Guest Post: Gene Ritter The Discovery of the Dreamland Pier Part I
The Discovery of the Dreamland Pier Part I
By Gene Ritter
Years before the discovery of the Dreamland Bell I made the discovery of the Dreamland Pier. It was a cold January winter day back in 1988 when I walked into a bookstore that sold used books. I was researching old shipwrecks. I stumbled across a book titled Old Brooklyn. I opened the book and what I saw was a photograph of an old pier which dated back to 1881. It was a photograph of the New Iron Pier also known as the Dreamland Pier. It also had the location which was W. 5th St. and Surf Avenue. I said to myself, “how can that be.” I lived in Brighton Beach and Coney Island all my life. I never knew about this pier since there are no traces of the existence of a pier. Intrigued with this information I decided to further my research and I made a trip to the New York public library map room in Manhattan. I could not believe my eyes, the map showed that there were two piers side-by-side only 400 feet apart extending out fifteen hundred feet into the ocean. At that moment I knew I was on the verge of making a significant underwater discovery. After careful planning all winter I made the discovery of the Dreamland Pier on a single solo dive in the spring season of 1988. Since that time I have recovered hundreds of artifacts that have been displayed in schools and libraries.
Gene and his wife Beth are both John Dewey HS alumni. Gene has come out to the kaiser park waterfront to educate current marine biology students on SCUBA and has told great stories. He has sparked interest in local youth in my marine biology class.