HIUS 131 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Cultural Hegemony, Steeplechase Park, Sea Lion Park
16 May 2018
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HIUS 131 – Textbook Notes – Cheap Amusements, Chapter 5: Cheap Theater and the
Nickel Dumps
• Dancing in winter, excursions in summer
• Coney Island allowed women to escape, flirt, display their style
• "…delie of geteel ultural hegeo ad the rise of a new, expressive urban culture"
• Coney island symbolizing conflict between Victorian and modern culture, debate over new forms
of culture
The Working-Class Excursion
• Excursion a special occasion
• Excursion involves some $ for transportation, at least
• Popular, even among the poor, who managed to save up enough to go once or twice a year
• Family outings to Central Park
• Excursions sponsored by social organizations
• Political organizations, unions sponsoring excursions to get support
• Privately owned picnic places parallel to dance halls
o Offered alcohol and encouraged dancing
• Sponsored excursions often were supervised and reinforced community bonds
o Charging more for single tickets so people won't go alone
• Ethnic excursions
• Formal excursions meant to show off social status
• Some dance halls had picnic areas attached
The Commercialization of Excursions
• New transportation made day trips cheaper and easier
o Boats running constantly and charging admission, instead of having to hire a boat
o Streetcar lines extended
o Trolley lines going right past amusement places
• Trollies as a place to mingle with men
• Beach resorts
• Excursion boats
o Renting out rooms to couples
• Decline of picnic groves
o Some trying to stay relevant by adding concerts, arcades, rides
The Working-Class Presence at Coney Island
• Coney Island only popular beginning in 1870s after railroads and steamships made it more
accessible
• Victorian organization of social life by gender, class
o MC women and children staying at the hotels and beaches on the weekend while husband
stayed in city
o Other end of the island home to gangs, betting, prostitution
• Most people visited the middle of the island, West Brighton
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