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New York circa 1905. "The Helter Skelter, Luna Park, Coney Island." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Public Opinion, Vol. 39, 1905.A City's Summer Resort
… There, are clowns here, too, and trained animals, and in addition a free helter-skelter where you can climb upstairs and slide down a narrow chute. Some of the children do this with such joy and frequency that their mothers find it almost necessary to bring extra clothes for them to wear home when the sliding is over.
Having grown up and lived in New York for most of my life, I can only marvel at how clean and wholesome Coney Island once was. Even when I was a child it was filthy and not quite the place whee nice people went, and only continued to sink into what little is left of it now.
And wah-la -- the world's first water slide!
[Is this how the kids are spelling "voila" these days? - Dave]
Only us stupid kids. :D
considering the darned thing appears to be covered in corduroy.
Girls: Pleeeease, Granpa, can we go for a ride?
Grandma: Not in your new dresses!
Did the riders sit on a piece of carpet or something? This surface looks a bit rough. Is that a soda/acid fire extinguisher on the left?
The two little girls from The Shining, right there in black and white.
I would have loved zooming down this slide as a child. The surroundings would have helped to make it exciting too -- the playful, ornate architecture, the big (and poisonous!) castor bean plant, the ice cream and of course, a rapt audience.
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