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Luna Park

LUNA PARK




My favorite of the amusement parks is the dazzlingly beautiful Luna Park. Called an "Electric Eden", it was the vision of architect Frederic Thompson and his partner, Elmer "Skip" Dundy. Brought to Coney by George C. Tilyou, the partners worked for him at Steeplechase for one season before striking out on their own.   They purchased Sea Lion Park, a minor attraction owned by Captain Paul Boyton and set about creating a park the likes of which had never been seen before.  

Luna opened on a sultry May evening in 1903. It had been named after Skip's sister Luna, but the moon was an artistic element throughout the park.  In order to fully exploit the massive spectacle of the new-fangled, electrically lit wonder, Luna's opening was announced by the sudden flashing on of its thousands of lights, a sight so stunning it prompted a reporter to write, "about 45,000 men, women and children, strolling along Surf Avenue, stopped, rubbed their eyes, and stood in wonder and pinched themselves." This is what they saw....

Maxim Gorky, on his first glimpse of Luna Park:
"Thousands of ruddy sparks glimmer in the darkness, limning in fine, sensitive outline on the black background of the sky, shapely towers of miraculous castles, palaces and temples. Golden gossamer threads tremble in the air. They intertwine in transparent, flaming patterns, which flutter and melt away in love with their own beauty mirrored in the waters. Fabulous and beyond conceiving, ineffably beautiful, is this fiery scintillation.


Maxim knew what he was talking about, yes?




"We are young, and being young we want to be made to laugh, no matter how foolish is the method by which you do it; we are young and we believe everything, therefore do the most impossible things and we will pretend to believe them and applaud; we are poor...make us forget that there are luxuries and perhaps necessities beyond our means--stir us so that we will remember the hours that we are spending with you for months to come; we are tired and weary and overworked--don't add to our burdens, lighten them by your most fantastic and foolish endeavors." Frederic Thompson, 1907


The Razzle Dazzle Ride


 
Frederick Thompson and Skip Dundy


The success of Luna made wealthy men of both partners.   Unfortunately, each had weaknesses - Dundy's was gambling and Thompson's was both alcohol and his turbulent relationship with his wife, silent film actress Mabel Taliaferro.  After Luna's initial success, Thompson would spend less time at Coney Island and devote himself to managing Mabel's career and pursuing other architecture projects, including New York City's Hippodrome.  Still, Luna Park flourished throughout the early 1900's.   Then, Skip Dundy died suddenly of pneumonia while in his early forties.   Without his more grounded friend and now divorced from his wife, Frederic Thompson succumbed to his propensity for alcohol and spending sprees and lost ownership of Luna Park. He was retained as the manager of the park, but, having always been very high strung, his health suffered and he experienced several breakdowns caused by chronic illness.   He endured seventeen  surgeries in four years, before finally dying on June 6, 1919 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, following an operation for gallstones, appenditicis and a hernia.   He was 45.  Thompson's debts at the time of his death were so great that it  would take his friends 3 years to amass enough money to place a headstone on his grave.   Luna Park suffered several fires and many changes in management before finally burning to the ground in the 1940's. On the site now stands the Luna Park Housing Projects.

Night view from atop the Chutes


A rare, close up view of the top of the Chutes

 
Electric Tower by day


Shooting the Chutes at Luna

Whirl the Whirl

Promenade and Elephant Parade, Luna Park

Panoramic view of Luna Park

The Submarine Boat ride

The Circle Swing
(Note Thompson and Dundy's office at left)




From Frederic Thompson's gravestone


Sacred to the memory
of
Frederic Thompson

Creator of Joy for Millions
The Hippodrome
Luna Park
Toyland

A Poet, A Painter, Philosopher
An Architect, A Kindergarten
Preacher in Toys

1873-1919