Opposites Attract in Brooklyn – A Day of Barge Music and Coney Island

If I a location grabs me, I shall return. Three weeks after the first foray of my life across the Brooklyn Bridge, I walked its planks once more.

Barge Music is part of what I was after. I had learned of a coffee barge, built in 1899 and now renovated and docked on the Brooklyn side of the East River, where regular musical performances are held. Inside the barge, surrounded by a beautiful wood paneled interior and sitting on cushioned seats, the audience faces a stage in front of a large window through which you can watch the Lower Manhattan skyline while listening to the music. Every once in a while they offer free concerts, and this day was one such day. Usually several performers take the stage, but now a solo pianist played. Acoustics is what Barge Music is all about. In such a small room the music sounds much different than in a large concert hall or outdoors. I would have preferred to have heard string instruments, though, which I’d read are what are typically featured at these concerts.

I exited this cultured setting and headed for the next obvious stop for people who have spent the afternoon listening to Chopin and Mozart – Coney Island. Home of the famous Nathan’s hot dog stand, the legendary 82-year-old Cyclone roller coaster, and a sideshow with advertisements so wild and raunchy I couldn’t even stand the thought of seeing it! Coney Island is about a half hour subway trip from Brooklyn Heights – the very last Brooklyn-bound stop on the D, F, N and Q lines.

As I walked out the subway exit, I encountered what appeared to be a ghost town. I hadn’t known what to expect, although the colorful yet worn buildings didn’t surprise me. The near-empty streets did, though. But it was still springtime. The crowds just weren’t swarming yet. The few people who were at Coney Island on this day were gathered around Nathan’s hot dog stand, where each 4th of July a major hot dog eating contest takes place. I hadn’t eaten yet, so I headed to an outdoor table to eat not 100 but one chili dog. Along with cheese fries sprinkled with bacon bits, the meal was actually pretty good.

Coney Island, I discovered, is both a neighborhood in Brooklyn as well as an amusement park. Nothing separates the park from the residential areas. How many neighborhoods do you know with their own roller coaster and Ferris wheel? This was just so cool. I walked around the amusement park to find that almost none of the rides were open yet and a lot of game booth attendants were hanging around inside their booths, waiting for players who never arrived. I had the entire park almost to myself.

The Coney Island boardwalk called, though. According to the signs I saw, this runs along Brighton Beach. With more game booths and shops lining one side of the boardwalk and the beautiful beach lying on the other, this was a great stroll. I walked out onto the pier, where some serious fishing was occurring. I had to dodge fishing poles all along the way as well as one extremely intoxicated older man who was trying to talk a younger and larger man into a fistfight. Yet another man wished to sell me some of the big fish which he had caught and were now lying at his feet. It was a tough decision, but I eventually elected not to carry dead fish in my hands back into Manhattan and onto the train for the ride back to Connecticut.

The sun was beginning to set, so I climbed aboard the subway. With a portion of its track above ground, I watched as Brooklyn sped past the windows. The ride back to Grand Central Terminal took 45 minutes. New York City is never-ending.