Remnant of Under Boardwalk Bar Found in Coney Island

January 31, 2012 by Tricia

The renovation of stores on the Coney Island Boardwalk has already uncovered the ghost lettering of an arcade and signage for Club Atlantis. The latest discovery is a remnant of one of the rathskellers that thrived under the Boardwalk in the 1940s and ’50s. The menu for the long-lost bar was found on a basement wall by Maya Haddad of Brooklyn Beach Shop, which will soon begin rehabbing the first-floor space formerly occupied by Coney Island Souvenirs.

Vintage Ad: Coney Island Rathskeller for Lease

Decades before the Army Corps of Engineers pumped sand under the Coney Island Boardwalk in the 1990s, rathskellers (council’s cellar in German) were popular with beach goers. ATZ found an ad from 1957 looking to lease an 80-foot Boardwalk frontage with an 80-foot rathskeller below with direct frontage on the beach.

The name of the rathskeller whose menu was rediscovered remains unknown, but its prices appear to date back to the 1940s. Beer and milk were 10 cents, coffee was a nickel. The sandwich menu included hamburger, egg, cream cheese, American cheese, Swiss cheese, Sardine or Salmon, Ham, Salami or Liverwurst, Ham & Egg, and a Western. Could this be the place where the boy in the 1953 movie The Little Fugitive returned soda bottles to collect money to go on the rides?

Brooklyn Beach Shop’s new location next to Ruby’s Bar is in a building that dates back to 1940. The original tenant was Moe’s Fascination, which occupied the upper story until 1965. Brooklyn Beach Shop, a spinoff of Coney Island Beach Shop located behind Nathan’s and in Stillwell Terminal, will feature their own brand of Coney Island-themed clothing and souvenirs. The Boardwalk shop is expected to open in April.

Related posts on ATZ…

January 16, 2012: Photo of the Day: Signs of Coney’s Club Atlantis Resurface

November 15, 2011: Coney Island 2012: What’s New on the Boardwalk

October 27, 2011: Ghost Lettering & End of Season Color in Old Coney Island

October 10, 2011: Photo of the Day: Coney Island’s Famed “Hey Joey!” Doomed

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, history | Tagged bar, Brooklyn Beach Shop, Maya Haddad, menu, rathskeller, Under the Boardwalk | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on January 31, 2012 at 9:28 am | Reply Out Walking the Dog

What a find! I’ll have a 10 cent beer, please.
on January 31, 2012 at 9:54 am | Reply wendyvee

Wow, what an amazing peek into the past.
on January 31, 2012 at 12:14 pm | Reply Tricia

wish I could travel back in time and hang out at the rathkskeller
on January 31, 2012 at 1:29 pm | Reply Rich

That is really Cool,I wonder all in all how many Businesses were under the Boardwalk.
on January 31, 2012 at 2:09 pm | Reply 84thStKid

Wow! That’s awesome.
on January 31, 2012 at 3:22 pm | Reply Katrink

That’s underneath Ruby’s! We went “spelunking” down there a few years ago (maybe 2008?) on their last day of the season in October.
- on January 31, 2012 at 4:19 pm | Reply Tricia
  
  ha, that’s funny..spelunking in Coney!…did you take any photos or find any hidden treasures?
  
  I’m told there were rathskellers beneath all of the stores, but this wall menu was found in the basement of the former Coney Souvenir Shop, next to Ruby’s
on January 31, 2012 at 4:47 pm | Reply Marc Kehoe

When Sideshows was on the Boardwalk (corner of 12th), there was a particularly mouldy, crypt-like ‘basement’ that was at one time, I think, either a
drink concession or a chair rental, or both. I know this because Zigun
locked me up down there and forced me to paint props and ornamental
pieces for the Mermaid Parade. “Under the Boardwalk” has been
bulldozed out of existence. Not me, not quite yet.
on January 31, 2012 at 5:12 pm | Reply visualingual

Wow, what a crazy find!
on January 31, 2012 at 11:38 pm | Reply Julie wilson

I did some work down there too marc! Wasn’t it a bar?
on February 1, 2012 at 4:22 pm | Reply fadingad

I’ll have a liverwurst on rye with an egg cream.
on February 2, 2012 at 11:23 am | Reply Matt Burg

As a child in the 50’s, my family was at Coney Island throughout the summer, every Saturday & Sunday. Our spot was beach 23rd street, and I distinctly remember similar places under the boardwalk in that neck of the woods.