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Episode 448: Coney Island Back In Business

Published April 2, 2013 at 6:36 PM MDT

When Hurricane Sandy struck, it devastated businesses all over New York City. One area hit particularly hard was Coney Island, an iconic New York beach at the tip of South Brooklyn. At the time, we reported on the damage to a family-owned amusement park, Deno's Wonderwheel Amusement Park, home to the Wonder Wheel, bumper cars, and the Spook-A-Rama. We reported that the place was basically doomed, and our report was a kind of premature obituary for the business.

But now 5 months after the storm, we return to the amusement park and find things shockingly normal. Businesses like Deno's are back and some of them are thriving. On today's show, an economic case study. What brought Coney Island back so quickly?

Music: Dire Strait's "Tunnel of Love" and Bob Dylan's "Hurricane." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Planet Money PodcastSuperstorm SandyNew York
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