A new exhibit on the cultural history of Coney Island's bathhouses and the art of bathhouse tags will open on August 11 as part of our "History Day" celebration and will be on view through September 3rd.

There were once more than 50 bathhouses of all kinds lining the beach at Coney Island. A century ago bathhouses provided the only access to the beach and, for many, a home away from home. Now hardly anyone knows what a bathhouse is. The shorefront facilities were a popular cultural phenomenon, providing entertainment, lockers, changing rooms, showers, swim suit rentals, steam baths, massive salt water pools, athletic equipment, game courts, restaurants, and fenced wooden decks for nude sunbathing. This exhibit provides a history told in photographs, admission tickets, oral history, and the folk art of bathhouse key tags.

The Coney Island History Project is open Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 12 noon - 6pm through Labor Day. Admission is free of charge. Our exhibit center is located at 3059 West 12th Street at the entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, just a few steps off the Boardwalk.

Coney Island History Project The exhibition center is also open by appointment for schools and groups and for special events. It is the starting point for the Coney Island History Project's popular walking tours of the amusement area. The 1-1/2 hour walking tours are led by historian Charles Denson or poet/teaching artist Amanda Deutch, who have over 100 years of family history in Coney Island! Please visit our online reservation website to see the walking tour schedule and purchase advance tickets online. If you have a question or to arrange a group tour, e-mail events@coneyislandhistory.org.

This season the Coney Island History Project is presenting "Coney Island Kids See Coney Island! Art, Photography and Poetry." Young people who live or go to school in Coney Island and are currently in grades K-12 are invited to be part of a special exhibit featuring their perceptions of their neighborhood. Artwork, photos, and short poems are featured in a digital slide show and a rotating display of original work at the Coney Island History Project's free exhibit center. Work will also be shown online via CIHP's flickr photo sharing page and Facebook.

Artists and their families will be invited to a special event at the Coney Island History Project in the fall to celebrate the exhibit and will receive a limited edition souvenir badge.

GUIDELINES

1. Send a scan or photo of your work as a jpeg via email to coneyislandhistory@gmail.com
2. Mail original work up to 11 x 17" to Coney Island History Project, c/ Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, 3059 West 12th St, Brooklyn NY 11224
3. Bring work to the Coney Island History Project during exhibit center hours. We're open Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 12 noon - 6pm through Labor Day.

There is no fee to enter the show. Include the artist's name, age, zip code and school. Photos of people requiring a release are not eligible.

The project is supported by a JPMorgan Chase Foundation Grant by the Brooklyn Arts Council. The JPMorgan Chase grants support Brooklyn-based arts organizations whose primary mission is to provide arts and cultural activities open to the general public.

This organization has received funding from the 2012 JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC).

Never-before-seen photos of the ornate interior of the Shore Theater Building by Coney Island History Project director Charles Denson are on view at our exhibition center through September 3rd. The new exhibit "Inside the Shore Theater: Photographs by Charles Denson" is open to the public on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 12 noon - 6pm. Admission to the Coney Island History Project is free of charge.

The seven-story, neo-Renaissance style theater and vaudeville house and adjacent 14-story office building at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues opened in 1925 and operated for half a century. Both structures have been closed and sealed up for decades. The theater's facade was granted landmark status in 2010, but the interior is not protected and vulnerable to demolition. The images provide a rare glimpse of a Coney Island treasure.

In August 2011, the Shore, formerly known as the Loew's Coney Island, was inducted into the History Project's Coney Island Hall of Fame in the architecture category. "The Shore Theater represents not just Coney's golden past, but also its bright future," said Charles Denson at the ceremony. "Now that it's been granted landmark status, the Shore awaits a renovation that will make it the year-round entertainment center of a new Coney Island."

New displays at the Coney Island History Project include vintage signs from Spook-A-Rama, the classic 1955 dark ride that still operates in Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. Visitors are invited to chill out by sitting in an eye-popping spookhouse car and taking a souvenir photo. The car was designed by Bill Stabile for Harvey Fierstein's "Spookhouse" in 1984. After the play closed, artists Philomena Marano and Richard Eagan put it on display at the Coney Island Hysterical Society's Spookhouse in the Dragon's Cave, which was on West 15th Street across from the Thunderbolt.

A selection of photos from this season's acclaimed exhibit "Abe Feinstein: 50 Years of Coney Island Photography" will remain on view through the summer. A new exhibit on the cultural history of Coney Island's bathhouses and the art of bathhouse tags will open on August 11 as part of our "History Day" celebration.

The History Project is located at 3059 West 12th Street at the entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, just a few steps off the Boardwalk.

The exhibition center is also open by appointment for schools and groups and for special events. It is the starting point for the Coney Island History Project's popular walking tours of the amusement area. The 1-1/2 hour walking tours are led by historian Charles Denson or poet/teaching artist Amanda Deutch, who have over 100 years of family history in Coney Island! Please visit our online reservation website to see the walking tour schedule and purchase advance tickets online. If you have a question or to arrange a group tour, e-mail events@coneyislandhistory.org.

Coney Island History Project Executive Director Charles Denson, who grew up in and has documented Coney's West End, received the Coney Island Heritage Award from the Amethyst Women's Project and citations from the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate for his work as a historian, photographer and author. Pictured above at the Awards Ceremony at Amethyst Street Fair on June 29 are Alec Brook-Krasny, New York State Assembly Member; Diane Savino, New York State Senator; Charles Denson, Coney Island History Project Executive Director; Aida Leone, Amethyst Women's Project Executive Director; and Rev. Connie Mobley, Pastor of United Community Baptist Church.

"We honor and thank you for your tireless effort and dedication," says the citation from the State Assembly. "As a person who gives exemplary service to their communities, whether through participation in voluntary programs, through unique personal achievement in their professional or other endeavors or simply through a lifetime of good citizenry."