Helen Pitt

You know, there was the Fred Switely Band that was a swing band.

They used the ballet dance floor, which was the old pontoon that had been used for the ferries, and it was a really popular place that...

many soldiers and sailors spent their final night at before going to a theatre of war.

So it really changed from being a childhood pleasure palace to an adult and young person place and very popular.

Even through the wartime, that was the case.

Even in the 60s, you know, they had go-go dances that came to Coney Island.

So it was quite often an adult theme park as well as one for children.

Yes, well, fascinating.

Amazingly, Luna Park remained open during World War II.

It was going to be requisitioned by the army, but then Ted Hopkins said he could see that the government could see there was a very valid point of giving people an escape from their wartime woes.

So it remained it was browned out, but then they escaped when they heard about the Japanese subs into a little air raid shelter that had been a remnant of the Dorman Long site when it was the place that the harbour bridge had been built.

It was the place where all the explosives were kept.

It was a little dugout hole in the sandstone at Milston's Point.

It's still there today and everyone who was working that night took refuge and hid from the Japanese subs.

Oh, can't you just taste it?

The dagwood dogs and the smell of the popcorn and the fairy floss, which he always insisted had to be made in front of you.

None of this stuff from a bag.

And hot dogs were actually invented in Coney Island.

You know, they say Coney Island and hot dogs go together since hot dog first met bun.

It's been part of the joy is the junk food, to be honest, because, again, you've got the freedom to choose what you want to eat.