The Coney Island Cyclone, built in Brooklyn in 1927, was the brainchild of two Russian immigrant brothers, Jack and Irving Rosenthal. It was built near the site of the nation’s first commercially successful coaster, the 1884 Switchback Railway. The Rosenthal brothers continued as innovators in the amusement industry, managing and later owning the successful Palisades Amusement Park in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Cyclone roller coaster would go on to outlive all of its rival Golden Age coasters. The Cyclone was declared a New York City landmark in 1988, along…
