July 4th 1953 Aerial Photo of the Boardwalk of Edgemere And Coney Island by Margaret Bourke-White

The Photography of Margaret Bourke-White: “Ball” composed by Craig Armstrong, performed by The London Session Orchestra from the score to the Motion Picture Plunkett & Macleane

This photo by the great photo journalist Margaret Bourke-White is the foremost historical photograph I’ve found in all my years of searching to see the boardwalk in what was once Edgemere and surrounding areas. This is a particularly wonderful photo also because it’s from a series of hers of aerial photos around the country of special places.

It’s hard to make out all the detail in this photograph. I’ve tried to break up the photo into enlarged sections to try to identify all the individual concessions.  You’ll notice that one of the photos has the Edgemere Movie Theater circled in red.  I’d like to be able to identify many more. If you recognize a concession let us know and I will continue to update the photo filling in the memories as we go along.

I spent many of my afternoons at the Edgemere Movie Theater. My father had one of his first jobs there.  My grandfather was good friends with the owner. He would help him with his Movie Projectors if they were not working. Right next to the Theater is the amusement center that I played Skee-ball and they had the fortune teller in the glass booth.

Coney Island , New York, 1952