Photography by

GiGi Elmes
Article by
Richard Edson

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Rebel Ink

Coney Island Amusement Park is a strange and wonderful placea

dilapidated relic, a window into a simpler era and an urban oasis for
time-trippers of all sorts.
It is also the original home of the Coney Island Polar Bear Clubyou
know, those crazies who like to swim in freezing water because... well,
who knows?
I love Coney Island, says Sue, ex-punk and present day Polar
Bear. Spring, summer, fall, it doesnt matter. But in winter theres
something magical here. Its closed and empty and I feel as if I
can sense all the people through the years riding the rides and
having fun.
Sue has two half-arm tats commemorating her love of Coney Island.
She got them nine years ago by taking images of lost rides like the
Thunderbolt and the Steeple Chase and combining them with stillstanding rides like the ghostly Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone, with a
Polar Bear happily prancing across the beach toward the water.
Coney Island isnt actually an island. It was before Coney Island
Creek was filled in for the Belt Parkway in the 1930s. The word
Coney is Dutch for rabbit. When the Europeans came to the island it
was full of rabbits and local Indian rabbit hunters. As the area
developed, it spelled the end of the
conies of Coney Island (as well as
the Indians).
The original Coney Island Hotel was
built in 1829, and the area quickly
became a vacation resort for rich New
Yorkers who would make the twohour-plus trip from the city in horse and
carriage. With the construction of better roads and the advent of train lines,
street cars and steamships, Coney
Island became accessible to not only
the wealthy, but to everyone. The first
ridea carouselwas built in 1876 by

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a Danish wood carver. This was the beginning of Coney Island, the paradigm for all
the amusement parks to follow.
The east end was where they had resorts for rich people, says Dennis Buell, 50s,
current president of the Polar Bear Club and a director of global banding for a tech
company. And the amusement park was for the poor.
Nathans, the famed hot dog stand (and the site of the notorious July
4th annual hot dog eating contest) opened in 1916.
Originally, Coney Island was a series of side-by-side independent
amusement parks including the Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and
Dreamland. Between 1880 and World War II, it became the premier
amusement park in the world. It was a living museum of American
popular culture and attracted hustlers, lovers, con men, freaks and
families, especially during the hot, sweltering days of summer.
In 1903, Benarr MacFadden, the so-called father of physical culture, started the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. He was one of the
great eccentric Americans of his time, like Edison, the Wright Brothers
and Houdini (though unlike them he is now largely forgotten). He started
a magazine, Physical Culture, in 1899. For five cents, you could read up
on bodybuilding, natural living and non-medical cures. He was far
ahead of his time and believed swimming in freezing water was good for your health.
I had chronic bronchitis, says Bear Jim Ducky McDonnel, 50s, a custodian with the New York
City Board of Education. Id be out of work sometimes for three or four months. Since Ive been
doing this, my bronchitis is gone.
More than a few Bears had similar stories.
The Coney Island Polar Bear Club has been meeting every Sunday from November to April since
its founding in 1903. Its open to everyone. All you have to do to be a
member is show up and swim 12 times in a single season.
It was a sunny, brisk, 32 degrees (plus
wind chill) on the Sunday I watched the
Bears take their swim. They meet at Toms,
a restaurant on the Coney Island boardwalk.
Toms was established in 1936 (says a sign
on the wall). It has the best breakfast in New
York City (says AOL). And, its the #1 restaurant in Brooklyn (so says N.Y. Newsday).
The Bears are as friendly and upbeat a
group of people youll ever meet. They gather before the swim to drink coffee and
cocoa, to catch up, and to share a few
laughs. What do you know? Theyre just like
everyone else, though they tend to smile a lot more.
You have to plan, says Bear Elliot Reed, 30s, a graphic
designer by training, a social worker by trade and a musician
and producer by passion. You have to know the inner working
of the water, and you have to know yourself. You learn selfpreservation techniques.

Elliot has a series of tattoos, among

them a phoenix, a building where he
grew up and the word vegan. He
calls them a map of his experiences,
both good and bad.
There are Russian, Norwegian,
German, Ukrainian and American
Bears. They are all body types, ages,
genders, races and professions. Its
impossible to generalize other than to
say the only thing they outwardly
share is their love of swimming in cold,
freezing water.
I just love coming here, hanging out and sharing this one thing we
all love, says Tony Nastro, 70s, a former pressman with The New
York Times, born, bred and still living in Brooklyn. Being there, going
in the water, you dont think about anything. Youre totally free, and
everybody totally accepts you.
Tonys tats refer to a personal story, emotion or ideathe male
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seahorse carries the eggs, which signify a warm, friendly

understanding. Love, really, and the tat of the fierce Polar
Bear face signifies the club, of course, but also the dangers of global warning.
How did you start?
As a kid, I saw it on the news, you know, the New
Years Day thing, Tony said. (Seeing the Bears swim on
New Years was how a lot of Bears were introduced to the
club). And it looked like fun, says Tony.
And when you do it?
You dont know what to expect, says Bear Elliot Reed.
Your body adjusts. Its strange. You dont feel the pain,
really. And you feel a rush of energy. Its great.
Its better than meditation, says Laura Simon, a fully
tatted artist in her mid-40s. Whats crazy is that I dont
even like the cold, but when youre in the water you cant
think about anything else. Youre completely present.
I asked her if there was any connection between getting
tattoos and extreme cold-water swimming?
Well, she says, thinking. There is a ritualistic aspect
to both. Theres a lot of mental and physical preparation and visualization. Before each, my
heart is racing but after it starts I really relax into it.
After Toms, they change into their bathing suits and march down the snow-covered beach.
Its a large excited, smiling group, maybe 60 in all. They form a circle, do jumping jacks to
warm up, then head to the water. Theres a palpable energy and excitement as they plunge in.
They form another circle once theyre in and hold hands. Some come out shortly after, some
stay in. The longest anyone stays in is about ten minutes.
In New York you have to seek out nature, says Prez Bear Dennis. And the ocean is so
physical and so much bigger than you. You somehow experience really being in nature, being
at one with nature.
Because it was Sunday I couldnt help thinking of this as a secular church. Its a way to
commune with nature, with the other Bears, with oneself and with the ghosts of Coney Island
past. Like most of us, theyve found a way to leave their personal everyday problems and
selves behind for a moment of fun and transcendence.
So why do they do it? They do it to feel alive.

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