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Coney Island

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For other uses, see Coney Island (disambiguation).
Aerial view of the beach at Coney Island. This photograph was taken prior to 1995, as evinced by the fact that KeySpan Park does not appear to the left of the Parachute Jump, and the Half Moon Hotel (the U-shaped building just below the photo's center) is still standing.
Image of the Coney Island peninsula from the air.

Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The eponymous neighborhood is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and Gravesend to the north.

The area was a major resort and site of amusement parks that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. In recent years, the area has been revitalized by the opening of KeySpan Park, home to the successful Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team.

Geography

Overlooking Coney Island downtown

Coney Island is the westernmost of the barrier islands of Long Island, about four miles long and one-half mile wide. It used to be an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, part of which was little more than tidal flats. There were plans into the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas.

History

The name

Dreamland tower and lagoon in 1907

Native American inhabitants, the Lenape, called the island Narrioch[citation needed] (land without shadows), because, as is true of other south shore Long Island beaches, its compass orientation keeps the beach area in sunlight all day.[citation needed]

The Dutch name for the island was Conyne Eylandt,[1] or Konijn Eiland (Rabbit Island) using modern Dutch spelling. This name is found on the New Netherland map of 1639 by Johannes Vingboon. (New York State and New York City were originally a Dutch colony and settlement, named Nieuw Nederlandt and Nieuw Amsterdam.) As with other Long Island barrier islands, Coney Island was virtually overrun with rabbits, and rabbit hunting was common until the resorts were developed and most open space eliminated. It is generally accepted by scholars[2][3] that Coney Island is an English adaptation of the Dutch name, Konijn Eiland. Coney is also an obsolete and dialectical English word for rabbit. Coney came into the English language through Old French (Conil), which derives from the Latin word for rabbit, cuniculus. The English name "Conney Isle" was used on maps as early as 1690,[4] and by 1733 the modern spelling "Coney Island" was used.[5] The John Eddy map of 1811 also uses the modern "Coney Island" spelling.[6]

Even though the history of Coney Island's name and its Anglicization can be traced through historical maps spanning the 17th century to the present,[7] and all the names translate to "Rabbit Island" in modern English, there are still those who contend that the name derives from other sources. Some say that early English settlers named it Coney Island after its cone-like hills. Others claim that an Irish captain named Peter O'Connor had, in the 1700s, named Coney Island after an island (Inishmulclohy) in County Sligo, Ireland. Yet another purported origin is from the name of the Indian tribe (the Konoh tribe) who supposedly once inhabited it. A further claim is that the island is named after Henry Hudson's "right-hand-man" John Coleman, supposed to have been slain by Indians.[8]

The resort

The Wonder Wheel and Astroland Park as seen from the Coney Island Beach.

Coney Island became a resort after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s. With the rail lines, steamship lines and access to the beach came major hotels and public and private beaches, followed by horse racing, amusement parks, and less reputable entertainments such as Three-card Monte, other gambling entrepreneurs, and prostitution.

When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements.

Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver, built the first carousel at Coney Island in 1876. It was installed at Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. The complex was later called Balmer's Pavilion. The carousel consisted of hand-carved horses and animals standing two abreast. Two musicians, a drummer and a flute player, provided the music. A metal ring-arm hung on a pole outside the ride, feeding small, iron rings for eager riders to grab. A tent-top protected the riders from the weather. The fare was five cents.

Nathan's Famous original hot dog stand opened on Coney Island in 1916 and quickly became a landmark. An annual hot dog eating contest has been held there on July 4 since its opening, but has only attracted broad attention and international television coverage during the last decade.

In 1915 the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the New West End Terminal in 1919 ushered in Coney Island's busiest era.[9]

After World War II, contraction began seriously from a series of pressures. Air conditioning in movie theaters and then in homes, along with the advent of automobiles, which provided access to the less crowded and more appealing Long Island state parks, especially Jones Beach, lessened the attractions of Coney's beaches. Luna Park closed in 1946 after a series of fires and the street gang problems of the 1950s spilled over into Coney Island.

Subsidized apartments for low-income residents around Coney Island.

The presence of threatening youths did not impact the beachgoing so much as it discouraged visitors to the rides and concessions - the staples of the Coney Island economy. A major blow was struck in 1964 when Steeplechase Park, the last of the major parks, closed.

The builder and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses actively opposed the "tawdry" entertainment at Coney and discouraged the building of new amusements. Housing projects, for low and moderate incomes, were built in what had been amusement areas, and the aquarium project, where Dreamland once stood, reduced the available area for more traditional amusements.

In Coney Island's lowest years there was some incremental improvement in relatively small areas, notably the preservation and later the expansion of what had been the rides area at the back of the Feltman's property as Astroland. The general improvement in New York City's infrastructure, commercial prospects and image after the 1970s fiscal crisis under the mayoral administration of Edward I. Koch helped Coney Island, and many improvements were made under the mayoralty of Rudolph Giuliani, continuing with his successor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, helped by the Wall Street booms of the 1980s and 1990s, which brought considerable money to the City through financial industry taxes.

While all of the neighborhood's original amusement parks have long since closed down — Steeplechase being the last in 1964 — one, Astroland, since revived. Astroland gradually expanded and there are now also several organized amusement areas along with a number of independent rides and concessions.

Current development

A resort-like senior living house on Coney Island.

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose family had owned the park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November 2006 for $30 million. Thor proposed a $1.5 billion renovation and expansion of the Coney Island amusement area to include hotels, shopping, movies, an indoor water park and the city's first new roller coaster since the Cyclone. The developers hope to start construction in 2008 and complete the project by 2011. However, recent deals allowed Astroland to operate for one more year; the park's opening day is set for March 16 2008.[10] The Aquarium is also being renovated.[11]

The Coney Island amusements

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks, Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, as well as many independent amusements.

Today the major parks are Astroland, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park (a successful family owned park with over 20 rides located directly on the Boardwalk), 12th Street Amusements, and Kiddie Park. Also, the Eldorado arcade has its own indoor bumper car ride. The Zipper and Spider on 12th Street were closed permanently on September 4 2007 and dismantling begun, after their owner lost his lease. They are to be reassembled at an amusement park in Honduras.[12]

Astroland, will close, officially, at the end of the 2008 season.

Another Coney Island attraction is "Shoot the Freak," in which patrons shoot paintballs at a live human target.

Rides

Dante's Inferno, part of Astroland
World-famous Cyclone roller coaster.

Today, the amusement area contains various rides, games such as skeeball, ball tossing, and a sideshow; games of shooting and throwing and tossing skills.

The rides and other amusements at Coney Island are owned and managed by several different companies, and operate independently of each other. It is not possible to purchase season tickets to the attractions in the area.

Three of the rides at Coney Island are protected as designated NYC landmarks and recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

  • Wonder Wheel. Built in 1918 and opened in 1920, this steel ferris wheel has both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet tall, and weighs over 2,000 tons. At night the Wonder Wheel's steel frame is outlined and illuminated by neon tubes. It is part of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.[13]
  • The Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927, is one of the nation's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. A favorite of some coaster aficionados, the Cyclone includes an 85-foot, 60 degree drop. It is owned by the City, and operated by Astroland, under a franchise agreement. It is located across the street from Astroland.
  • The Parachute Jump, originally the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 190 feet in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. Although the ride has been closed since 1968, it remains a Coney Island landmark and is sometimes referred to as "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower." Between 2002 and 2004, the Jump was completely dismantled, cleaned, painted and restored, but remains inactive. After an official lighting ceremony in July 2006, the Parachute Jump was slated to be lit year round using different color motifs to represent the seasons. However, this idea was scrapped when New York City started conserving electricity in the summer months. It has not been lit regularly since.

Other notable attractions include:

  • The B&B Carousell (that was how the frame's builder, William F. Mangels, spelled it). In addition to its unusual spelling, it is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, now surrounded by furniture stores, near the old entrance to Luna Park. The carousel is an especially fast one, with a traditional roll-operated band organ. When the long-term operator died unexpectedly, the carousel was put up for auction, and it was feared the ride would leave Coney Island or, worse, that it would be broken up for sale to collectors, being one of the last intact traditional carousels in the U.S. still in private hands. In an act of brinksmanship with the owners, the City of New York bought the B&B Carousell a few days before the auction. It has been dismantled and will operate in Coney Island; the specific location is still to be determined. All the other carousels on Coney Island are kiddie park-style.

Rides of the past

The Thunderbolt, as of 1995
  • Thunderbolt, a roller coaster across the street from Steeplechase Park that was constructed in 1925. The ride closed in 1983. It was torn down by the city "to protect public safety" in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park.
  • Tornado, a roller coaster constructed in 1926. It suffered a series of small fires which made the structure unstable and was torn down in 1977.

Other parks and venues

Coney Island is also the location of the New York Aquarium, which opened in 1957 on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park. In 2001, KeySpan Park opened on the former site of Steeplechase Park to host the Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball team.

In August 2006 Coney Island hosted a major national volleyball tournament sponsored by the Association of Volleyball Professionals. The tournament, usually held on the West Coast, was televised live on NBC. The league built[citation needed] a 4,000-seat stadium and 12 outer couts next to the Boardwalk for the event. Its promotional partner is Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment.

Lifeguard at Coney Island Beach

The beach

Coney Island still maintains a broad sandy beach from West 37th Street at Seagate through the Coney Island and Brighton Beach to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately two-and-a-half miles (~4.0 km). The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann boardwalk. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the land side of the boardwalk, as is the New York Aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades.

The beach is groomed and replenished on a regular basis by the city. The position of the beach and lack of significant obstructions means virtually the entire beach is in sunlight all day. The beach is open to all without restriction and there is no charge for use. The beach area is divided into "bays", areas of beach delineated by rock jetties, which moderate erosion and the force of ocean waves.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club[14] is a group of people who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months, most notably on New Year's Day when additional participants join them to swim in the frigid waters.

The communities

In front of the Parachute Jump, walkers stroll along the Coney Island boardwalk.

The neighborhoods on Coney Island, running eastward are Sea Gate (a private community), Coney Island proper, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach.

Sea Gate is one of a handful of neighborhoods in New York City where the streets are owned by the residents and not the city; it and the Breezy Point Cooperative are the only city neighborhoods cordoned off by a fence and gate houses.

Its main subway station is called Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and is reached by the New York City Subway trains of the D​, F, <F>​​, N​, and Q. The three main avenues in the Coney Island community, are (north to south) Neptune Avenue (which crosses to the mainland to become Emmons Avenue), Mermaid Avenue, and Surf Avenue (which becomes Ocean Parkway and then runs north towards Brooklyn's Prospect Park).

The cross streets in the Coney Island neighborhood proper are numbered with "West" prepended to their numbers, running from West 1st Street to West 37th Street at the border of Sea Gate.

The majority of Coney Island's population resides in approximately thirty 18- to 24-story towers, mostly comprised of various forms of public housing. In between the towers are many blocks that were filled with burned out and vacant buildings. Since the 1990s there has been steady revitalization of the area. Many townhouses were built on empty lots, popular franchises have set up shop, and Keyspan Park was built to serve as the home for the Cyclones, a minor league baseball team in the New York Mets' farm system. Once home to many Jewish residents, most of those living on Coney Island today are African American, Italian American, or Hispanic.

Education

Coney Island is served by the New York City Department of Education.

The Coney Island neighborhood is zoned to PS 90 (K-5) and IS 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg (6-8). PS/IS 288 The Shirley Tanyhill School (Pre-K-8), PS 329 (K-5), PS 188 The Michael E. Berdy School (K-5), PS 100 (K-5), and Mark Twain (6-8) are all schools located in the heart of Coney Island. There are no zoned high schools.

Nearby high schools include:

Mermaid Parade

The Mermaid Parade, which takes place on Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, featuring floats and various acts, has been produced annually by Coney Island U.S.A. — a non-profit arts organization which is dedicated to preserving the dignity of American Popular Culture. The group, which was established in 1979, also produces the Coney Island Film Festival, Burlesque At The Beach, and Creepshow at the Freakshow (an interactive Halloween-themed event), and houses the Coney Island Museum.

Development efforts and controversy

The Parachute jump towers over the Coney Island boardwalk.

Development on Coney Island has always been controversial. When the first structures began to be built around the 1840s, there was an outcry to prevent any development on the island and preserve it as a natural park. Starting in the early 1900s, the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue. It was an effort to reclaim the beach which by then had almost completely been built over with bath houses, clam bars, amusements, and other structures. The local amusement community opposed the city. Eventually a settlement was reached where the beach did not begin until 1000 feet south of Surf Avenue, the territory marked by a city-owned boardwalk, while the city would demolish any structures that had been built over public streets to reclaim beach access. In 1949, Robert Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards, demolishing many structures including the city's municipal bath house. He would later demolish several blocks' worth of amusements to clear land for both the New York Aquarium and the Abe Stark ice skating rink. Critics complained that Moses took three times more land than each structure needed, surrounding each with vacant lots that were of no use to the city.

Since the 1920s, all property north of the boardwalk and south of Surf Avenue was zoned for amusement and recreational use only, with some large lots of property north of Surf also zoned for amusements only. In 1944, Luna Park was damaged by fire, and sold to a company who announced they were going to tear down what was left of Luna Park and build apartments. Robert Moses had the land rezoned for residential use with the proviso that the apartment complex include low-income housing. In 1953, Robert Moses had the entire island rezoned for residential use only and announced plans to demolish the amusements to make room for public housing. After many public complaints, the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22 Streets and The Cyclone as amusement only and threw in 100 feet of property north of Surf Av. between these streets. It has since then been protected for amusement use only, which has led to many public land battles.

In 1964, Coney Island's last remaining large theme park, Steeplechase Park, closed. The rides were auctioned off, and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump (father of Donald Trump.) Trump, convinced that the amusement area would die off once the large theme parks were gone, wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property. Instead, he spent ten years battling in court to get the property rezoned. At the lowest point in the battle, Trump organized a funeral for amusement parks in Coney Island. His Steeplechase property included a historic large pavilion that housed most of the park's rides but was now empty. The press was invited to the funeral where bikini-clad girls first handed out hot dogs, then handed out stones which Fred invited all to cast through the stained-glass windows of the pavilion. Then, pronouncing the amusement park dead, he had the pavilion bulldozed. After a decade of court battles, Trump exhausted all his legal options and the property was still zoned only for amusements. He eventually leased the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements on a corner of the site calling his amusement park "Steeplechase Park".

But between the loss of both Luna Park and the original Steeplechase Park, as well as a disastrous urban-renewal plan that took place in the surrounding neighborhood where middle class homes were replaced with housing projects, fewer people were willing to visit Coney Island. With attendance dropping, many amusement owners simply abandoned their properties. In the late 1970s, the city came up with a plan to revitalize Coney Island by bringing in gambling casinos, just as had been done in Atlantic City. However, the city's plans backfired when the prospect of selling property to rich casino owners created a land boom where property was bought up and the rides cleared in preparation of reselling to developers. As it turned out, gambling was never legalized for Coney, and, instead of casinos being built, the area ended up with vacant lots. In addition, the city purchased Steeplechase Park in 1979 from Fred Trump and proceeded to evict Norman Kaufman's amusements. By this time, Kaufman had expanded his park and had plans to eventually rebuild the historic Steeplechase Park. He had even bought back the original Steeplechase horse ride with plans to install it the following season. But the city decided they did not want to wait decades for Steeplechase park to be rebuilt and believed they could attract a developer to build a large combination theme park and casino on the site. Instead, that property remained vacant for another five years.

In the mid '80s, businessman Horace Bullard approached the city to allow him to rebuild Steeplechase Park. He had already bought several acres of property just East of the Steeplechase Park site including the property with a large coaster called The Thunderbolt as well as property west of Abe Stark rink. His plans called for the combination of his property as well as the Steeplechase property and the unused property on the Abe Stark site as one massive multimillion-dollar theme park based on the original. The city agreed, and in 1986 the state legislature approved the project. However, several bureaucrats held up the project for another two years while the NYC Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report. In 1987, state senator Thomas Bartosiewics attempted to block Bullard from building on the Steeplechase site. Bartosiewics was part of a group called The Brooklyn Sports Foundation who had promised another theme park developer, Sportsplex, the right to build on the site. Construction was held up for another four years as Bullard and Sportsplex fought over the site.

In 1994, Rudy Giuliani took office as mayor of New York and officially killed the deal with Bullard. Giuliani claimed he wanted to build Sportsplex, provided it include a stadium for a minor-league team owned by the Mets. But when Giuliani ordered the stadium to be built first, Sportsplex accused the city of planning to build a parking lot on the property earmarked for the Sportsplex construction. Even though Giuliani publicly denied this and promised Sportsplex could begin construction the moment the stadium was finished, as soon as the stadium was completed, Giuliani killed the Sportsplex deal and had the parking lot built. The Mets decided the minor league team would be called The Brooklyn Cyclones and sold the naming rights to the stadium to Keyspan Energy. Executives from Keyspan complained that the stadium's line of view from the rest of Coney Island amusement area was blocked by the now derelict Thunderbolt coaster and considered not going through with the deal. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the coaster as part of a scaled-down amusement park. The following month, Giuliani ordered an early-morning raid on the Thunderbolt, claiming that the coaster was in immediate danger of collapse and ordering it bulldozed. The structure that was supposed to be near collapse took many days to be torn down. No connection between the Mets organization and the demolition has ever been proven, but many accuse Giuliani of tearing it down at the Mets' request.

In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the 2012 Olympics. A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation. When the city lost the bid for the Olympics, revitalization plans were rolled over to The Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC) who came up with a strategic plan for restoring the resort. Many amusement owners worried about one of the report's goals to develop the area as a year-round destination as their businesses are only seasonal, and the implication that they could be forced out if they did not meet the CIDC's year-round goal. The CIDC also suggested that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark should be rezoned for other uses including residential to lure developers into the area. Shortly before the CIDC's plans were publicly released, a development company, Thor Equities, purchased all of Bullard's western property, worth $2.2 million, for $16 million. Now owning property that was earmarked for rezoning to residential, they flipped the property to Taconic for a $72 million profit. Thor then went about using much of the $72 million to purchase property well over market value lining Stillwell Avenue and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area. Quickly, rumors started that Thor was interested in building a retail mall in the heart of the amusement area. In September 2005, Thor's founder, Joe Sitt, went public with his new plans, which he claimed was going to be a large Bellagio-style hotel resort surrounded by rides and amusements. He also claimed that the interior of the resort would have an indoor mall that would allow local amusement owners to relocate their rides and operate them indoors year round and made promises that he had no intention of driving out any local amusement owners and wanted them all to be part of his new resort. Sitt released renderings of a hotel that would take up the entire amusement area from the Aquarium to beyond Keyspan Park and would most likely need to involve the demolition of The Wonder Wheel, Cyclone, and Nathan's original hot dog stand, as well as the new Keyspan Park. At the same time, the borough of Brooklyn was involved with two other major development projects: the Atlantic Yards project, which involved eminent domain; and the Brooklyn Bridge Park project, which involved the demolition of a building with landmark status. Many feared that the city had already backed Thor's plans and that the entire amusement district would be demolished to make way for the new multimillion dollar resort.

But things changed in June of 2006 when an architectural design firm working for Thor called Eek released detailed renderings of Thor's planned resort area that now showed luxury high rise condo towers in place of the hotel with retail on the ground floor. Since the area has both zoning restrictions only allowing amusements and no buildings taller than 260 feet. Thor initially denied any inclusion of condo towers in their plans and Eek quickly removed the renderings from their site. But not before blogs everywhere published copies of the renderings. Thor quickly released renderings of rides they proposed for their resort including a steel coaster that would run above the boardwalk, a two tiered carousel, and a fountain at the foot of Stillwell Av. that would project images of whales and mermaids. Thor then admitted that condos would be part of their resort but claimed that the resort was not economically feasible without the addition of condos. At a public meeting Thor representatives continued to downplay the condos by claiming that they only wanted to build hundreds of condo units, not thousands. However, while Thor initially said they only wanted to build 575 condos the number crept up to 975. Late in 2006 Thor announced that they had just purchased Coney Island's last remaining amusement park, Astroland, and would be closing it after the 2007 season. Immediately plans were announced to build a Nickelodeon themed hotel on the site. Then in January 2007 Thor released renderings for a new amusement park to be built on the Astroland site called Coney Island Park. [15]

Critics pointed out that even though Thor claimed their project would expand the amusement area, they had already evicted several acres of amusements from the property they bought, and planned to evict the rest of the amusements on the property after the 2007 season, as well as closing Astroland. The amusement park proposed for the Astroland site would also have to share space with a hotel, and it has not yet been worked out how large the hotel's footprint would be. Meanwhile, the rest of the resort would consist of condos built on top of retail. Critics also argue that any amusements that Thor promised would likely only be built if the proposed condos result in substantial profits. They also point out that once Thor has built the condos they will not be legally required to build any amusements at all. Other critics point out that bringing residential into the amusement area would create a conflict between the residents and the remaining amusements and arcades, due to the disparity between what residential occupants generally consider an ideal environment of a quiet neighborhood, and the reality of amusement parks, which are far from that ideal. Since building condos in the area would require rezoning it as residential, condo owners might possibly have legal recourse to have any amusements abutting their homes closed as public nuisances, although this is debatable as owners would likely be deemed to have acquiesced to accept the noise before purchasing their units.

Meanwhile, the city brought up their own concerns about Thor's plans based on their history with the developers. In 2001 Thor purchased the Albee Square Mall for $25 million claiming they wanted to revitalize it. They said they wanted to give it a Vegas style makeover and bring in more name brand retail while maintaining the original vendors who occupied the mall. All that was required was for the city to rezone the property to permit the building of an office tower above the mall. Thor claimed they would need to build the tower to finance the expansion of the mall. However, soon after Thor was successful in having the land rezoned, it was announced that Thor had sold the property for $125 million to Arcadia Reality Trust. Arcadia soon after announced plans to demolish the mall and build the tower only with a possible box store on the ground level. Aside from Albee Square, Thor has a long track record of flipping property for a profit and no track record of ever actually building any major project they have proposed in the past. City officials question Thor's motives for wanting the zoning changes inside the amusement zone and fear that once Thor gets those changes, they will flip the property to the highest bidder who will have no obligation to build any amusements. They also point out that Thor had owned many acres of property earmarked for rezoning in Coney but instead sold it for a profit. They are also upset with Thor's hardball negotiation tactics where in the fall of 2006 they bulldozed the amusements on the property they owned even though construction, if allowed, would not begin for another three years and they could have still leased that property for amusements until then. They have also publicly threatened that they are prepared to leave their property idle for up to ten years, if necessary, until a city council is elected which is sympathetic to their plans. This would result in most of Coney Island becoming vacant lots surrounded by plywood fences. Since the city had already invested millions in the area both on the minor league stadium and a new subway terminal, turning it into a ghost town would bring a substantial loss to their investments. Then in the winter of 2007 just to show the city that Thor meant business, they began to evict businesses from the buildings they now owned along the boardwalk. But when one of the business owners went to the press with a statement that Thor was requiring their tenants to sign a confidentiality clause that lasted three years and which prevented them from publicly commenting on Thor redeveloping the area, Thor quickly reinstated their leases.

Summer of 2007

By the spring of 2007 Thor Equities had bulldozed all the acreage they owned lining Stillwell Avenue. The amusement businesses lining the avenue had been evicted a few months earlier. Since even if Thor got the zoning changes they wanted construction would still be a couple of years away and since what was being bulldozed was basically a few interior fences and three go-kart tracks (the amusements themselves being auctioned off and moved months earlier). Many felt that this was just a show of force by Joe Sitt that he could do anything he wanted with his property. Once the bulldozers were finished large plywood fences began to line Thor's property turning Stillwell into a foreboding alleyway. On March 30 a protest was held on city hall steps demanding that Coney Island should not be rezoned to allow condos. The protest was organized by Dianna Carlin, owner of the Lola Staar boutique being evicted from the boardwalk as another show of force by Thor. A week before the protest Thor agreed to give Carlin a lease for 2007, but she still went through with the protest. Thor was beginning to get attention in the press. A few days later on April 2 Astroland opened for what was believed would be the parks final season and all the news outlets were there.

Looking to turn around the bad publicity Thor Equities announced on May 26 that they would be using their West Stillwell lot for a giant inflatable water slide called the Hippo and would be bringing the Cole Brothers Circus to their East Stillwell lot for the last week of July followed by free movies to be shown on the lot every Monday night for the remainder of the summer. On June 26 Joe Sitt held a town hall meeting at United Community Baptist Church to further mend relations between Thor Equities and the community. In a presentation Sitt revealed several new renderings of amusements he claimed he wanted to bring to his resort and announced he was going to drop the condo component. However, he announced another hotel tower to replace the condo tower and in addition wanted $100 million in subsidies from the city. In addition he was still keeping the time-share component which would still mean the amusement area would have to be rezoned to allow residential use. Critics picked up on the fact that even though Sitt said he no longer wanted to build condos in the amusement area he was still asking for zoning that would allow him to do so and he was still going to use most of his property for residential and hotel buildings. They also noticed something during an off script comment he made during the Q & A portion of the meeting:

“You go to Manhattan and you got the fancy restaurants, you got the fancy theaters, you got the fancy bookstores. This is our chance to have quality of life.”

and another quote made later in an interview with NY1 News:

“It’s about having enclosed rides, it’s about having book stores, it’s about having restaurants, it’s about having clubs, it’s about having theaters and it's about having indoor amusement,”

The book store comments were picked up on as proof that Sitt knew nothing about amusement parks and was more interested in rezoning the property to allow residential and retail use. While publicly Thor seemed to be trying to mend fences with the city and Coney Island community behind the scenes they were in a bidding war with the city on more prime Coney Island real estate. The land was Jones Walk which ran from Surf Avenue to the boardwalk and included a third of Wonder Wheel Park. Thor's outbid the city by offering $11 million and now owned the property beneath half of Wonder Wheel park as well as the property beneath the games along Jones Walk. Thor already owned the building at the foot of Jones Walk on Surf Avenue and had previously promised the city they would sell it to the non-profit organization Coney Island U.S.A. A price had been agreed on and the papers had been drawn up and all that was need was Joe Sitt's signature on the papers which he held up for months. However, once the Jones Walk land sell was complete Thor Equities redacted the deal with the non-profit group and announced new plans to tear down all the buildings in the amusement area they owned. Coney Island U.S.A. had been trying to preserve the historic buildings in the neighborhood. But this new move by Thor Equities would once again backfire. Coney Island U.S.A. founder and community spokesman Dick Zigun had been silent about Thor Equities tactics and had even publicly defended Sitt in the press on a few occasions. But now after Sitt had reneged on the building deal Zigun went public accusing Joe Sitt of being a liar and giving several personal accounts of dishonest practices he witnessed himself.

On July 30th, the day the Circus opened at Coney, the city leaked to the papers that they were in talks with the European amusement park Tivoli to take over development at Coney Island. If the city got their own developer then they would have grounds for taking land from Thor Equities using eminent domain. A week later Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff made an offer to Thor Equities to swap the bulk of their property in the amusement area for city owned property further up the beach. Thor would be given permission to build condos on the new site while amusements would be allowed to remain in the historic amusement area. Sitt has so far turned down the city's offer. Simultaneously a high ranking city official made a statement to the press that the city was not going for Sitt's plan and their resort was "dead in the water". He brought up the main reasons that they did not want to reduce the amusement area, they did not want to bring residents into the amusement zone, and they had little faith in Joe Sitt who had no track record on actually building any projects he had proposed in the past while Thor Equities did have a track record for flipping property to other developers once they got the necessary zoning.

Conflict aside, Coney Island had its most successful summer since the 1940s as millions turned out for what could have been the amusement area's last year. Following the 2006 season the city brokered a deal with Joe Sitt to lease the property back to Astroland to allow them to operate the park in 2008 and perhaps beyond. The owners of Astroland were still interested in staying in Coney Island provided there was some other property they could buy or lease and city officials felt that since Thor would not be able to begin construction for a couple of years that there would be no point in keeping the Astroland site vacant. But just before Astroland was offered a 2008 lease Sitt put on a condition that the city had to rezone the amusement area for residential use first. When the city refused negotiations broke off, but later that summer Sitt offered to lease the site back to Astroland for $3 million for 2008 which would be more than the park could afford. This prompted petitions for Thor to lease Astroland the property and on the final Sunday of the season another protest was held at Astroland demanding Thor allow the park to remain open. The same day amusements along 12th street that were told they would not be offered a 2008 lease were packed up and moved to an amusement park in South America. This left only half a block between the boardwalk and Bowery that would be able to operate rides in 2009 depending on if the owners did not give in and sell to Sitt.

As of October 2007, Thor Equities has publicly announced that they have offered all the businesses along the boardwalk a 2008 lease and have suggested they are willing to offer Astroland a reasonable lease. No leases have officially been signed yet and still no word of a deal has been struck with Astroland.

In slang

  • "Coney Island" is a slang term used for a style of chili hot dog topped with a dry meaty chili, then mustard and sweet onions, common in Michigan. Restaurants that serve these are commonly called "Coney Island Restaurants". An example[16] would be "Gillie's Coney Island Restaurants" in Flint, Michigan, National Coney Island of Roseville, Michigan, or Kerby's Koney Island, with locations throughout southeastern Michigan. The most iconic Coney Island restaurant in Michigan is Lafayette Coney Island in downtown Detroit.

In literature

  • "A Coney Island of the Mind" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a classic collection of poems from the Beat era. The title was inspired from Henry Miller's work who was born in Coney Island and described it as a place of having fun.
  • Samantha at Coney Island by "Josiah Allen's Wife" (Marietta Holley), 1911, was a popular young-adult novel in the early 20th century.
  • In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby invites Nick to go to Coney Island after his meeting with Jordan Baker.
  • In "Coney" by Amram Duchovny, a tale about 1930s Coney Island as told from the perspective of a 15-year-old Jewish boy as he relates his interactions with his family, the group of freaks from Coney's sideshow, the midget who owns the bike shop on the boardwalk, the wheelchair crime boss with arson on his mind, and many other colorful characters from this historic Brooklyn landmark.
  • Poem "Coney Island" by Jose Martí in 1881
  • Coney Island is often mentioned in O.Henry's stories.
  • In " Twelve" by Nick McDonell, a novel about a group of rich kids in Manhattan who pass their time taking drugs and partying, the protagonist, White Mike, visits Coney Island. The amusement area is described very negatively (shabby, run-down, deserted, no kids, but hookers and drug dealers)
  • In "Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century" by John F. Kasson, the author "examines the historical context in which Coney Island made its reputation as an amusement park and shows how America's changing social and economic conditions formed the basis of a new mass culture."
  • In Kevin Baker's book Dreamland, much of the drama and pivotal moments take place in the vicinity of Coney Island and its amusemement parks.
  • "The Last Shot" by Darcy Frey follows a group of high school basketball players from Coney Island.

In film and on stage

In chronological order

  • You can see many of the long-lost rides of Coney Island's earlier years in action in the movie "IT!" made in 1927 and starring Clara Bow, which features a trip to the park and a tour of the historic rides.
  • In the 1928 silent film Speedy, Harold Lloyd spends a day at Coney Island with his girlfriend.
  • In the critically acclaimed 1953 independent film Little Fugitive, a small boy runs away to Coney Island after thinking he has killed his brother.
  • Perhaps the most famous fictional residents of Coney Island come from Walter Hill's 1979 cult film The Warriors. Based on Sol Yurick's novel, the film charts the progress of a street gang called "The Warriors" as they travel from their Coney Island turf up to a meeting in the Bronx, get framed for killing a powerful gang leader, and then have to fight their way back to Coney Island with gang members and police chasing them.
  • We see the lead character in Woody Allen's 1977 semi-autobiographical film classic Annie Hall, Alvy Singer, living in Coney Island as a child in a house that was under the Thunderbolt rollercoaster that shook wildly every time the coaster made its rounds. Alvy's father ran the bumper cars' concession.
  • In the 1982 critically acclaimed Sophie's Choice, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol's characters spend 'Dress-Up Sunday' at Coney Island. Prior to leaving, Streep's character Sophie Zawistowski delivers with unparalleled enthusiasm, "Coney Island - Oh Boy!"
  • Neil Simon's 1983 Brighton Beach Memoirs play (also a 1986 movie) also depicts growing up in the Coney Island area, and features scenes with the Coney Island rollercoaster in the background.
  • The 1986 erotic classic 9 1/2 Weeks has Mickey Rourke (John) and Kim Basinger (Elizabeth) spending a fun, romantic day on the Coney Island Boardwalk.
  • The 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game, a fictional story about the struggles of a top high school basketball player, was set in Coney Island.
  • In the 1991 movie Bugsy, while in prison, Benjamin Siegel (played by Warren Beatty tells his girlfriend Virginia Hill (played by Annette Bening) he whishes they were on "Coney Island eating a couple of fucking hot dogs".
  • In the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, David the boy robot and Teddy the mechanized bear travel to the flooded ruins of Coney Island in a submersible (Coney Island, as well as the entire Manhattan area, is now at the bottom of the ocean because of global warming). Just when David finds a sculpture of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and starts praying to it to turn him into a real boy, the Wonder Wheel collapses on top of them, trapping them for the next two thousand years.
  • In Uptown Girls (2003), Coney Island was featured as the childhood runaway home of Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy). It was also the place where she took Ray Schleine (Dakota Fanning), to go on the spinning tea cups to get away from all the problems in life.
  • Coney Island has a reputation both locally and nationally for producing outstanding basketball players. A number of accomplished basketball players hail from Coney Island, including Stephon Marbury, currently playing for the New York Knicks and Sebastian Telfair of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Telfair was one of the top high-school players in the country and one of the last to make the jump directly to the NBA. His life in Coney Island is the subject of the documentary film Through the Fire. Telfair and Marbury happen to be cousins.
  • In Two Weeks Notice Sandra Bullock's character meets Hugh Grant's character in her attempts to save the Coney Island Community Center from demolition. The building portrayed in the film as the community center is the former Childs Restaurant on the boardwalk. It was built by architects Dennison and Hirons in 1923, and still exists today. The building is unoccupied and sometimes defaced by graffiti, but was designated as a New York City landmark in 2003.
  • In Cloverfield, Rob takes Beth to Coney Island for the first time, a month before the monster attack. A mysterious object is seen falling from the sky and into the ocean. In the last scene before the credits, Beth remarks that she "had a good day".

On TV

  • A character in the HBO special Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground rides The Cyclone while waiting for his date, only to be beaten up in the Coney Island subway station by her actual boyfriend afterwards.
  • In Futurama, Fry is shown in a flashback to have attended "Coney Island College", which was little more than an attraction on the midway. Remembering his college days, Fry declares, "Good Old Coney Island College - Go Whitefish!"
  • In The Simpsons, a song titled "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" is one of the songs performed by Homer when he was a member of the barber-shop quartet The Be Sharps. Roscoe Lee Browne (playing a prison escape specialist) sings the same song in a first-season episode of Barney Miller.
  • Coney Island is often shown in episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series as a famous New York landmark and as a background for some scenes, like the first of kiss of a main character.
  • On Ugly Betty, Coney Island is the place the Meade family went to on birthdays when Daniel and Alex were young.
  • In a King of Queens episode Doug and Carrie revisit Coney Island to relive memories.
  • In the Disney animated series Gargoyles episode "The Reckoning" Coney Island is the setting where Thailog and Demona reveal the clones of the Manhattan clan. A burning Cyclone Roller Coaster is the place of Thailog and Demona's final battle where they both presumably perish after it collapses.
  • In What I Like About You Vince takes Holly, Gary, and Tina to Coney Island before the amusement park opened. Holly skipped her Columbia interview to go to Coney Island.
  • George and Louise Jefferson on the show The Jeffersons were supposed to have gotten engaged on the boardwalk in Coney Island.
  • On General Hospital, Sonny mentions taking Kate Howard to Coney Island when they were young.
  • On the British show QI, the Elephant Hotel that used to be on Coney Island was featured in one of the questions in Series E, Episode 6.

In music

  • Australian modern classical composer Don Banks (1923 - 1980) composed a short orchestral work called "Coney Island" around 1960 to 1961, which gives a vivid musical picture of the amusement park. It was included on an L.P. record, "Musical Merry-go-round", released in 1961, with music by various composers inspired by the circus and fairground world, played by the Sinfonia of London, conducted by Douglas Gamley and Robert Irving.
  • American singer-songwriter Lou Reed's 1976 album is entitled Coney Island Baby and features the track "Coney Island Baby".
  • American rock band Aerosmith has a song called "Bone to Bone (Coney Island Whitefish Boy)" from their 1979 album Night in the Ruts.
  • American rock band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts has a song called "Coney Island Whitefish" from their 1982 album Album.
  • American rock band Velvet Underground has a song called "Coney Island Steeplechase" on the 1986 album Another View.
  • American rock band Mercury Rev references Coney Island in the song "Coney Island Cyclone", from their 1991 album Yerself Is Steam.
  • American synth-pop band The Magnetic Fields references Coney Island in "Strange Powers" from 1994's Holiday''.
  • American alternative rap / alternative rock group Fun Lovin' Criminals has a song called "Coney Island Girl" on their 1996 album Come Find Yourself.
  • American rock band Death Cab for Cutie have a song called "Coney Island" from their 2001 album, The Photo Album.
  • American singer-songwriter Tom Waits has a song called "Coney Island Baby," on his 2002 album Blood Money. He also references Coney Island in his songs "Table Top Joe" from the 2002 album Alice and "Take It With Me" from the 1999 album Mule Variations.
  • Van Morrisson has a Coney Island song.
  • New York singer/songwriter and banjo contortionist, Curtis Eller has a song "Coney Island Blue" on his 2004 album "Taking Up Serpents Again"
  • Brooklyn, New York indie rock band, The Honey Brothers (which features Adrian Grenier on percussion) have a track titled "Coney Island Baby (I Am Yours)" which is available for download at their MySpace URL.
  • American Detroit, Michigan native rapper Bizarre's 2007 album release is titled "Blue Cheese 'n' Coney Island" referring to the style of chili dog.
  • American band Beat Circus' 2008 album entitled Dreamland, references the turn-of-the-century Coney Island theme park Dreamland in several of its songs including Coney Island Creepshow and Hell Gate, and includes historical images and postcards of early Coney Island donated by the Coney Island Museum.
  • The Franz Ferdinand song Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On features lyrics about a girl in New York, and includes the lines '"But if you run you can run to the Coney Island roller coaster / Ride to the highest points / And leap across the filthy water'".
  • The Godspeed You Black Emperor! song "Sleep" features Murray Ostril reminiscing over the glory days of Coney Island.

Video games

  • In Grand Theft Auto IV, the neighborhood of "Firefly Island" is based on Coney Island. A theme park based on Coney Island can be found with rides named "Screamer" (which is directly based on The Cyclone), the Liberty Eye ferris wheel (based on Wonder Wheel), and "The Corpse Ride" (based on Dante's Inferno).
  • Coney Island appears as a Resistance-controlled area in the Sierra game Manhunter: New York. Interestingly enough, the version of Coney Island depicted in the game is based on Dreamland, an amusement park that operated in Coney Island until its destruction by fire in 1911.
  • In Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, a theme park situated in Coney Island is repeatedly visited. The theme park is also the home of Mona Sax, one of the main characters.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Joan Vinckeboons (Johannes Vingboon), "Manatvs gelegen op de Noot Riuier", 1639. Coney Island is labelled "Conyne Eylandt". Image of Vinckeboons map at Library of Congress.
  2. ^ Library of Congress New Netherland Website Lists Conyne Eylandt as Dutch name for Coney Island.
  3. ^ "De Nieu Nederlandse Marcurius", Volume 16, No. 1: February 2000. This is the newsletter of the New Netherland Project. Cites New Netherland map labeling "Conyne Eylandt" in 1639 Johannes Vingboon map.
  4. ^ Robert Morden, "A Map of ye English Empire in the Continent of America", 1690. Coney Island is labelled "Conney Isle". Image of Morden map at SUNY Stony Brook.
  5. ^ Henry Popple, "A Map of the British Empire in America", Sheet 12, 1733. Coney Island is labelled "Coney Island". Image of Popple Map can be found at David Rumsey Map Collection
  6. ^ John H. Eddy, "Map Of The Country Thirty Miles Round the City of New York", 1811. Coney Island is labeled "Coney I." Image of Eddy Map can be found at David Rumsey Map Collection.
  7. ^ Refer to maps given above.
  8. ^ Coney Island Gets a Name
  9. ^ Matus, Paul. "The New BMT Coney Island Terminal". The Third Rail Online. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  10. ^ See Bloomberg News, November 29 2006.
  11. ^ "Plans Coming Together For Coney Island Amusement Park Expansion", NY1, November 14 2006
  12. ^ Calder, Rich (2007-09-05) "Ride Over for Coney Classics" New York Post, New York. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  13. ^ See Deno's Wonder Wheel
  14. ^ Welcome to Coney Island Polar Bear Club
  15. ^ [1] 1.5 Billion Development Plan For Coney Island Publication: The New York Sun Date: 11/13/2006
  16. ^ Gillie's Coney Island"About us"

Further reading

  • Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York: A retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (Academy Editions, London, 1978; republished, The Monacelli Press, 1994 — a large part of the book focuses on Coney Island amusement parks)
  • John F. Kasson, Amusing The Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (Hill and Wang, New York, 1978; Distributed in Canada by Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.)
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