Can't Make the Hotdogs Jealous

             Several weeks ago I made the trip up to Connecticut to visit Louie Lunch which is regarded as the birthplace for the hamburger sandwich. Not to make its counterpart the hotdog jealous, I decided to take a ride to Coney Island to have lunch at Nathan's, which too is considered a birthplace, but for hotdogs instead. There are a number of conflicting stories of where actually the hotdog started, but more often than not Nathan's is credited to being it's launching pad. In 1870 a German immigrant by the name of Charles Feltman started selling the sausage-like meat patties in a roll on Coney Island. Years later, one of his employees, Nathan Hanwerker, went into business for himself and opened a hotdog stand on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, which still exists today in a much larger form of Nathan's. How this inconveinences me is coming from the northern tip of the Bronx to the southern tip of Brooklyn is the same as travelling to the South Pole.

             Luckily it only took two subways to get there and the entire trip was completed in about and hour and a half. Coming out of the train station the first thing that appears is Nathan's, so with its lights on during the dreary grey day and the fact is was lunch time, there was little hesitation in making that my first stop while in Coney Island. There was only a few people inside and I was able to order immediately, which is the exact opposite on a warm summer day when lines spill out into the streets or wrap around the corner and it takes forty minutes to have one of their world-famous franks. The people inside could be described as more of a blue-collar crowd whereas Louie Lunch was certainly white-collar. Also, for a place that is supposed to be the birthplace of the hotdog, the inside had as much nostagila as inside a local neighborhood McDonald's, but its all about the food. I did go a little overboard with ordering, but its not too often I get to go to the real Nathan's. I had a chili-dog, a regular hotdog, their signature crickle fries, and a medium lemonade. Even thought the drink was a medium, this thing was tremendous.

            Although their french fries are good, I know for a fact they're almost 800 calories per regular size, so I only ate about half of them. I certainly ate the two hotdogs, and as I went to throw out my tray, I noticed a seedy-looking gentleman outside watching me carry the tray towards the garbage, and he tried entering the place to interceed, but the door he was trying to use was locked. As I walked outside with my big drink, he asked if he could have it. I was probably going to dump it out down the block anyways as who needs a hundred gallons of lemonade, so I gave it to him, although in the back of his mind I know he was pissed I threw out the rest of the fries. He also wanted a dollar, but I just gave him a quarter instead. Coney Island is definately a summer spot as walking on the winter streets gave it a desolate look. Closed for the season were the string of arcades, freak shows, food stands, and novelty shops that draw crowds during the summer months. Even Astroland Park and the Cyclone were silent, except for workers making repairs in preparation for April's opening. After a few blocks the large amount of lemonade kicked in and I needed to use a bathroom. One place I know that was opened all year long, the New York Aquarium, was only down the block, and they certainly had a bathroom, so I made that the next half of my plan for the day.

           It was actually the ideal time to be there, the place was absolutely empty of pesky kids and large crowds standing in the way of the exhibits. At times, it felt like I had the entire place to myself and was able to take my time looking at all the marine life. I've previously been there a handful of times, but the last visit was quite a few years so everything seemed new to me. Adult admission was $14, and as soon as I entered I made sure to take care of business, I went right for the bathroom. Afterwards I found myself in the conservatory which had two gigantic underwater displays of exotic fish and coral reef. In particular, there was also piranhas as well as clown fish, alla "Finding Nemo". Once I got outside there were some rocky terrain exhibits featuring a walrus, some seals, and penguins. At first, it seemed like a rip-off as the walrus and seals would only pop their heads out of the water for a few seconds, the disappear, but then I came upon a fixture in which two seals were out cold asleep next to the glass. It was difficult to determine if they were dead or not because they were floating up and not being shy about where they dozed off. Next to them was another cliff display of penguins, but one of the workers dominated the scene by cleaning the penguin droppings off the rocks. It looked like only two penguins were around, and the one in front of me was preoccupied with scratching its belly with its beak.

             The great aspect about the cliff exhibits is that you can also see what they look like underwater as well. So although I didn't see much of the (awake) seals and the walrus above water, I saw plenty of them swimming beneath the water level. While down underwater so to speak, there were seperate displays for sea horses, star fish, and one gigantic lobster that would go well with a side of pasta. After leaving, the house next store was the shark place, which had two rather large sharks and three massive sea turtles. I found the sea turtles much more intriguing as they came close to the glass while the sharks basically stayed away from any interaction. I don't get to be around dangerous sharks very often, so I took this rare opportunity to make an unruly gesture towards one with my middle finger to see how much of a big shot it really was, but it just swam off. The last house was the special alien stingers, which basically were the jelly fish and a creepy eel. They came in many wonderful colors and looked like something out of the "Avatar" movie, but usually the richness of their color says something about the potent of their sting, and I was happy to be seperated by thick glass. I felt I was about finished with the aquarium when I saw some people enter the watershow theater. There was music playing and it was almost 3pm, so maybe there was a show about to start. It was of no extra cost, so I figured why not watch.

            There were enough stands to hold several hundred people, but with the small audience of about twenty-five people, everyone crammed into the first few rows. The show centered around two large sea lions who did an array of tricks such as dancing, jumping, and interacting with their trainers. It was quite amazing to watch them perform tricks I wouldn't even know how they could teach. The trainers made sure to reward them constantly with fishes, but it looked like years of work went into their performances. The female trainer even had the sea lion blow on her whistle at the end, hope she buys new ones. The show lasted about twenty minutes, and with it's end, now I was done with the aquarium for the day. Upon exiting there's a path which takes pedestrians to the boardwalk and beach area, so I decided to walk on boardwalk and look at the ocean while heading back towards the subway. As our warm winter continues, it wasn't chilly at all as the wind blew off the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and there were others walking or jogging on the wooden surface. There were also some good views of Astroland Park, the Cyclone, and the Wonder Wheel. I left the boardwalk via the W. 12th St. exit and noticed the street sign was in bad need of a coat of paint or a replacement. Another two blocks and I was at the Coney Island subway station and ready to head back home.

            As I gave Nathan's one final look, I couldn't imagine Nathan Hanwerker envisioning that in more than a hundred years into the future someone would be looking to eat his customers' trash...