Jmejia1187
New Member
This story is long, but interesting. It all started with an email I received in May of 2018. The email, verbatim read:
This email came just days after I had posted this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlzaesidLL4
And so I believe it was sent to me since I appreciate the history of NYC (also I love finding old subway tokens, lol).
However, I wasn't able to look for Golden City. My life was too busy! I was getting married in September, so my free time was used up in wedding arrangements. In October I was prepping for Comic Con in New York City, and in November I moved! But the person who sent me this message didn't stop. He left comments on my metal detecting youtube videos:
"I have a spot where there was an old amusement park in Brooklyn few people know about...contact me if interested "
"Did you ever check out that spot in Brooklyn i emails you about last month?"
"Canarsie..belt parkway area..golden city amusement park 1907-1939..get out there"
I responded that my life was getting busy, and that I didn't really drive, and the park was quite a bit away from where I lived (about 2 hours in public transportation), but around December 2018, I started looking into what he was talking about. And I found the following website:
http://lostamusementparks.napha.org/Articles/NewYork/GoldenCity-NY.html
As it turns out, he was correct. In Canarsie, by the water, near the belt parkway, there once lived an amusement park. And everyone paid in coins, and the amusement park did go out of business in 1939. And there was a wishing fountain where people often left coins!
So I decided, when the weather was favorable, I would go out and search for this fabled Golden City! According to my research, it lied right in Canarsie Park, which fortunately enough, I had permission to detect, due to the free Department of Park and Recreation metal detecting permit here in NYC (link provided for anyone who wants a free permit to multiple parks and beaches in NYC):
https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/metal-detector
But, I wasn't the first person to get to it.
In a video called Unearthing Golden City, youtube user Metal Detecting NYC told a story similar to mine, about a message he received from someone, who told him about an amusement park. He showed his research, and actually went to the site to detect! There was a beach area on the southern side, and lots of grassy parkland on the northern edge, and so he took the time to detect both!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0JnebypW0o
Unfortunately, it was still VERY cold, and so detecting the sand was difficult due to the frozen ground. The highlight was a silver dime.
But that didn't stop him. He set out AGAIN, and posted a SECOND video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMcZ-5k9TF0
This video was a lot more successful than the first! He finds 3 more silver coins including an 1841 dime! Also a broken silver ring! And he was only detecting the peripheral of where Golden City was SUPPOSED to be. He hadn't even touched the ground where Golden City actually was (right along the Belt Parkway)
I was hooked. I sent a message to Metal Detecting NYC so I can join him on his next hunt in Golden City, and so it happened, that just a few weeks ago we did a buddy hunt.
We both posted videos of what we had found.
His:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYYF9k-Hucw
Mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvzzRVU4HWs
But unfortunately it wasn't a day for silvers. We again hunted the peripheral. He found an old brooch and a lock marked 1903. I found a broken school bus and some clad. However, we did scout out the site where the amusement park was SUPPOSED to have been. Unfortunately, it was overgrown. Thorny rose bushes, long grasses and wild areas made the trek nearly inaccessible, and there was barely enough room to walk through the brush, let alone swing a darn metal detector.
The mysteries of Golden City still lie in that area, but pretty soon, the grass and bushes will start to grow again, and the location will be completely impenetrable.
Metal Detecting NYC did go back one last time, and made a fourth video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNwtSsocig
In it, he went, and with pinpointer at hand, he tried his best to find a relic that can be directly tied to Golden City Amusement Park in Brooklyn, NY. He ended up finding a sign with the letters "OL" on it, but after making and uploading the video, commenters let him know the sign belonged to a KOOL cigarette brand advertisement.
Perhaps the mysteries of Golden City will forever remain hidden in the ground of Canarsie Park in Brooklyn, NY. For now, I hope to go out at least once or twice more to see what secrets the grounds hold. I never got a chance to detect that small beach. Perhaps something washed down over the years. The only way to know would be to look.
This email came just days after I had posted this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlzaesidLL4
And so I believe it was sent to me since I appreciate the history of NYC (also I love finding old subway tokens, lol).
However, I wasn't able to look for Golden City. My life was too busy! I was getting married in September, so my free time was used up in wedding arrangements. In October I was prepping for Comic Con in New York City, and in November I moved! But the person who sent me this message didn't stop. He left comments on my metal detecting youtube videos:
"I have a spot where there was an old amusement park in Brooklyn few people know about...contact me if interested "
"Did you ever check out that spot in Brooklyn i emails you about last month?"
"Canarsie..belt parkway area..golden city amusement park 1907-1939..get out there"
I responded that my life was getting busy, and that I didn't really drive, and the park was quite a bit away from where I lived (about 2 hours in public transportation), but around December 2018, I started looking into what he was talking about. And I found the following website:
http://lostamusementparks.napha.org/Articles/NewYork/GoldenCity-NY.html
As it turns out, he was correct. In Canarsie, by the water, near the belt parkway, there once lived an amusement park. And everyone paid in coins, and the amusement park did go out of business in 1939. And there was a wishing fountain where people often left coins!
So I decided, when the weather was favorable, I would go out and search for this fabled Golden City! According to my research, it lied right in Canarsie Park, which fortunately enough, I had permission to detect, due to the free Department of Park and Recreation metal detecting permit here in NYC (link provided for anyone who wants a free permit to multiple parks and beaches in NYC):
https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/metal-detector
But, I wasn't the first person to get to it.
In a video called Unearthing Golden City, youtube user Metal Detecting NYC told a story similar to mine, about a message he received from someone, who told him about an amusement park. He showed his research, and actually went to the site to detect! There was a beach area on the southern side, and lots of grassy parkland on the northern edge, and so he took the time to detect both!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0JnebypW0o
Unfortunately, it was still VERY cold, and so detecting the sand was difficult due to the frozen ground. The highlight was a silver dime.
But that didn't stop him. He set out AGAIN, and posted a SECOND video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMcZ-5k9TF0
This video was a lot more successful than the first! He finds 3 more silver coins including an 1841 dime! Also a broken silver ring! And he was only detecting the peripheral of where Golden City was SUPPOSED to be. He hadn't even touched the ground where Golden City actually was (right along the Belt Parkway)
I was hooked. I sent a message to Metal Detecting NYC so I can join him on his next hunt in Golden City, and so it happened, that just a few weeks ago we did a buddy hunt.
We both posted videos of what we had found.
His:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYYF9k-Hucw
Mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvzzRVU4HWs
But unfortunately it wasn't a day for silvers. We again hunted the peripheral. He found an old brooch and a lock marked 1903. I found a broken school bus and some clad. However, we did scout out the site where the amusement park was SUPPOSED to have been. Unfortunately, it was overgrown. Thorny rose bushes, long grasses and wild areas made the trek nearly inaccessible, and there was barely enough room to walk through the brush, let alone swing a darn metal detector.
The mysteries of Golden City still lie in that area, but pretty soon, the grass and bushes will start to grow again, and the location will be completely impenetrable.
Metal Detecting NYC did go back one last time, and made a fourth video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNwtSsocig
In it, he went, and with pinpointer at hand, he tried his best to find a relic that can be directly tied to Golden City Amusement Park in Brooklyn, NY. He ended up finding a sign with the letters "OL" on it, but after making and uploading the video, commenters let him know the sign belonged to a KOOL cigarette brand advertisement.
Perhaps the mysteries of Golden City will forever remain hidden in the ground of Canarsie Park in Brooklyn, NY. For now, I hope to go out at least once or twice more to see what secrets the grounds hold. I never got a chance to detect that small beach. Perhaps something washed down over the years. The only way to know would be to look.
