Coney Island

Veteran photographer Harvey Stein sees Coney Island, New York, as an "oasis of decay, funkiness, hope and joy, uninhibited behavior, and visual stimulation." After an initial enchanting visit to the island as an adolescent, Stein has returned there countless times with his camera. For this book of photographs, he turns his lens on Coney Island's amusements--the neon-ringed Wonder Wheel and famous Cyclone roller coaster--and the boardwalk, where lovers cavort and an elderly man leans against a graffiti-littered wall, holding a reflector under his chin to catch the sun's rays. Stein's film documents the annual Mermaid Parade, in which flame-haired little girls and bejeweled grown men hit the streets in their deep-sea best--sequined bikinis, saran-wrap tails, and body paint. Stein also photographs the area's workers, including the men who sell Pirate Ship tickets and hot dogs and the women who charm snakes and oversee the shooting gallery. And, of course, he turns his camera on the beach-goers--tattooed, dark, light, cavorting, and asleep. Together, these color images convey the sense of Coney Island as an exaggerated amusement park with a broad spectrum of happy visitors. There is a time line in the front of the book that documents fascinating trivia about Coney Island such as the date of the frankfurter debut and the opening of its first roller coaster, but the photos are the star attractions.