Amusement resorts that made paying customers of entire families made more money than those which catered only to men. This was one of the first lessons amusement entrepreneurs learned as consumer culture took hold during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Previously it was more common for men and
women to spend their leisure time separately. Complete with all its vices, the male-dominated saloon was
one of the few recreation establishments accessible to members of the working class. Women of all classes
typically spent time in private settings with other women, but very few establishments sought
working-class women as clientele.
As the consumer economy became more established, people worked fewer hours and had a bit more money to spend. Wage-earning women without children especially found that they had more free time than ever.
Amusement entrepreneurs took note. They understood that if they patterned their commercial amusements off earlier saloons or the freak shows and game-swindles common on the streets of Coney Island, they would miss out on hot new markets: young, single women and married women with families.
“Decency pays better than vice,” one contemporary put it. Owners of amusement parks like The Oaks promised its customers that their establishments were clean, respectable, and safe. The Oaks commonly ran promotions admitting women and children for free, offering souvenirs to young ones, or opening a particular attraction to children for unlimited rides.
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