The Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. The Wonder Wheel was built between 1918 and 1920 by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel company using 100 % Bethlehem Steel forged right on the premises in Coney Island and opened to the public on Memorial Day in 1920. • The Wonder Wheel stands 150 feet tall, has a diameter of 140 feet, and holds 144 people at once in its 24 fully enclosed cars, each seating six passengers. The ride is over 200 tons and its unusual design incorporates sections of curved tracks connecting an outer wheel and a smaller inner wheel.
• The reason we chose to highlight the @denoswonderwheel for #valentinesday is due to the lovely story 2nd-generation owner Dennis Vourderis shared with us, “My father always loved taking the family to Coney Island and seeing the Boardwalk and Wonder Wheel. He often told my mother Lula that one day he would buy the Wonder Wheel for her as a wedding present, a ring so big that everyone in the world would see how much he loved her, a ring that would never be lost. They married in 1947 and during the 1960s my father operated a Boardwalk restaurant and managed a Coney Island kiddie park, which he eventually purchased in 1981. When the Wonder Wheel was put up for sale in 1983, there were several interested buyers with higher offers, but the Garms family decided to sell it to my father because they knew that they could trust him to personally maintain its grandeur and brilliance. Six years later, the Wonder Wheel itself was landmarked in 1989 by the City Of New York.”
• Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, @denoswonderwheel was unable to open for the 2020 season. We are hoping that it can reopen for 2021! Photo of #wonderwheel in #coneyisland at night appears on our book “New York Nights” along with an interview with Dennis Vourderis.
