Sunday, March 25, 2012

Dressing up for Coney Island

I'm always amazed at how people once dressed up for places like the amusement park at Coney Island, in the years before sportswear became the default choice for everyday wear. I remember as a child wearing a nice dress for an airplane trip. Now you can count on people wearing shorts and flip flops to Coney Island, on a plane or even at the theater. Theater is my my personal last stand. I still get dressed for a Broadway show. I'm not talking fancy. Just nice.

The folks in this picture are wearing suits, hats and one woman has a nice fur collar. So perhaps this was not yet summer, or maybe it was an evening out. Just by the way they're dressed you can sense the anticipation and expectations they had for the evening. It was clearly date night, and chances are the night started elsewhere.  Did they end up on the Staten Island Ferry? I hope so--that would be a classic New York night out for couples.

This bar is clearly a faux setting; click on the picture to see just how cheap the bar backdrop is. I always get a kick out of these pasteboard settings. I first posted this picture nearly three years ago; it was the first thing I thought of when considering the dressing up theme. The back is marked "Butch & Icki & his goils friend's." That's the Brooklyn I know and love.

You can see how others dress up this theme over at Sepia Saturday; click below.

10 comments:

  1. You are right dressing up seems to be athing of the past. Now it's dressing down.

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  2. Indeed this picture highlights the changing attitudes about how to dress for a day or night out.

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  3. You are so right about people making the effort to dress up; few seem to other these days, and I agree about the theatre; I always wear something nice too. These people certainly made the effort though didn't they?

    BTW, I’m not sure if you are aware that you still have word verifcation switched on. There’s a general rebellion to do away with it as it’s become very complicated and seems to be putting people off commenting. I got rid of my mine a couple of weeks ago and it’s been fine. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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  4. I've had to reactivate word verification, because of the spam coming through my inbox in the few weeks that I turned it off. Some pornographic stuff, and it's no comfort that I get to catch it in time and delete because it is time-consuming to do that. And upsetting to see the persistence of these spammers. I've got a lot of stress in my personal life right now; this is one thing I can control.

    Hope this blog is worth the hassle of figuring out the letters, but if not, I understand.

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  5. What a fun photo; I'm sure that they all had a great time that night.

    I am on Blogger too. I don't have word verification, but I do have comment moderation (I have to read it first and post the comments by hand afterward) and almost all of the spam I get automatically goes into the spam folder. It works out fine for me, I have had it that way for a couple of years. I'm not sure what my settings are, but I could look it up.

    Take care,

    Kathy M.

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  6. I like this photo - they all look as though they're enjoying themselves!

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  7. I've always wanted to go to Coney Island, but I think I would be disappointed, as I would expect it to look like it did in its heyday.

    Sorry to hear you're getting spam.

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  8. It's nice that the pennant was included in the photo so we can tell where they were.

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  9. A fun shot!

    I still find it hard to believe the way some people dress when going on flights. There's no consideration given to the people they'll be sitting next to. I always hold my breath and hope they don't sit next to me.

    I have been to Coney Island once and it was basically, other than Nathan's, closed. I think Woody Allen has filled in the gaps for me.

    I agree with you about word verification. As fuzzy as it might be, any steps to keep the spambots out of my field of vision is a welcome.

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  10. Oh, yes! I remember when air travel was a big deal! I was a small child at the time, but we still dressed for traveling, and the stewardesses reminded me of movie stars. They were always so nice, and gave away great wing pins and other advertising items. It's not the same anymore...took all the fun out of it when they began treating customers like cattle.

    I'm also old enough to remember wearing gloves. Actually, they are very practical for keeping your hands moisturized, young looking(out of the sun), clean, and germ free. Bring back the gloves! :)

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