Wonder Wheel: A Photo Essay

World's Fairs, or Expositions, were big business in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, attracting visitors from near and far and allowing a local population to see wonders and sample cultures not readily available. George Washington Gale Ferris' Wheel was such a wonder. Commissioned for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, it was meant to outdo Gustave Eiffel's Tower, which had been the star attraction at the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Today, eponymously named Ferris Wheels appear at fairgrounds around the world and even dot the skylines of cities such as London, Seattle, and Singapore.

Although it is not the tallest, the most historic, or the most lavish Ferris Wheel, Coney Island's Wonder Wheel has a special place in popular imagination. If you have ever seen a movie or television show that featured the famous amusement park as a backdrop, you probably have seen the Wonder Wheel, and if you are from Brooklyn, you have probably ridden on it. Built in 1920, the 150-foot-tall machine has given over 35 million rides and has a perfect safety record. In 1989, it was even designated a New York City Landmark.

From the highest point of the Wonder Wheel, you can see the fairgrounds, the Manhattan skyline, and the ocean.

You can see the neighborhood of Coney Island itself, with a mix of dilapidated old buildings, scattered housing projects, and shiny new apartments. In the distance, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.

The Wonder Wheel is considered an eccentric Ferris Wheel, with some fixed carriages and a track on which others roll while the wheel rotates. I always ride in the white cars.

The neon sign depicting the Wonder Wheel is lit in the colors of the cars and points the way to the ride from the side of the park. There are neon signs pointing the way from every direction.

Many visitors enter from the boardwalk and down a ramp from the "kiddie" portion of the park to the more adult section, which features the Wonder Wheel.

While more modern and faster rides are popular, the Wonder Wheel proceeds at a stately pace that makes it one of the most romantic rides anywhere—in fact, a would-be suitor can tip the operator for a longer pause at the zenith, long enough to propose.

Paul's Daughter has been serving classic boardwalk food since 1962, but even that duration is still not nearly as long as the Wonder Wheel's, which looms over the eatery.

At dusk, the setting sun illuminates Coney Island and transforms all the rides into a series of lines and shapes.

Like fairgrounds all over, Coney Island comes alive at night, and the signs for the Wonder Wheel stand out amid the profusion of neon.

In the winter, the cars are removed from the Wonder Wheel. The result is that it looms over the boardwalk like a giant spider web. It is then repainted and undergoes a complete maintenance overhaul before the start of the new season, which always begins on Palm Sunday.