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A wild ride through roller-coaster goodies

Celebrate the anniversary of America's first roller coaster over at Etsy.

 

Janet Kornblum

IRL

Posted on Jun 16, 2011   Updated on Jun 3, 2021, 4:19 am CDT

If you’re not at your local amusement park celebrating the anniversary of the first American roller coaster—what, it’s not on your Google Calendar?—you can always buy roller-coaster tchotchkes . And pictures. And stuff.

Where? On Etsy, of course, the handmade marketplace of millions.

Since that first roller coaster opened at Coney Island on June 16, 1884, in Brooklyn, we’ll pay homage to a few pieces featuring Coney Island.

There’s a collage, a lot of T-shirts, and a very cool artsy Polaroid transfer picture of the roller coaster. Photos abound.

Unrecorded

I like the roller coaster coasters, both for their colorful use of metaphor and because they allow one to say “roller coaster coaster.” (Try it fast, ten times.)

And of course, there’s always, always a cat. Because where would the Internet be without a cat?

You can even write home about your experience on this vintage used postcard—if you don’t mind overwriting some history.

And if that whets your appetite for more modern thrill rides, just wait for someone to craft something from Coney Island’s new roller coasters—the first in 80 years.

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*First Published: Jun 16, 2011, 8:58 am CDT