Dreaming of Coney Island's Dreamland
Imaginary Worlds13 Aug 2025

Dreaming of Coney Island's Dreamland

Coney Island still has the classic amusements you’d expect today like roller coasters, water slides, and carnival games. But over a century ago, it looked more like a proto–Disney World, with multiple theme parks, colossal buildings, and wildly imaginative rides. The most extravagant park along the boardwalk was Dreamland. At Dreamland, you could take a trip to Hell, experience the end of the world, ride through fake Venetian canals, or visit a city built to scale for little people. I talk with historian and novelist Kevin Baker about why Dreamland remains so intriguing and deeply problematic. We also hear voice actor Lofty Fulton read a passage from Kevin’s novel “Dreamland.” Plus, I talk with visual artist Zoe Beloff. She was fascinated that Sigmund Freud visited Dreamland in 1909. So she invented an alternative history where Freud’s disciples in Brooklyn tried to rebuild the park with overtly Freudian rides and exhibits. This week’s episode is sponsored by Hims, ShipStation and ButcherBox. For your free online visit, Hims.com/IMAGINARY Go to shipstation.com and use code IMAGINARY to sign up for your FREE trial. ButcherBox is offering our listeners $20 off their first box and free protein for a year. Go to ButcherBox.com/imaginary to get this limited time offer and free shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Movies for the Mind

Movies for the Mind

There has been a renaissance of audio drama podcasts over the last several years, so picking up where I left off in the previous episode, I bring the history of audio dramas up to date with the help o...

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Theater for the Mind

Theater for the Mind

The "golden age of radio drama" may have been a stellar period for storytelling -- but the stories weren't all golden bright. Science fiction and horror were the ideal genres to explore the deep anxie...

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D&D Revisited

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Stubborn Lippi a.k.a. Stubbs is a halfling, a bard, and a sorcerer. He's also the character I've been playing since I produced my 2015 episode "Rolling the Twenty Sided Dice," where I learned how to p...

23 Aug 201835min

Fanfiction (Special Edition)

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Last year, I interviewed Francesca Coppa for my episode Fanfiction (Don't Judge.) She's the author of the book "The Fanfiction Reader," and one of the founders of the fanfic site Archive of Our Own. F...

9 Aug 201834min

Do You Speak Conlang?

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Sci-fi fantasy worlds often use constructed languages (or conlangs for short) as a worldbuilding tool that can make us believe the characters come from an ancient or alien culture. But art can take on...

26 Juli 201829min

Imaginary Deaths

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Have you ever mourned the loss of a fictional character? It can be tough to get over, and difficult to convince people not caught up in that fictional world that your sense of mourning is valid. I tal...

12 Juli 201831min

Fahrenheit 451 Still Burns

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The writer Neil Gaiman first became entranced with Fahrenheit 451 as a kid, but he says the novel is the kind of masterpiece that seems like a different story every time you read it depending on where...

27 Juni 201829min

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