The Riegelmann Boardwalk (also known as the Coney Island Boardwalk) is a boardwalk on the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, United States. Opened in 1923, the boardwalk runs along the Atlantic Ocean between West 37th Street to the west, at the edge of the Sea Gate neighborhood, and Brighton 15th Street to the east, in Brighton Beach. It is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks).
The Riegelmann Boardwalk is primarily made of wooden planks arranged in a chevron pattern. It ranges from wide and is raised slightly above sea level. The boardwalk connects several amusement areas and attractions on Coney Island, including the New York Aquarium, Luna Park, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, and Maimonides Park. It has become an icon of Coney Island, with numerous appearances in the visual arts, music, and film. After its completion, the boardwalk was considered the most important public works project in Brooklyn since the Brooklyn Bridge, with a comparable impact to the Catskill Watershed and Central Park.
By the mid-19th century, the Coney Island waterfront was divided among several private entities who erected barriers. Plans for a Coney Island boardwalk were first discussed in the late 1890s as a means of uniting the different sections of Coney Island, and as a revitalization project for these areas. The boardwalk, designed by Philip P. Farley, was named after Brooklyn borough president Edward J. Riegelmann, who led its construction. The Riegelmann Boardwalk's first portion opened in 1923, with further extensions in 1926 and 1941, as well as several modifications and repairs throughout the 20th century. After NYC Parks proposed repairing the boardwalk with concrete in the early 21st century, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Riegelmann Boardwalk a scenic landmark in 2018. A renovation of the boardwalk was announced in November 2021 but was delayed.
Description Dimensions and materials
The Riegelmann Boardwalk stretches for from West 37th Street at the border of Coney Island and Sea Gate to Brighton 15th Street in Brighton Beach. The boardwalk is wide for most of its length, though portions in Brighton Beach are wide. It is raised above sea level to protect against storm surges. According to a speech given in 1923 to the Rotary Club of Brooklyn, the raised boardwalk was designed to "give ample clear space under the boardwalk" both parallel and perpendicular to the deck. Staircases and ramps lead southward to the beach at intervals of blocks or . Ramps also connect the boardwalk to the streets to the north.
The boardwalk has a steel and concrete foundation supporting wood planking for the walkway, though much of this is no longer visible due to the beach having been raised after the boardwalk was constructed. The boardwalk was built using of sand, of stone, of reinforced concrete, and of timber flooring. To prevent violent waves from crashing against the boardwalk, sixteen rock jetties were built at intervals of . The beaches are not a natural feature; the sand that would naturally replenish Coney Island is cut off by the jetty at Breezy Point, Queens. Following the boardwalk's construction, sand has been redeposited on the beaches via beach nourishment.
The boardwalk is designed to handle a maximum load of . To accomplish this, designer Philip Farley installed a precast concrete-girder structure under the boardwalk on the advice of J.W. Hackney, who designed Atlantic City's boardwalk. Pile bents were placed every , with each bent containing two bundles of four reinforced concrete piles. The piles rest on bases that measure square and extend downward . The ends of the girder structures are cantilevered outside the piles.
The boardwalk's planks are set in a modified chevron design, running at 45-degree angles between two longitudinal wooden axes. The diagonal pattern was intended to "facilitate ease in walking", according to American Lumberman magazine, while the wooden axes were designed for chairs to be rolled down the boardwalk. The boardwalk was first built using Douglas fir planks from Washington state. By the early 2010s, sturdy hardwoods were added to the boardwalk, as were plastic and concrete. The boardwalk is used as a bike lane between 6a.m. and 9p.m. each day, except during summers, when cycling is curtailed after 10a.m. The boardwalk must be manually shoveled during snowstorms, as road salt and snowplows both damage the wood.
Amenities
There are restrooms, benches, and drinking fountains along the boardwalk's length, both atop the deck and beneath it. Five pavilions and five pergolas were completed in 1925 by J. Sarsfield Kennedy. These no longer exist but were designed in the Mediterranean Revival style and contained arched doorways, along with tiled roofs supported by corner piers and Tuscan columns.
There were also "comfort stations", or restrooms, beneath the boardwalk, characterized by ornamental semicircular stairs and rooftop terraces at the same height as the deck. Most of the shade pavilions south of the boardwalk were built in the 2000s and 2010s and are elevated to comply with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) storm-surge regulations, though there are also some historic pavilions from the 20th century. The newer pavilions, designed by Garrison Architects, are modular structures that are installed in pairs. The modular structures contain double-layered stainless-steel facades and are powered by photovoltaic cells. There are four non-functional historic cast iron fountains as well as newer, functioning steel fountains.
The boardwalk's original street furnishings included 170 street lights with twin lamps, similar to those installed on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. These street lights are placed every , as well as at street intersections. Benches that faced the ocean were installed by the J.W. Fiske Ironworks Company, but have since been replaced.
Attractions Modern attractions on the boardwalk include Luna Park, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, and the New York Aquarium. The boardwalk is adjacent to Maimonides Park, which opened in 2001 and is the home stadium of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Minor League Baseball team. A live performance venue, the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, opened on the boardwalk in 2016. Several amusement parks that formerly faced the boardwalk, including Steeplechase Park (1897–1964), the original Luna Park (1903–1944), and Astroland (1962–2008), no longer exist.
There are several officially designated landmarks on the boardwalk. The Childs Restaurants building, a New York City designated landmark that is now the site of the Ford Amphitheater, opened in 1923 at West 21st Street; its terracotta facade was designed to blend in with the boardwalk's appearance. To the east is the Parachute Jump, a defunct parachute tower ride standing tall, which is both a city landmark and a National Registered Historic Place. The B&B Carousell, directly beside the Parachute Jump, is the last operating carousel in Coney Island and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Coney Island Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster built in 1927 at West 10th Street, is the only operating coaster on Coney Island from the 20th century, and is both a city and national landmark. Set inland from the boardwalk is the Wonder Wheel (built 1920), an eccentric Ferris wheel which is tall and recognized as a city landmark. Other attractions on the boardwalk include the Thunderbolt roller coaster and the Abe Stark Recreation Center, as well as small amusement rides, shops, and restaurants.
The First Symphony of the Sea, a wall relief created by Japanese artist Toshio Sasaki, was installed along the boardwalk, outside the New York Aquarium, in 1993. It is long and tall. The relief contains depictions of waves, fish, and zygotes of marine species in terrazzo and ceramic.
Steeplechase Pier
Steeplechase Pier, the only one remaining on Coney Island's beach, extends southward from the boardwalk's intersection with West 17th Street. It is near Steeplechase Park, of which the pier was originally part. The pier had been built by 1904, at which point it was estimated as being long. A newspaper article from that year praised the view from the pier: "There is no more beautiful view around New York than the sight of the twinkling colored lights of Coney Island and its reflection in the water." Steeplechase Pier was originally used by anglers and, until 1932, was used by ferry lines to Coney Island.
The original Steeplechase Pier was erected by builder F.J. Kelly at an unknown date and was completed within 30 days. The pier was ceded to the city in October 1921 just before the boardwalk was constructed, and was reopened in December 1922. Several proposed improvements, such as a widened deck and an auditorium, were never built. In the following years, Steeplechase Pier was damaged multiple times by hurricanes, fires, and boat accidents. The most serious incident was a fire in 1957 that destroyed the pier; a larger replacement opened the next year, with a T-shaped extension at the end. The pier was rebuilt most recently in 2013 after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Two years after it reopened, the pier received a $3.4 million grant for a total reconstruction.
History Context The Coney Island House, established in the early 19th century, was the first seaside resort on Coney Island. Coney Island could be reached easily from Manhattan, while appearing to be relatively far away. As a result, Coney Island began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, and numerous resorts were built. New railroad lines, built after the American Civil War, served Coney Island's restaurants, hotels, bathing pavilions, theaters, the waterfront, and other attractions. A series of fires destroyed the resorts in the 1880s and 1890s. This opened up large tracts of land for the development of theme parks; the first of these was Sea Lion Park, which opened in 1895 and closed eight years later. By the first decade of the 20th century, Coney Island contained three competing amusement parks (Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park), and many independent amusements.
The beach remained largely inaccessible to the public, since it was the private property of beachfront lots. In 1882, the first lots were acquired from the village of Gravesend at unusually low prices and subdivided to private interests. Some portions of the beach contained private boardwalks, but other portions had no infrastructure, and some sections of the beach were enclosed by fences that extended into the water. In the 1890s, a private boardwalk was built to connect the hotels and bungalows in Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach; this walk extended for nearly . George C. Tilyou, who operated various amusements in Coney Island and later consolidated them into his Steeplechase Park, built boardwalks in his resorts at Coney Island and Rockaway Beach. Numerous privately owned piers jutted into the water at West 5th, West 8th, and West 17th Streets. Public beach accessibility was considered almost nonexistent; in 1904, it was estimated that there were of public beachfront on Coney Island for each of the 3.7 million residents of New York City. In 1912, the West End Improvement League of Coney Island noted that only one street, West 23rd Street, had direct public access to the beach from Surf Avenue, the southernmost west–east artery on what was then an island.
Planning and construction