Memorial Day at Coney Island featuring the Poignant Cinematic Masterpiece, “Coney Island Days”

Take the F train or the D train downtown to the very end of its run and suddenly you’ll smell the sand and surf and behold the wonder that is Coney Island. Today being Memorial Day, our train was packed and Coney Island was choc-full o’revelers. My whole life I’d always heard of Coney Island, but I’d never been there (except for the one time dad drove us through there to show us where he used to work—he used to work across the street from Nathan’s!) And while Coney Island is certainly a far-cry from its more reputable days, it was fantastic to walk along the boardwalk and to behold sights like the enormous and somewhat timeless Wonder Wheel:

Liz, Lisa, John and John’s friend Michael joined me for a Coney Island adventure today. I had planned for us to eat at Totonno’s pizza but, sadly, Totonno’s is closed on Mondays. So our primary eating destination was Nathan’s. Here’s the crew out front (Michael, Lisa, John and Liz):

It was John’s birthday today (happy birthday, John!) so I offered to treat him to his share of hot dogs, corn and lemonade. One drawback was that the line for Nathan’s was ENORMOUS. I’d say we spent 65% of our time at Coney Island waiting in line at Nathan’s, if not longer. Look at my frustrated crew:

We eventually split into two lines to see which line would move faster, and this woman tried to cut in front of Lisa—but Lisa held her ground. Still, the picture is worth preserving:

Finally—and, really, it was such a relief–we reached the window and ordered our food. For myself, I ordered two hot dogs and for the table we ordered two large fries. We secured ourselves a table and we dug in. Honestly, these hot dogs were delicious:

It’s hard to believe that hot dogs–a pretty generic item–can be that much better in one location than they are in other locations. And I grew up at Nathan’s: Nathan’s in Oceanside, New York and the Nathan’s in Boca Raton, FL. But these were the best. They were plump and juicy and bursting with flavor. I read a list recently (anyone else read it?) that listed the 50 most important things to eat before you die and one of them was a hot dog at Nathan’s on Coney Island. I feel so fulfilled!

We then made our way around, filming the video you’re about to see. We spied this sign on the back of a schoolbus and found it very funny that it was necessary!

Our last stop was the confectionary store, not Phillips (which is, apparently, closed?) but Williams–right next to Nathan’s. Here’s Lisa with a candy apple and Liz with cotton candy:

The candy was great as was our day on Coney Island…

But don’t take my word for it. Lisa, who as it happens is a grandmother and 80 years old, put together this video of our time there. We hope you enjoy it!