Exploring Coney Island in context to Just Kids

“Nothing was more wonderful to me than Coney Island with its gritty innocence. It was our kind of place: the fading arcades, the peeling signs of bygone days, cotton candy and Kewpie dolls on a stick, dressed in feathers and glittering top hats. We wandered through the last gasp of the sideshows. They had lost their luster, though they still touted such human oddities as the donkey-faced boy, the alligator man, and the three-legged girl. Robert found the world of freaks fascinating.” Smith 109.

While on Patti Smith’s New York Tour, it would be negligent to pass by Coney Island. Patti Smith acknowledges her appreciation for it’s atypical “gritty innocence” (Smith 109). In Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, Coney Island stands as a platform for the unique individual to express oneself within a free environment. The outcasts Smith describes are admired for the spectacle of their differences rather than shamed for their individuality. This type of community is reflective of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s artistic liberties illustrated throughout the book. Similarly to the side shows at Coney Island, Smith and Mapplethorpe display their eccentricity against alternate personalities in Manhattan. However, like Coney Island, Manhattan is embellished with unconventional identities similar to the “feathers and glittering top hats” of Coney Island.

Though Coney Island offers similar liberties to Patti Smith as the Chelsea Hotel or Max’s does, the “ocean via subway,” was an escape for Patti and Robert (109). The counterculture movement was apparent in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. The counterculture movement was when a portion of the population was determined to rebel against traditional American values. Whether going against traditional sexuality values, appearance and aesthetics, political,  or the arts, the counterculture movement was prominent and stretched way beyond the main portion of Manhattan. Because this counterculture movement was prominent in both Manhattan and Coney Island, It was easy for Robert and Patti to travel there so easily. However, Manhattan was a location of speed, competition, and even at some point in the novel, Patti Smith demonstrates a certain scope of Jealousy. At Coney Island, Smith and Mapplethorpe were able to enjoy the luxury of the shore while still being able to connect to the odd figures who inhabited the beach. There was a certain affinity Patti and Robert had with the people of Coney Island, yet it was an escape from the rushed lifestyle that suffocated the environment of Manhattan that made Coney Island the perfect getaway.

Furthermore, Manhattan offered a sense of uncertainty for Smith, at the beginning of the novel her sleeping arrangements are never airtight and living situations become a matter of who you know not what you have. Coney Island was considered a constant for Robert and Patti, it was something among their artistic lives that would always be present as they progressed through life and their relationship.

Smiths vagabond escape to Manhattan would not be complete without her and Robert’s predetermined getaway to Coney Island. In the early edition of Just Kids, the cover consists of Smith and Mapplethorpe standing in front of the famous Coney Island wooden roller coaster: The Cyclone. This photograph encapsulates the youthful nature both Smith and Mapplethorpe clung to during all of their NY adventures. Whether visiting Max’s or the Chelsea Hotel, Smith utilizes her childlike nature in her constant exploration of art. Coney Island stands as a playground for Smith it was filled with memorable moments such as when she writes, “all along the pier young boys and their grandfathers were crabbing. They’d slide raw chicken as bait in a small cage on a rope and hurl it over the side. The pier was swept away in a big storm in the eighties but Nathan’s, which was Robert’s favorite place, remained. Normally we only had money for one hot dog and a Coke. He would eat most of the dog and I most of the sauerkraut. But that day we had enough money for two of everything. We walked across the beach to say hello to the ocean, and I sang him the song “Coney Island Baby” by the Excellents. He wrote our names in the sand” (Smith 65). The tone of this passage demonstrates a type of juvenility that makes readers interested in the simple bond between Smith and Mapplethorpe.

It would be remiss to pass by the spot that Mapplethorpe and Smith held onto so fondly for the duration of their relationship. The spontaneity, the artistic and aesthetic freedom, and the youth all contributed to the perfect spot for Smith and Mapplethorpe.