize!)
I found these pics on the wonderful photo site Shorpy the-100-year-old-photo-blog. This blog is full of hundreds of high-resolution historical photos. Highly recommended!