Side Show by the Seashore: A Survival Tale
Back in the days when circus caravans wound their way across the country with clown acts, trapeze artists and lion tamers, crowds flocking to the Big Top could also be drawn in by sideshow performers... teasers, of a sort, who worked the periphery, enticing audiences with promises of death-defying feats.
Today, the sideshows and barkers of the carney tradition have largely been lost. But on Coney Island, Side Show by the Seashore remains... a relic full of nostalgic charms.
Jesse Baker produced this story.
A Hawker beckons from one of Coney Island's few lasting amusements: the Side Show by the Shore. hide caption