Coney Island USA

Mermaids, hula-hooping transvestites, scantily-dressed burlesque dancers, tattooed carnies, and a host of other Coney Island characters took their act over the bridge last night to raise money for Coney Island U.S.A., a 29-year-old, nonprofit arts program that supports the amusement park’s mainstream underbelly.

If Memorial Day was not approaching, the good-naturedly lascivious scene inside the Angel Orensanz Foundation’s headquarters—ironically a former Lower East Side synagogue—could have easily been mistaken for a Halloween party.

Busty, bikini-clad, not-quite-spring-chicken, burlesque dancers and mermaids mingled as costumed swing dancers twirled their way across the dance floor to the music of Lady Luck and the Suicide Kings.  read more »