Coney Island Circus Sideshow

What is it about the Sideshow Acts that draws us in? I've enjoyed this form of entertainment from elementary school. The Circus used to come and park in a vacant lot near my house in Florida. That was my first experience seeing a sideshow. I was in Second or Third Grade.

Every time I get the opportunity I have to go see the sideshow acts. Coney Island was my go to place at one time. I'm fond of the Fortune Teller. That was pre-Covid-19. I don't know what you will find if you visit Coney Island now. I'm posting some photos I took a long time ago. I have my memories of fun times until I can get back to Coney Island Park again. I hope the sideshow will still be there.

There's one of my photos of what was a beer joint. Coney Island Brewery is there now. The old Coney Island Lager has a connection to the Sideshow atmosphere of Coney Island. I'll let you do the research and look it up! I'm posting my favorite Shmaltz Brewing Company photo. That's what I remember most about Coney Island Lager. There's a long history here. I Love it!

We were so excited to visit the Sideshow while at Coney Island and were extremely disappointed. We went to the 2pm show & paid $15 each to enter.

Half the show time was spent trying to get us to buy more tickets and spend more money. After the first little act, they kept telling us where to buy more tickets. After the second, they wanted us to spend $10 on the show poster. Then after the blade box act, they wanted us to pay to come up and see the trick. There was one more act & then they were asking us to pay more money to see something else.

I appreciate the art & understand the sideshow needs to be supported, but I paid for a show & saw maybe 15 minutes of actual acts.

I hope they reconsider the format & their approach to donations.

There are at least 3 amusement parks, the tickets are not good for all parks so make sure you ask before you buy your tickets for the rides that your tickets are good for. The prices are a little high but if you know in advance you have to buy tickets to each park you won't spend all your ride money at once.

Besides that I like Coney Island, there is so much history here and it's easy to get to by train. Family friendly beach is also a plus with clean bathrooms. The fail food is good and of course the hot dogs are great!!

Very cool show. I saw 5 acts. Caught the end of the second to last show and then stayed and saw the very last show. Since I volunteered to help with rolling tee-shirts for Saturday's Mermaid parade (which I am volunteering for as well - I enjoy this event as I love mermaid everything, so yeah I volunteer in it every year so far for three to four consecutive years. Lots of fun seeing everyone in costume. Plus I got to walk and traffic in the parade as well before. If you never seen the parade, I recommend you come down on Saturday 6/16 to take a look. Make sure you come early to get a good spot either on surf avenue or on the Broadwalk. You don't wanna Miss seeing all the costumes. Parade Starts at 1pm.

Anyways, I got to the tee-shirts roll a little late due to coming from work; the other volunteers were so fast they finished within an hour. So Laure asked if I wanted to see today's sideshow since I was already here. I said okay and had a great time watching the show.

I only saw 5 acts. They advertised there are 10 acts in each show. So I do recommend 1) you come early to an early show and 2) come and support this show. It's a part of Coney island and circus history. Very classic and historic acts and some new acts. Worth seeing if you are ever down at Coney Island.

While you are down at Coney Island, make a day out of it and check our Luna Park, lounge around at the beach, check out the summer film series or partake in the Friday Summer firework shows. Or if you wanna walk down to West 8th St, take a look at the aquarium. Lots of renovation for a new aquarium coming soon. If you come extra early, take part in the Crabbing & fishing at the end of the pier. Lots to do and see. Oh and lots of eateries opened up along surf avenue... So come for lunch or dinner too.

Basically a great way to spend a free day and relax with lots of options.

This place sucks and it's reflective of the people who run the place. Came here on a Saturday with my girlfriend. We sat at the bar and had two drinks for about 45 min to an hour. About 4 other patrons in there at the time.

After our drinks, we went to check out the show. But this bearded guy stopped us and told us there was a special event starting in an hour and they weren't allowing anymore people in. I asked him why no one told us this and instead just let us sit at the bar. Why wouldn't you tell your customers this? So basically we sat there wasting our time sipping drinks because no one though that was pertinent information.

Annoyed, but understanding, we went back and got another drink at the bar. Not ten minutes later, a party of four people come in, and the bearded guy gladly lets them walk right into the exhibit. I asked him was the deal was. Why'd wouldn't you let us in? He refused to tell me but told me he's let me and my girlfriend in if we slipped him 20 bucks. Lol. Run by jerkoffs. Avoid this jack shack.

This places is absolutely awesome! Soooo entertaining and the fact you can have a drink and watch a crazy awesome show is just amazing! The sideshow dog is adorable as well!!! Wink wink

How did I end up in a car with Doc Wasabassco, Sizzle Dizzle, and Nasty Canasta, at 1:30 am?

My gf and I really like burlesque, and when we heard that Wasabassco was throwing a show in Coney Island for the opening of the 2010 season, we certainly didn't want to miss the chance to see burlesque at the Sideshow by the Seashore.

I've always been fascinated by Coney Island, the clitoral appendage of Brooklyn; a place Federico Fellini would have loved. The old style kitsch decor of this place fits perfectly: The hammerhead shark above the bar; the wonderful Seeburg juke box; the sideshow paintings; the wooden bleachers in the theater area; the lonely dog wandering around the bar. This place exudes that same seedy feel that drags me around here a few times a year.

The bar serves Coney Island Craft Lagers by Shmaltz Brewery. They come in large, 1 pint bottles, at $9 each. Ouch!
I tried first a Sword Swallower (6.8% ABV): 8 hops and 4 malts; bitter and hoppy. This was followed by a Human Blockhead (10% ABV): 6 hops and 7 malts; complex taste, herbal and slightly spicy. These beers can be deceptive: lots of taste, but also lots of alcohol. And trust me: it's going to hit you.

Highlights from the show, which was awesome, included Melody Sweets and her hawaiian-marijuana song; Nikki Le Villain and her Cleopatra+albino snake[1] piece; Nasty Canasta and her Coney Island dance; Miss Coney Island 2010 Gigi La Famme and her dance on a Black Sabbath song; and the grand finale with all the girls in a bath tub of champagne.

A word of advice for the ladies: don't come here alone; this place attracts creeps. And I am not talking about the artists in the show (they're totally cool). I am talking about Jeffrey Dahmer kind of creeps that hang around the bar. After the show, we were enjoying a beer at the bar in the company of Doc Wasabassco, Nasty Canasta, and Sizzle Dizzle, and there was this guy sitting behind Nasty that tried to stroke her hair. Twice. That wasn't cool at all. Luckily the owner handled the situation very well, and escorted the guy to the door (together with a second creepy guy). We finished our drinks and gave a lift back home to the Wasabassco crew.

The place closes kinda early, soon after 1 am.
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[1] Nikki was using what looked to me like a big-ass python, while Cleopatra actually used an asp. Not that that really matters, actually.

Wooden Bleachers, A basic wooden platform for a stage complete with whatever the performers want to use as props. No, The sound system's not mind-blowing. However, this is raw "sine qua non" entertainment. Attending a freak show, Vaudeville, Burlesque show here is kind of important in so far as Coney Island's an original location where they keep the tradition alive.
The performers and this scene are grass roots, They do it because they love it. The show is not some streamlined corporate B.S. sponsored event, It's not supposed to be. It's a homage to a simpler time; a living Tom Waits song or chillin' with some characters who escaped a Bukowski book.

You will laugh at the jokes (As told by Tyler Fire.):
Q. "What's the difference between Mash Potatoes and Pea Soup?"
A. "Anyone can Mash Potatoes."

You will drool at the hot ladies on stage and the chicas in the audience. You will rub elbows with the entertainers afterwards and drink great beer all the while surrounded by relics of Coney Island and go home with money left in your wallet. Coney Island Circus Sideshow / Freak Bar is great stuff. If you want the Homogenized billion dollar spectacle go get your 200+$ tickets to Cirque du Soleil and while you're at it don't come back you ruined NY anyway.

Two words, 1 name : RAY VALENZ. Oh dear lord. Hostess with the absolute mostest. Still dreaming about this dude. Yes and I'm married and yea hubby is ok with it because he was pretty entertained by him too. A quote we saw in an article we looked up after the show describing Ray hits it dead on, "every girl wants to be with him. Every guy wants to be him". Hubs definitely considered learning to eat some fire after his performance. The MC and in my opinion star of the show. He is magnetic. He and his sword swallowing sister, Betty Blommerz rocked it. Side note for any music fans, they are Great niece and nephew of La Bamba famed, Ritchie Valens. Unfortunately, we didn't learn that until afterwards. I wish I snapped a pic with him as we chatted with him for a bit after the show.

We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We actually only wound up paying $5 each (instead of $10) to get it last minute. Not sure if they do this all of the time. This was not peak season. Sweet. It's was pretty lengthy for that price. We were impressed. A little sword swallowing as I mentioned, a nail and hammer to the head, a snake charmer, electric chair stunts with audience participation, waking on broken glass and contortion. It looks that we missed some burlesque type acts on the day we went. Bummer. Very entertaining. Lots of interaction with the crowd. We stayed and had some drinks after and there were opportunities to take photos with some of the performers. Bring some ones for tips and to see the secret "thing". The bar was actually out of Coney Island classic beers but did have some local lagers that were delish. Very chill place. Definitely will be returning. If not just for Ray alone. Damn.
I'm not usually into this "type" of thing but it was definitely the best $10 e have ever spent. We are still talking about it.

*they run the shows continually all day and if you come in half way through, you are invited to stay for the other show until the part you haven't see yet.

*no pics allowed although I don't like rules very much. DONT USE FLASH! Especially during the fire!

This is a really cool little spot to stop for a drink and reasonably priced show. I wish they were a little more clear about the show stops and starts though. We were told we could go in soon and then the show would be continuous. But after we paid, waited 15 minutes and went in we were only able to watch two short acts before they shut it down for a break. Had it been another day this may have been fine but we were trying to get the most out of our last hour in the area so this was very disappointing and we had to leave without getting a full show. What we did get to watch was very well performed and we are certain we would have really enjoyed the show.