Although some rides on Surf Avenue continued to operate after 1944, much of the site remained closed for several years; the area was redeveloped as the Luna Park Houses between 1958 and 1962.

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors annually.

[4][6] In 1901, Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy created a wildly successful ride called "A Trip To The Moon" as part of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York.

[19] Topsy the elephant, which Boyton had bought that season to add to the menagerie of animals at Sea Lion Park, was involved in demolishing some of the old rides.

During an October event that involved Topsy hauling the airship Luna from Steeplechase to its new location, handler William Alt was arrested for disorderly conduct after assaulting the elephant with a pitchfork and then turning it loose to wander down Surf Avenue.

[26][27] The same month, Leo Wyent and George M. Foley sued to prevent Thompson and Dundy from issuing a concession allowing a third party to sell cigars and alcoholic beverages at the park.

[45] As such, Dreamland featured several times as many lights as Luna Park, an even bigger central tower, more refined architecture, and (according to one source) more "high-class entertainment".

[69] For the 1907 season, Thompson added a carousel called the Ocean Wave;[70] in addition, he expanded the ballroom and lagoon, and he relocated the entrance away from the elevated train lines.

[71] Thompson added another live show in 1909,[75] and he also continued to offer novelties, including elephant rides (which attracted guests such as actor Douglas Fairbanks).

[78] By October 1910, the New York State Banking Department wanted to place Luna Park into receivership because the firm of Thompson and Dundy had gone bankrupt.

[84] The park also added shows such as the Darktown Follies and A Trip to Me-Lo-Die, as well as attractions including the Frolic, Over the Top (a variant of the Virginia Reel), the Tanks, and Treat-'em-Rough.

[49] Under Jarvis's management, the park added a roller coaster called the Sky Chaser,[113] and it built a picnic grove, a grandstand, and an athletic field.

[128] Luna Park struggled financially in the early 1930s, having been unable to profit from children's rides, cockroach racing, marionette shows, or roller skating.

[131][132] Billings made several modifications to the park before the 1933 season, including installing a skating rink in the Fun House and adding a beer garden.

[140] The manager, Charles R. Miller, reported that Luna Park's revenue during 1935 was at its highest level in six years, in part because of the presence of new basketball and handball courts, a large swimming pool, and new shows.

[139] Luna Park's operators added more attractions during 1937, including two funhouses and an assortment of flat rides, but they were unable to compete with Coney Island's beach, which charged no admission and was consequently more popular among travelers.

[49] The following year, Miller added vaudeville shows and replaced the Streets of Paris attraction with a concert space called Willow Green.

[149] Prior to the 1940 season, a syndicate composed of Edward and Harry Lee Danziger, William Miller, and Sheen took over the park,[150][151] signing a ten-year lease in December 1940.

[174] During that season, Prudence Bonds leased the rides along Surf Avenue to Abe Siskin, Phil Pates, and Chick Guelfi,[175][176] who renovated the Ole Opry House attraction into a music hall called Little Old New York.

[176] Miller filed several lawsuits, including one to evict Prudence Bonds, who he claimed had illegally leased the attractions on Surf Avenue to Siskin, Pates, and Guelfi.

[200] Trump had assembled a 29-acre (12 ha) site, comprising not only the former Luna Park but also a strip of land stretching west to the New York City Subway's Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station.

"[65] Luna Park also differed from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which had inspired many of Coney Island's earlier rides and was generally designed in a neoclassical style.

According to author John F. Kasson, "The Columbian Exposition preached discipline [while] Luna Park invited release", even though the buildings at both locations were made of plaster.

[215] Generally, the buildings were designed in an Oriental style;[34][216] many of the park's architectural features were adapted from the Pan-American Exposition, including colonnades, loggias, porticoes, domes, and minarets.

[219] The arched entrance on Surf Avenue was described in The Street Railway magazine as "covering half of an entire city block",[226][227] with four monolithic figures, one at each of its corners.

[30][31][227] The entrance gate contained five ticket kiosks, shaped like Roman chariots and staffed by "young women dressed in evening attire and Merry Widow straw hats emblazoned with red feathers".

[223][224] One of Luna Park's largest attractions was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, a submarine ride simulating Jules Verne's 1870 novel of the same name.

[49][38] The Durbar attraction, added in 1904, featured a 700-foot-wide stage that exhibited such "dramatic spectacles" as "The Great Train Robbery", "Days of '49", "The Burning of Prairie Belle", and "Crack of Doom".

[244] In 1991, New York Times critic Walter Goodman described Luna Park as "a blazing architectural jumble, from Romanesque to Art Nouveau, alive with aerialists, tightrope walkers, jugglers and elephants.

"[245] John Kasson wrote in 1978 that, similar to the ornate vaudeville theaters and movie palaces of the early 20th century, "Luna appealed to popular notions of magnificence".