Culture in Coney Island
Things to do in this neighborhood
Places
2 placesEverything we cover in Coney Island, A to Z. Pick a stop for somewhere to be before or after.
Coney Island USA runs the museum and the Circus Sideshow out of a 1917 building on Surf Avenue, and it is the only organization here that treats the neighborhood's own history as its subject. Upstairs holds banners, carousel animals and parts of rides that no longer exist. Downstairs a sword swallower and a fire eater work a continuous show you can walk into partway through.
Museum, Sat and Sun noon to 6pm. Circus Sideshow, Sat and Sun 1pm to 9pm. Weather dependent and quieter off season
The oldest continuously operating aquarium in the country, on Surf Avenue since 1957 after seventy-odd years in Castle Garden at the Battery. The walk-through shark building and the sea lion pool are the parts people come back for. It is the one indoor cultural stop in Coney Island that is open every day of the year, which matters in January.
Daily, 10am to 4:30pm. Free admission after 3pm on Wednesdays with a timed ticket