Hike #1007; Brooklyn and Coney Island

Hike #1007; Brooklyn and Coney Island

1/22/17 Brooklyn and Coney Island Waterfront with Gregg Hudis, Scott Helbing (Tea Biscuit), Amanda Lance, Mark Godfrey (Bobo), Jennifer Berndt, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Captain Soup (David Campbell), Jack Lowry, Justin Gurbisz, Tom Vorrius, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Jason Itell, Megan Itell, David Seals, John Pershouse, Elizabeth Manner, Stephen Argentina, Dan Asnis, and Nazi Woman.

Our next hike would be a point to point in Brooklyn, something I’d been looking at doing for quite a long time.
On one of the Holiday NYC hikes I had done a section of the waterfront of Brooklyn out to Dyker Heights where we finished, just beyond the Verrazano Narrows. I had considered the next bit of Brooklyn for the Holiday NYC hike for this year, but it started looking a bit too complicated for transportation so I nixed the idea to post it later.
On the Holiday NYC hike this past year, I had been given a hefty gift of money, so I decided to put it towards the good of the group and purchased the entire set of maps for the Long Island Greenbelt. My plan is that eventually we will make it out the entire stretch of Long Island to Montauk Point. There are several trails and beach fronts we will use, but there is also a huge system of trails, the main one being the Pomenauk Path, which is over 125 miles long. This would be the second really in the “Long Island” series if you were to count that NYC hike from the past. I have a loose plan already in place on how we will be hiking to Montauk.

In Leif Ericson Park

Our meeting point was Leif Ericson Park, named after the famous Viking. We were hoping Dan Lurie would come out due to his lineage, but he didn’t make it.
Gregg, Elizabeth, Bobo, and I walked from near a school north on Leif Ericson Greenway, a route we’d have to re-do, to meet the others who parked to the north or took the train in. Getting everyone together is always the toughest part, especially in a city, and more so in an area of the city I am not at all familiar with.
We eventually found everyone, and convened on 8th along the park. There were many Asian people in the area performing Tai Chi throughout the park. We all followed the greenway heading west, which crossed several streets, but mostly remained a nice paved pathway.

Leif Ericson Park

We made our way to the end of the greenway section and had to walk a section of streets for not too long. This took us only a few blocks to Owl’s Head Park. We had walked through this on the previous holiday NYC hike. We could go from Owl’s head directly to the Owl’s Head pier on the Hudson River. The park had a nice upland overlook section with a view to the north a bit, and we stopped at a restroom for a break on the west side. I accidentally made a wrong turn while in the park, which worked out because it would be the last restroom stop we’d have for quite some time.

As soon as we walked under the big highway, we were on the waterfront at the long pier where we had joined it before. By the time we got to this point on the last hike it was already getting dark. That is why I opted to re-do the beginning part of it rather than try to meet closer to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. This was worth doing again. We started following the paved walkway and bikeway to the south, parallel with the highway but never to the point that it detracted from the scenery too much.
We walked also to the end of the Veterans Memorial Pier for some great views as well.

Tea Biscuit fell in

There were constant views of the bridge as we headed to the south. The group immediately became pretty segmented, with the faster in the front and the slower in the back, but it was so straightforward waterfront walking that we weren’t going to have any problem unless the others didn’t wait up when we got to the weird more industrialized shore lines.
The area is incredibly exposed and there’s no restrooms at all for a long time. We are pretty much always within sight of someone, somewhere. If we had to pee, we were screwed, or we’d have to figure out some alternative plan. I don’t know how the women do it in some of these scenarios.

Verrazano Narrows Bridge

When there was a high rip rap rock wall, and an easy way down, I used the opportunity to climb down and go along the rocks.
Not too far ahead, Tea Biscuit tried the same option with wetter results. He ended up stepping on the green rocks, which are always slippery with some sort of algea, and he ended up falling into the Hudson.
Both of us ended up having to use the facilities one more time further on, and Tea Biscuit had found a rope that we could climb down another wall on to get to the rocks.
It was a really nice walk and we all had a good time with the section. When the walkway section ended, there was a strip mall with a bunch of stuff including Toys R Us and more, and a pizza place. It was about time for lunch, so we headed over.
Just as we were about to walk in, a middle aged lady in a black coat came out to greet Tea Biscuit’s dog, Tinkerbell. She seemed friendly enough.
When we got inside, the woman sat near us and took off her jacket. Most everyone noticed she was wearing a obvious metal swastika pin. When out of earshot, we we talked about it, wondering what her deal was.
We had some good pizza, and the friendly owners of the establishment, Pizza D’Amore, asked Jack to play them something on his guitar. He had the nice black carbon fiber one. He specifically requested Simon and Garfunkle, so Jack and I sang “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”. The guy then requested some Beatles, and we did “Hey Jude” as well as “Ive Just Seen a Face” and “Dear Prudence”. People were taking videos and such. Unlikely that they see anything like that when they get their pizza typically!
Tea Biscuit convinced the Nazi woman to come out and join us for the rest of the hike, not knowing about the pin she was wearing. She ended up talking to some about it, because she noticed everyone was looking at the pin. She said she was in the Nazi party, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble with anyone in the group. It then became a subject of jokes, when I told Dan he was going to be designated carpooler with her. When we walked the next section of pathway on waterfront that went behind BJ’s Wholesale Club, it came to a chain link fence with barbed wire. Gregg hilariously joked “Great, first we pick up a Nazi, now you’re leading me into barbed wire fencing...”. I was glad that it t urned into more of a fun joke than a point of discomfort among the group.

Cove at Calvert Vaux Park

We had to head out to Shore Parkway to go south for a few blocks. The next bit of greenway was the entrance to Calvert Vaux Park, named for one of the park designers behind Central Park in Manhattan.
A trail led through a swath of woods, then out along some ball fields. We headed to the southwest across them, then through a line of trees and a gravel parking area to another area of fields. There was a rough, abandoned looking trail that went off to the right a bit, along the edge of a cove. Informal footpaths went off to the right, and were rather prominent, so we followed them to the waterfront where we found an abandoned boat wreck. There were abandoned remnants of piers out on the water further out, long since disconnected from the shore line.

Coney Creek boat graveyard

This was really a neat little trail. There were camp fire rings out there, and some little sections of sand between the rip rap rocks. We passed all the way around the outside end, then swung back around along the shore to the south side, along the Coney Island Creek. This was the first time in my life I’d actually seen Coney Island close up. I’d always missed the place in the past.
We found a 30th birthday Mylar baloon which Stephen wanted to carry, but I ended up sticking it to Bobo’s backpack.
As we continued along the shore, we came upon a very interesting boat grave yard. At first, we couldn’t tell the difference between the boats and the docks, as they were a mess.

Coney Island Yellow Submarine

Among the boats, we spotted what appeared to be a Yellow Submarine. At some point when we actually identified it as such, we sang the song.
The Yellow Submarine has an interesting back story. It was built and launched in 1967 by Jerry Bianco. It’s official name is Quester 1. Bianco built it to salvage valuables from a wrecked Italian liner called the SS Andrea Doria. During launch, the vessel was tipped and became stuck at it’s moorings. There are various stories of what happened. One has it that it was successfully launched and ran a few times, then got stuck. It was moored for several years, but pieces were stolen and it broke free to a mud spot in the Coney Island Creek where it remains a landmark to this day.

Purple coconuts!

We continued by more wrecked boats for a while, and wandered down a launch area onto a nice stretch of little beach. We followed it’s length till the Calvert Vaux Park property was coming to an end and climbed back up almost to Shore Parkway. We skirted a fence heading to the right for just a little bit, parallel with the road, then cut to the right again on another more informal trail around ball fields known as Six Diamonds. This was a pretty cool little area along another cove.
Strangely, there were coconuts all over this stretch of trail. Of course, not the type of group that can just leave random stuff we find alone, we had to smash some. Surprisingly, the innards of these things were dark purple, like a paint. There were then jokes about coconuts used to smuggle Meth and such. Jason looked it up right away, and it turned out that a purple coconut simply means that it’s gone bad. Learn something new every day!

The Itells on the waterfront

We headed south when the waterfront turned, and soon we got to a formal trail. It went through a metal gate along the back of a Home Depot. Behind it, there was all sorts of reject crap furniture. I suppose it could have been useful, but was just stuff that had a small broken item or something. Maybe it was for people to steal later, who knows, but there was a lot of it.
The path weaved around the outside of the building heading back inland, and when we got to the edge of the parking area found a giant metal gate closed. We couldn’t go around another way because of a large chain link fenced scrap iron place to the right. There was a way through prior to where we were, and some went back to it, but most of us opted to scale the thing.

Fence fun!

It was hilarious going over this thing. There were people driving by like crazy, who could obviously all see what we were doing, and it looked totally illegal although we had come in through a totally opened gate and no one in their right mind that was physically capable of getting around was going to backtrack.
Once everyone was over or around, we emerged onto Copsey Avenue to cross the Coney Island Creek on the road bridge. Once on the other side, there was a liquor store to the left, and a mini mart straight ahead. Some of us went ot the liquor store to get stuff to mix more orange stuff, and we rejoined up at the mini mart, which had a Burger King in it.
The place was actually kind of classy, and the restroom had black sinks and toilet (which is creepy because it doesn’t show dirt well).

Coney Island bathroom selfie

I saw Tom V. come out of the place with a delicious looking ice cream cone thing. I had to go back in and get one, and spent an eternity wandering the shelves looking for where he found it (was in a tiny refrigerator thing).
Once we were all together and ready to go, we headed to the west on Neptune Ave. Pershouse left us here to head back a little bit early.
We headed to the right into Kaiser Park, followed the waterfront, then got on a brief section of nice beach along the Coney Island Creek where we could clearly see where we had just been on the other side a little bit earlier, as well as the boats and Yellow Submarine.

Cony Island Loitering

We emerged on Bayview Avenue and had to follow the street west for a little bit. Coney Island Creek Park was then on the right, but we couldn’t go right into it. They had the dunes fenced off with snow fencing material. We made our way over a slope when we got to a good opening, and then reached the first section of really good, normal beach.
It was a really lovely section, and we could see all the way back to beyond the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The beach was wide and soft in many places. It was much like the NJ beaches here where we had to find that sweet spot, not too close to the water, and not too far inland where it was firm enough for good walking.

Norton Point, Coney Island

The beach narrowed as we headed to the western tip of Coney Island.
The area was known as Norton Point. I got the feeling that we weren’t supposed to be on this portion of the beach early on. I suppose the tide line might be legal like it is in NJ, but NY likely has more private beaches. I’m not familiar with the laws there. There were no good accesses to the land or streets, so we had to walk the section on out.
We passed a house that was likely wrecked by Sandy, almost up to the second story in sand. It was fenced off, and the area inland from there had chain link fences with signs on them facing the water. We had come from so far that we couldn’t get out just in the way that someone didn’t want anyone in. An older couple was walking there and gave us a weird look as we waltzed on by there.

On the stretch, we passed the Coney Island Lighthouse.
I don’t know why, but I never considered that there might be a light house in the area. It was a handsome white skeletal structure with black trim.
The original light house on this point was constructed in 1890, and the current tower replaced it in 1920. It is still in service, but now automated.
An interesting historic point about this light house is the fact that it was the very last in the United States to have a a Civilian light house keeper. The last keeper was Frank Schubert (1915-2003), who had been in the coast guard since 1939, and served at the Coney Island location from 1960 until it was automated in in 1989.

Rocky Coney Island shore

I thought for sure we’d have to go inland when we got around Norton Point. It was insanely rocky shore line there, and it reminded me much of the section of the Jersey Shore near Elberon (which was actually Amanda’s first hike with us in May of 2007).
When we got closer to the rock walls, what looked inaccessible at first now seemed doable. We carefully made our way over the rocky section, and to the beaches beyond, which quickly widened to far more than what we had been on before. There was a fence line that went far out to the edge of a jetty at tide line. I got to that and sat on the rocks of the jetty waiting for everyone to catch up.

Lerch put the Red Flag on Bobo's pack

Everyone caught up and we let them have a break on the jetty. Just then, a cop car drove by. We had come from the area where there were no signs, so we wouldn’t have had a problem I don’t think, but by that time everyone was just over the line.
We hung out and the officer just drove on without question.
We continued along the beach heading to the east, and there were many more people around. Soon, we could see the landmarks of the popular Coney Island Boardwalk just ahead.
The defining structure on the waterfront was the Coney Island Parachute Jump.

Historic postcard image of Parachute Jump and Steeplechase Park

The former amusement park ride is no longer in service, but is a landmark known as the “Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn”. Uncle Soup told us that he had ridden it while in service.

Parachute Jump today

The Parachute Jump was originally built for the 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens NY. It was moved to it’s current location in 1941.
It was part of the Steeplechase Park. The park was founded in 1897, and operated until 1964. Founder George Tilyou visited a fair in Chicago in 1893, where he discovered the Ferris Wheel. He decided to build his own version of the structure at Coney Island.

Steeplechase Pier

Despite setbacks, Coney Island and Steeplechase Park in particular remained quite a success when other parks such as Dreamland and Luna Park failed.
Even during World War II, when much of the city endired blackouts, the famous Parachute Jump remained lit because it served as a navigational beacon.
Today, the Parachute Jump is the only surviving remnant of Steeplechase Park. Although the pier in front of it bears the name “Steeplechase Pier”, it is a new pier composed of composite “treks” material rather than wood. We walked on out to the end of it to take in the view.

Original Nathan's

There was the option to continue on walking along the shore, which I was keen on at first, but then I realized I wanted to experience more of the area than continue yet. After all, this was the famous Coney Island I’d heard about my entire life but had never been to. I’d always heard and seen the television commercials where the guy sang “Remember Coney Island, and how it used to be...now it’s everything it ever was AND MORE!”. Among the famous places on Coney Island was the original Nathan’s Hot Dogs. In the Summer, this would likely be a mob scene, so this was our opportunity.

Historic view of the original Nathans

I was pretty hungry and I’d drank a lot of Lerch’s orange stuff, so hot dogs sounded like a superb idea.
Like I had done at all of the other famous dog places, I had one with just cheese and onions, and one with “the works”. They were both awesome.

NATHAN'S!

We hung out there for quite a while, and I think everyone had at least something.
The other weird thing was that a few ordered the Fried Frog’s Legs. I didn’t realize that was a famous thing at this location. Stephen didn’t care for his that much, so I got to sample them.
It wasn’t wonderful, but not terrible either. This was sort of a landmark for me because for my entire life my grandfather would say “How about some fried frogs legs” jokingly before dinner or any meal for that matter. The concept always grossed me out, but he repeated it over and over.
It was such an entertaining point that I had to call my grandfather just to tell him about it after the hike. He was quite amused, and he told me that when he tried them that he’d gotten sick for about three days after. I laughed and told him I might not have tried them if I’d known that part of the story! He told me I’d have to call him again if I ever try humming bird’s tongues, the second option he would always suggest.
Jason and Megan headed out to get home and the rest of us hung out.

Historic postcard of the parachute jump

We had well established by this time that the remainder of the hike would be a celebratory time rather than proper hiking.
Lerch found on his maps that nearby was the Coney Island Brewery, so we made our way a bit down the street to visit that establishment.
It was a narrow place with vats and such, and a bar in the front. It was crowded, but not too much so. It would have been far worse in the Summer time. We took up all of the space in the back, and sampled some delicous stuff.
Almost everything there was set at $7 regardless of strength. I found exactly what I wanted: a 12% drink called a Hot Totty. It had a very slight kick to it like Fireball, but not nearly as strong (I don’t care for Fireball that much). This was actually quite delicous. Uncle Soup decided to go and get the same thing. That was probably what put him over the edge. We hung out there for a bit, and a guy went by us to see Elizabeth playing Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walkin”. He asked if he could play something, and we had a singalong with a fun guitar rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire”.

Great Balls of Fire!

Clearly, we were having too much fun by this time. We needed to get a meal in us soon, so Lerch looked up some places we could get to.
We left the brewery, and made our way along the streets through Coney Island. We held Uncle Soup up as we walked through town, trying different places with hopes that we could get in with our large group.
Several hikers were backing out as we continued because they didn’t want to wait around. Tea Biscuit and Amanda headed out because they didn’t have anywhere they could bring the dog into. We finally found a place, but it looked fancy.

At Coney Island Brewery

I think Lerch and I convinced ourselves that this was fine because we were both wearing suits and ties. He called the place ahead of time and they said they’d have no problem taking a group of our size.
We got to the overly fancy looking place, where the guys were wearing tuxedos and such. We were brought to a long table that looked way too posh for the likes of us. The waiters said “usually we start everyone off with some appetizers...” and pretty much everyone went for it. They brought out several plates of different stuff, which I’m sure racked up the bill quite a lot more. We didn’t expect them to bring out all that much stuff, and they sort of screwed us with that much extra.

Coney Island Brewery!

The new Nazi woman left us at some point, I’m not sure where. She had had a hard time with going over the rocks a bit further back, but still made it out to Coney Island with the rest of us, so I don’t know when she headed off.
I ordered some sort of mushroom and chicken thing for dinner, and ate a generous amount of appetizer stuff as well. As is typical for me, I got all “food drunk” and fell asleep at the table for a good while. During this same time, I awoke for long enough to witness Uncle Soup getting sick into one of the water pitchers, which was pretty much hilarious.

I swear the waiters must have been cringing. We are probably the worst patrons they have had in a very long time! They probably also didn’t appreciate the conversation I was having with Justin referring to food as “slop”, an affectionate term for delectable yet criminally messy food.
I fell asleep again, and Gregg covered my share (I owe him another dinner, let it be known), and we all headed out. Stephen and Dan headed to the train station to head back and get their cars, and their plan was to come back and pick us all up over by the boardwalk. We left the restaurant and headed to the water.

Gregg and I at the posh place

Lerch and I went and checked out the waterfront beach closely, and everyone just sort of hung out.
While waiting, Jack played “Paint It Black”, which I sang from laying on my back on the board walk. He also sang “Sympathy For The Devil”.
When Stephen finally arrived, Lerch, Jen, and Tom I think all piled into his car. Dan was not with him, but he texted me he’d be there in five minutes. It turned out he’d be to his car in five minutes, not to us. Stephen told us that if he wasn’t at his car yet, it’d be another thirty minutes before he’d be able to drive to us. We walked from the boardwalk back to the street, and waited a bit more. Dan was lost walking around looking for his car and we got tired of waiting.

On the boardwalk

Those of us remaining headed to the station and boarded a train headed back to near where we were parked. I think we took the “N” train to the 8th Avenue Station, because the Fort Hamilton Parkway one was not running. No matter, this was closer to Gregg’s car anyway.
We got off of the train and headed back to where we had met in the morning in Leif Ericson Park; Jack was parked just to the north, so we said goodbye to him, and Bobo, Gregg, Elizabeth, and I headed back along the trail to Gregg’s car. It seemed so much longer walking that stretch at the very end. I was dead tired.

Boardwalk singalong!

It had been an awesomely eventful day, and even the car ride back was something of an adventure as the misleading signs had us driving in circles to try to get back on Interstate 278.
It almost felt like the Holiday NYC hike, with the amount of fun and experience crammed into the day. In fact, all of the hikes for the first month of 2017 had been going just great. I was talking to Lerch on this hike about the quality of the experiences we were having; no drama, no huge problems really, just a lot of great fun and amazing places. The rest of the year will certainly have a lot to live up to compared to January.