What is, or was, a "Luna Park"?

I know that one of the mainstays of Coney Island was “Luna Park,” which may or may not still exist in a much-dwindled form. The list of abandoned theme parks in a recent thread showed that the name was very popular in the US and Europe, with around a dozen “Luna Parks” on that list alone, mostly dating from the early part of the 20th. (Who knows how many might have evolved and been renamed and still be in operation?) It’s especially peculiar in that it crosses major language barriers - English, French, Scandinavian languages, others.

So… what or why or how or who “Luna Park”? Was it a trade name or a consortium? Was it tied to some long-forgotten fad? Is it tied to the idea of “lunacy” as silly fun?

Fredereick Ingersoll opened 44 amusement parks named “Luna Park” around the world. The first, however, was Luna Park at Coney Island, opened by Charles I. D. Looff in 1903.

And the Dope fails again… fails, I tell you! *Eleven minutes *to get an authoritative answer? Huh. This place is going to the dogz…

:slight_smile:

Thanks. I figured it had to be something like that but my brief searches turned up only disconnected fragments.

I’d be interested in further discussion of the name, theme and history of the parks, if anyone’s got info on tap.

The original Luna Park pretty much burnt to the ground in 1944.

In 2010, a new Coney Island amusement park was opened, on the site of the former Astroland, which is also called Luna Park and is modeled slightly on the original. They currently operate the Cyclone, which has been open continuously since 1927 (which occasional refurbishment).

As to the name, Luna Park’s creators, Frederic Thompson and Elmer “Skip” Dundy, created a wildly successful ride called “A Trip To The Moon”, a part of the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 at Buffalo, New York. The spacecraft in that ride was called “Luna”(also the name of Dundy’s sister) and they seemed to have named their amusement park after the ride, a version of which they installed at Coney Island.

To be clear, Looff never operated Luna Park Coney Island. He did later operate a Luna Park in Seattle. I believe he designed some of the more famous rides and, of course, the Carousel.

There was one here until 1929. My mother and her siblings went there a lot when they were kids.

In the early days of amusement parks, “borrowing” names was not all that uncommon. You had a Coney Island in Ohio (and still may depending on your exact definition) and more White Citys than you could shake a stick at. A park as a place for rides, as opposed to parks as simply a picnic place, was a new concept and using a common sort of name let people know what to expect. If you roam around the National Amusement Park Historical Association

you may find more info or track down long-time NAPHA and ACE member Jim Futrell. He’s forgotten more dope on early amusement parks than most experts have ever known.

A full account of Coney Island - Luna Park.

Excerpt:

Thank you so much for this! My mom always talked about my hometown’s Luna Park, and I never knew its history. We had a metal park bench in our back yard that came from Luna Park after its demise.

Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle in the 1917 silent in Luna Park, Coney Island, including night scenes at the Park. Full movie on YouTube.

All fascinating. Snark aside, this board is a [del]unbelievable[/del] fantastic resource - brainpower on tap.

I knew about the 1901 ride and it makes sense that it was the nucleus of the idea and “chain.”

All I know about Looff is that I once truly lusted for an original such carousel horse… I discovered them right before collectors drove the prices through, well, the moon. Had a chance to buy a beautiful, unrestored but lovingly worn leaper for a longish song… and by the time I decided to do it, prices had shot to the Full Ring Cycle level.

ETA: My… that’s quite a pun, there.

One was in San Jose until 1921, for some reason they named a neighborhood after it- after it had been gone for decades.

When I collected baseball memorabilia I bought an item that is about the size of a sheet of paper in the shape of a baseball mitt.

On one side it says “Thompson & Dundy’s Luna Park…Where the Crowds Go…Where the Fun Abounds”

On the other is a composite of portraits of a baseball team referred to as Chicago No. 16 including 13 players in uniform a Pres., a Scty, and a Treas. I wasn’t ever able to identify any of the players by name.

I walk past Luna Park in Sydney every day.

I visited Luna Park when I was in Melbourne. Unfortunately the Great Scenic Railway was closed for repairs that day.