in 1986, charles luche added the first carusel. in 1995 the first amusement park in the country sea lion park opened its gates. go for a spin on various whirling devices and climb aboard a giant roller coaster. sunday attendance in the summer could reach more than 1 million people. the amusement park at coney island started a new trend. >> reporter: coney island was the king of them all. amusement parks were at their peak when there were 2,000 of them spread across the united states. so to be acknowledged as the coney island of the west was high praise indeed. that was the title bestowed on alameda's tiny bay side neptune beach. it had it all. two huge salt water swimming pools, ballroom dancing, and everyone the occasional high wire daredevil. 80 years ago thousands of people a day made the sandy shores of alameda the end of the line in their per suit of pleasure. >> it was open five months of the year from palm sunday until labor day. on the weekend they would have 20, 30,000 people over there. >> reporter: neptune beach was the