search for something...

search for something you might like...

Coney Island Baby A restless night for an Irishman in New York

Coney Island Baby

A restless night for an Irishman in New York

by Joe Ambrose, Literary Editor (2005-2018)
first published: August, 2006

approximate reading time: minutes

it must have been around 4am by the time I got off at the wrong Subway station

It was 3am and I couldn't sleep so I decided to go look at Coney Island. I'd seen it in so many movies but I'd never seen it in the real world.

It took me a while to get there on the Subway from Manhattan and it must have been around 4am by the time I got off at the wrong Subway station, the one prior to Coney Island. I had to walk through much industrial and urban wasteland to reach my destination. That part of town was naturally deserted; even NYC kind of sleeps at that hour.

I found myself on a long narrow boulevard called Neon Street. At the other end I could make out the iconic Coney Island skyline.  
 
Neon Street was, strangely, teeming with life. Lots of young Hassidic Jewish guys talking excitedly to one another and walking around fast in duos or larger clusters. A number of sidewalk cafes, seedy looking places, were open for business. The customers were Latino homies, wetback Elvises in leather and denim. Fantastic hip hop was blasting out of the dives.

It all seemed, for some reason, threatening or alien. I kept my eyes straight ahead and soon I was walking along the deserted legendary boardwalk in the calm moonlight.  

An hour later I decided to retrace my steps back through Neon Street. Don't ask me why. It was just as lively and just as weird.

The next day, on the local TV news, I heard that a trainee Rabbi, aged twenty, had been stabbed to death on Neon Street around 5am. They showed the street in daytime, deserted but for the police investigators. The murder, the newscaster said, had been a homosexual-related crime.  

Don't ask me...br>

Photo with kind permission: BlueJake publisher of the Gothamist

Joe Ambrose
Literary Editor (2005-2018)

Joe Ambrose wrote 14 books, including Chelsea Hotel Manhattan and The Fenian Reader. Joe sadly passed away in 2018. Visit Joe's website which was completed just before his passing, for more info: JoeAmbrose.co.uk.
about Joe Ambrose »»

Attrition Banner

Monroe Moon at Corks in Bearwood on Friday April 5th web banner

RECENT STORIES

RANDOM READS

All About and Contributors

HELP OUTSIDELEFT

Outsideleft exists on a precarious no budget budget. We are interested in hearing from deep and deeper pocket types willing to underwrite our cultural vulture activity. We're not so interested in plastering your product all over our stories, but something more subtle and dignified for all parties concerned. Contact us and let's talk. [HELP OUTSIDELEFT]

WRITE FOR OUTSIDELEFT

If Outsideleft had arms they would always be wide open and welcoming to new writers and new ideas. If you've got something to say, something a small dank corner of the world needs to know about, a poem to publish, a book review, a short story, if you love music or the arts or anything else, write something about it and send it along. Of course we don't have anything as conformist as a budget here. But we'd love to see what you can do. Write for Outsideleft, do. [SUBMISSIONS FORM HERE]

OUTSIDELEFT UNIVERSE

The Retrofuturists Are Back February 29th
OUTSIDELEFT Night Out
weekend

outsideleft content is not for everyone