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"Coney Island Mardi Gras, 1908." Bon temps New York style. 8x10 inch glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
We moved to Sea Gate, near Coney Island in 1952. Just in time for the last two years of the glorious Mardi Gras, before it was stopped by Robert Moses. My parents, liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just seven years before, thought it was our "civic duty" to see the Mardi Gras. That incredible crush of people, the sight of the floats, the smell of chestnuts and roasting corn -- it was all about being "free in America." Even now, I can feel their hands keeping me safe in the crowd.
Thanks for this glorious image, and the wonderful memories.
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