Coney Island, Brooklyn, 1940s

This 1940s film captures Coney Island’s vibrant chaos in Brooklyn, N.Y., in black-and-white or faded color. A montage opens with a soldier snapping photos near "Ocean Baths," followed by stylish youths chatting by "Hyman’s Bar & Grill" and a crowded boardwalk sweep. Smiling crowds gawk upward as a barker hawks freak show tickets—"Smallest Grown Ups On Earth"—beside lurid posters for Madam Zenda, Marian the Headless Girl, and Winsome Winnie. Rare shots of midget pinheads Zip & Pip steal the show amid milling streets.