The Wonder City Web Comic: The Great Whale of Coney Island, Chapter 4-Installment #1

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This week’s installment is a little different. A scene without words meant to convey the sadness of Lizzie’s body’s washing up in the sewer. Her body is found by a little boy named Joshua who lives underground and scavenges the sewers for treasures. As you can see by his vault, he’s built up an impressive collection (including some long-missing famous works of art).

When he finds Lizzie he decides to respectfully bury her in an underground cemetery which will become important later on. You’ll also notice, Joshua takes Lizzie’s charm off of her neck, which will make him very important later.

Joshua uses a trunk from the Half Moon Hotel as Lizzie’s coffin. For decades, the Half Moon Hotel was one of Coney Island‘s iconic structures. Built in 1927, the building stood at nearly 22 stories making it the tallest building on Coney Island at the time. It was named the Half Moon Hotel to capitalize on the myth that Henry Hudson first anchored his ship with the same name off of Coney Island before he would sail up the large river to the north that would eventually bear his name. Later when the logs of his first officer, Robert Juet, were found, it was clear that Hudson and the Half Moon anchored off of Sandy Hook.

Regardless the Half Moon Hotel was a mainstay of the boardwalk until it became a part of the Coney Island Housing initiative in the 1950’s. Later on, in the 70’s, it would become a nursing home and was finally demolished in 1995.