It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. For many years, inspector kept "an official municipal eye" on Coney Island, documenting safety concerns across 120 rides. When our photographer Neal Boenzi took this picture in 1959, the inspector, then 62, was beginning his 20th year on the job and he "still enjoys the rides as much as any boy."

The inspector had formed strong opinions. The Cyclone and the parachute jump at Steeplechase Park were his favorite rides. His least favorite: the Loop-a-plane. When Neal took this picture, the inspector was testing what The Times called "a complicated German thing called the Satellite Jet." First, he loaded the sidecars with 450 pounds of sand and ran the ride through its usual gravity-defying cycle of soaring, twisting and turning. Once he deemed the experience safe, he climbed in. Given the angle of this photograph, we can surmise that our photographer did the same.