History
The park's creators, Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy, created a wildly successful ride called "A Trip To The Moon", a part of the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 at Buffalo, New York. The name of the winged spacecraft (which was not a rocket, but flapped its wings) was Luna, the Latin word for the moon. During a discussion of the name of the park, "Dundy suggested the name of his sister in Des Moines, Luna Dundy
At the invitation of Steeplechase owner Harry George Tilyou, Thompson and Dundy moved their show to Steeplechase Park, a Coney Island amusement park, for the 1902 season. At the end of that season, the partners obtained a long-term lease for the site of an older amusement park, Sea Lion Park, and rebuilt it as Luna Park, the second major amusement park in Coney Island. Although they claimed the park was named after one of their female relatives, it was probably named for the ship. The architecture was quite fanciful, with thousands of electric lamps on the outside of the buildings at a time when electrification was still a novelty.
Witching Waves was one of the most popular rides at Luna Park, invented by Theophilus Van Kannel, who also invented the revolving door. The ride consisted of a large oval course with a flexible metal floor. There were hidden reciprocating levers that produced a wave-like motion. The floor itself did not move but the moving wave propelled two seated small scooter-style cars with two seats, which could be steered by the riders. In 1910, it was moved and installed on the Bowery in Manhattan.
Read more about this topic: Luna Park, Coney Island
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