
It was a troubling decade: America was a nation healing from the Great Depression, and had spent four years engaged in a war that would devastate millions worldwide.

But on the beaches of Coney Island, New Yorkers young and old could forget their worries for the day as they splashed in the sea, relaxed with their sweetheart in the sand or chowed down on a hot dog from the original Nathan's.

Antique photos from the 1940s - before, during and after America's involvement in the Second World War - illustrate the carefree summers of years past. It is an atmosphere that can still be found any given day on the famed boardwalk.

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Bird's eye view: This photo of revelers on a fairground ride on Sunday, September 8 1946 illustrates the sheer number of beachgoers at Coney Island where the beaches are packed

The All-American favorite snack: The boardwalk is the home of the original Nathan's Hot Dogs, where these children, pictured in 1948, indulged in their favorite food - the hot dog. The famous July 4 contest has been held at Coney Island every Independence Day since 1916

The way we were: In this colorized image from 1948, the beaches of Coney Island are busy and the sea is warm enough to bathe in. One life-long Coney Island resident remarked that in the 1940s there was often not enough room to even put down a towel on the sand to sunbathe

Summer lovin': Young love flourished, illustrated by these couples lying together under a blanket on the beach at night on March 24, 1941

Taken from the early 1930s to late 1940s, the images provide an intimate look at the style and entertainment of the time.

Popular in the early 20th century were Freak Shows – which are now controversial, but were considered a common form of amusement in that era, especially for the middle class.

Exhibitions at Coney Island's freak shows included Anita the Elephant Face Girl, who had a nose deformity that resembled an elephant's trunk, and Olga the Headless Woman - advertised with the phrase: 'How does she live?'

Princess Lola, dubbed 'the fattest lady at Coney Island,' received doctor check-ups on stage for bewildered beachgoers who bemused at her alleged 558 pound weight.

In the decades since, much has changed, but the trademark staples of Coney Island summers remain.

The original Nathan's Hot Dog stand remains at its same location on the boardwalk, where annual hot dog eating contests have been held each year on the fourth of July since 1916.

However – the hot dogs now cost a controversial $3.15 – a steep uptick from the five cents they cost in the 1940s, the 1940 equivalent of which would be 84 cents now.

Roll up, roll up: So-called freak shows were considered a common form of amusement in that era

Exhibitions at Coney Island's freak shows included Anita the Elephant Face Girl, who had a nose deformity that resembled an elephant's trunk, pictured left, and a man with facial deformities, right

Princess Lola, dubbed 'the fattest lady at Coney Island,' received doctor check-ups on stage for bewildered beachgoers who bemused at her alleged 558 pound weight

A 'Strong Man' tested his strength at the Coney Island amusement park by allowing servicemen to pull his neck with ropes

In an oral history collection called the Coney Island History Project, CEO of NYDJ jean company George Runes reflected on growing up in Coney Island at the time.

He noted that an entire day of fun could be spent for 25 cents on the Coney Island boardwalk back then – as he and his three brothers often used to do.

'For my bar mitzvah my parents gave me half a dollar and I went with my brother. We rode three rides a piece, for five cents each, and a nickel for a hot dog and a nickel for a root beer. We each had a quarter,' he said.

'My father made $50 a week for a family of five – the rent was $37.50 a month so there wasn't a question of much more. Yet we were one of the families that was better off in our whole building. My friend who lived across from me – his father was a milkman. He used to get up at four in the morning and drive a milk truck. Another guy had a garage. Those were just the jobs that the people had.'

Circa 1945, the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone rides are visible from the vantage point of a very crowded beach

Coney Island was an ideal spot for revelers because it was so easy to access - and inexpensive at a time when money was tight

In an attempt to secure some side cash for himself, Runes would occasionally try to sell ice cream to some of the hundreds of parched beachgoers who would settle in the sand each day – something that found him in trouble with the law on one occasion.

'It was so crowded you couldn't even find a place for a sunbathe,' he recalled.

'I was carrying a bag of ice cream with dry ice and selling it for a nickel a piece. But you weren't allowed to do that on the beach because they had the stores under the boardwalk – you weren't allowed to compete with them.

'I got caught! They gave me a ticket and I had to go to the police station and pay five dollars for it.'

Another life-long Coney Island resident Aldo Mancusi was a first generation American citizen whose parents both emigrated from Italy and settled in New York, as many others did at the time.

'Whenever we passed Nathan's there was a tug at my father's coat – and I'd say 'Papa, fracoforte!' – I spoke Italian, my first language, and he'd give me a slap on the back of the head and say 'walk and be quiet.' I didn't know why he refused me a hot dog, it was only a nickel! But later on he said to me 'my dear son, in my old leather purse, I had just enough in there to get us there and get us home.' We had no extra money for coffee or soda or Nathan's hot dog.

'But I got even with him because now every time I go by I stop and get at least two,' he said.

Her eyes on the camera, a woman bends down to young boy who cries in ankle-deep water at Coney Island beach in 1944

The images were likely colorized later on, as color photography did not become widely practiced until the 1950s - though it existed earlier it was very expensive. These sunbathing women were photographed in 1948

On March 21, 1946, the Beautiful Legs contest from Broadway to Coney Island was held

Models from the CBS gameshow, 'The Big Payoff,' Pat Conway, Cindy Robbins, Marion James and Connie Mavis on the large spinning disk, known as the Human Roulette Wheel

This photo taken in 1955 shows scores of hungry customers lined up for the on-site famously grilled Nathan's hot dogs

Children would frequently get lost due to the crowds, and would be taken to lifeguards who would blow their whistles until parents came to retrieve them

Pose for the camera: This man showed his impressive flexibility for a photographer in 1940. A Coney Island resident said that although it was a divisive time, everyone got along on the beach

'In those days money was hard to come by and so we literally were happy to be there and enjoy the beach,' Aldo continued.

'There was no money for the merry-go-round which was my favorite thing in Coney Island, and of course the other rides we were too young to go on. But as we got older and became more affluent we could afford to do the other rides – I really enjoyed the Cyclone and the Parachute Jump.

'Coney Island was special because it was accessible – and it wasn't expensive to go. Unless you brought a girl with you,' he said, remembering dates he went on as a teen.

Aldo Mancusi noted that one could spend the entire day enjoying the sun, sand, food and rides at Coney Island for less than 25 cents circa the time of this photo, 1945

It was a popular spot to take your sweetheart or summer love for a cheap date

A steadfast reminder to slow down and enjoy the little things – Coney Island remains as a window into a true American summer

Singer Neil Sedaka and his then girlfriend Leba Strassberg whom he would later marry spend a romantic day going to Coney Island, playing music, going to the amusement park for a spread in Song Hits magazine in 1959

'What I remember most was that it was a fun place,' he told the History Project. 'It was an enjoyable place. And there were never any problems – nobody got hurt seriously, we never had fights, we never had police intervening with anything. It was always nice people whether you were black, white, Irish, German, Jewish, whatever – we all tolerated one another. There was no real discrimination – you just lived your life the way you wanted to live and enjoyed yourself.

Summer romances turned into marriages, children were lost and then found, and the wheel of time passed on just as the iconic Wonder Wheel spun on its axis.

A steadfast reminder to slow down and enjoy the little things – Coney Island remains as a window into a true American summer.

The Parachute Jump (pictured in 1948) was a similarly popular attraction, and was built as part of the 1939 New York World Fair and was moved to Coney Island in 1941