Photo of the Day: Coney Island, Ruby’s, Mermaid Day 2007 by Kevin C Downs

October 15, 2011 by Tricia

Coney Island, Ruby's, Mermaid Day Parade 2007. Photo © Kevin C Downs

There will be no more Ruby’s after the Mermaid Parade or Polar Bear Swim, but the City can’t take away our memories. This portrait of a sailor and his girl after the 2007 Mermaid Parade is my fave photograph by Kevin Downs, who is known for his portraits. It’s part of his series “The last days of Coney Island, and the Real Brooklyn.” This is the second time we’ve posted it on ATZ. When the photo was originally put up on flickr, the photographer wrote, “I feel like I stepped back in time for this one.” Ruby’s Old Tyme Bar, with its accumulation of photos and memorabilia from past customers, is like stepping back in time.

The photo evokes memories of vintage images of sailors and their girls riding the Parachute Jump and Ferris Wheel at Steeplechase Park. In the ’90s, when I was writing one of my first features on Coney Island for a travel magazine, an old-timer told me it was the closing of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966 and not the closing of Steeplechase Park or the growth of the suburbs that killed Coney Island. In the future, what will historians say about the closing of small, locally-owned businesses and the corporatization of Coney Island?

ATZ is saying goodbye to old friends with a favorite photo (or two) a day. Click the tag “Countdown to Corporatization” to see all of the photos.

UPDATE October 27, 2011, 11:40 am

Ruby’s “Final Closing Party” was changed to Sunday, October 30, due to weather forecast for Saturday. Same time–11am till ??–same place. Check Ruby’s Facebook page for updates.