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Two Decades of Eccentric Coney Island Sunbathers

Though Coney Island has seen many incarnations over the years, one thing has remained: Every summer it transforms into a veritable flesh farm, where shameless sunbathers, amorous youngsters, and wrinkled grannies come out to savor a day at the beach. Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden was around to document this mixed bag of heliophiles, and his gelatin silver prints — taken from the late sixties through the late eighties — are filled with eccentric charm. It’s enough to make you bolt for the Q train, because admit it: Like the sunbaked specimen in the Pucci-esque one-piece, we’re all ready to plunk down our beach loungers for the summer. On view at Amador Gallery through July 9.

Two Decades of Eccentric Coney Island Sunbathers