Neil deMause

Back to Coney Island again this weekend, to see if the “Festival By The Sea” finally got off the ground:

After last weekend’s false start, Joe Sitt’s Festival By The Sea finally kicked off this weekend, giving Coney Island visitors a chance to see what $2.5 million buys.

And the answer is: Lots of balloons and “Welcome!” banners, but not so much in the way of festivities… [read more]

The opening of Joe Sitt’s “Festival By The Sea” in Coney Island was postponed this weekend, but there’s plenty of signs what will be in store (or not) on the developer’s land this summer:

Joe Sitt’s much-hyped Festival By The Sea, famed of story and subway ads, was supposed to have its grand opening this weekend, but it was called on account of rain. Or alleged rain: Total precipitation for Friday and Saturday was less than a tenth of an inch, so skeptics will be forgiven for wondering if the real reason was more along the lines of tent issues.

That said, enough was on hand to get a glimpse of what will be in store next weekend, when — barring drizzle — the Festival is now scheduled to get off the ground… [read more]

The Coney Island community board voted on the controversial neighborhood rezoning plan last night, and the result gave herding cats a bad name:

It took four years, but the fate of Coney Island’s future finally began the deliberative phase tonight, with a meeting of Brooklyn’s Community Board 13 in the packed, sweltering auditorium of Coney Island Hospital to vote on the rezoning plan put forward last April by the Bloomberg administration, which would turn the beachfront into amusement-covered public parkland while allowing 30-story hotels along Surf Avenue. Given the city land use process’s Wonderlandesque requirement that the board vote first, then hear public comments afterwards, one might have expected fewer fireworks than at some previous public hearings in Coney. One would have been wrong… [read more]

Bonus multimedia content: audio of city councilmember Domenic Recchia screaming like a madman!

I couldn’t make it out to Coney Island today for the city’s big redevelopment announcement, and given the despicable weather, boy, am I glad I didn’t:

There hasn’t been much good news coming out of Coney Island of late, unless you count the news that Nathan’s is staying put even if its building doesn’t. So this morning’s announcement by the city of a major press conference on “Coney Island redevelopment” at noon, featuring everyone from deputy mayor Robert Lieber to Rep. Jerry Nadler, provided a rare jolt of excitement. Had Thor Equities agreed to sell out to the city at last? Was Astroland moving to the old Thunderbolt site? The Parachute Jump reopening with federal stimulus money? What, what?

The answer, it can now be revealed: Carol Hill Albert is donating the Astroland rocket to the city, which will put it in storage. And then do something with it. Someday. Maybe… [read more]

The long-awaited death of Coney Island looks like it may finally be at hand, and there’s plenty of blame to go around:

Coney Island in winter always feels desolate, but this year the spooky whistle the wind makes as it rattles the Astrotower sounds especially mournful. After two straight years of “last summer ever!” at Coney, 2009 is starting to feel like the end for real. Astroland itself is in the process of being packed up — possibly for shipment to Australia — leaving only the Cyclone and the smaller Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park as remnants of Coney’s once-great amusement district.

Along the boardwalk, huge “For Lease” signs cover the storefronts, and no one’s sure which will reopen next spring.

Such is what’s become of the city’s 4-year-old plan to “revitalize” Coney Island via a sweeping rezoning plan to bring in housing and “entertainment retail.”… [read more]

It’s the moment none of us were waiting for: Astroland’s rides have begun to be packed away for what’s almost certainly the last time.

Take a look at Astroland from a passing Q train, and you might not notice anything out of the ordinary: The Astrotower, the pirate ship, and other landmarks are still there as always. Approach the gates, though, and the first signs of demolition are obvious. The teacup ride sits packed up on a flatbed truck just inside the Surf Avenue gate, while the Break Dance has been partly dismantled. The kiddie park on the Boardwalk end of the lot is almost entirely gone, with work crews this morning beginning to pick apart the caterpillar roller coaster, with its iconic grinning apple tunnel…[read more]

A short clarification of what’s really going on in Coney Island after the New York Times reported that a landmark just changed hands:

Notwithstanding our earlier report, not to mention Jennifer 8. Lee’s report in this morning’s Times, the city has not actually bought the site of the landmarked Wonder Wheel… [read more]

Rumors are afoot that Coney Island’s Astroland may be saved after all. Are they for real?

It seems you can’t keep a good amusement park down: Thursday night, after three days of rumors that the city was hoping to save Astroland from the scrap heap, Save Coney Island’s Tricia Vita sent out an emergency missive to supporters announcing an “urgent last ditch effort to save Coney Island and Astroland for another year,” and including the email addresses of Mayor Bloomberg, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Coney Island councilmember Domenic Recchia… [read more]

My glass-half-full speculation, it turned out, came to naught: Astroland, the cherished Coney Island amusement park, closed its doors last night for the last time. And before anyone asks: No, the Wonder Wheel (owned by neighboring Deno’s) and Cyclone (owned by the city, operated by Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert) are not going anywhere. (You’d be surprised how many people, even professional journalists, ask that.)

My report, with pictures:

Last year as Astroland’s summer season came to an end, supporters of the fabled Coney Island amusement park rallied outside the gates to demand that it remain open. This year, not so much: When the gates went up for Astroland’s final day yesterday morning, there was just a small crowd of families and curiosity seekers, who quickly fanned out with their cameras and ride tickets in hand.

The mood was very different this year, and for good reason. As park owner Carol Hill Albert announced on Thursday, the 46-year-old amusement park, which opened on the site of the old Feltman’s beer garden back when the Parachute Jump was still in working order, has run out of lives. Next year, in all likelihood, the space between the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel will be an empty lot… [read more]

Just like last year, Astroland is again weeks away from the end of its season with no lease in place for next summer. Dire headlines to the contrary, though, the fabled Coney Island amusement park may be more likely to stay put than it appeared in the spring:

The headline in today’s amNewYork is grim: Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert says she’s preparing for the 46-year-old Coney Island theme park to close for good next month unless she gets a one-year lease extension from landlord Thor Equities within the next week. Asked by the paper if she was resigned to closing, Albert said, “I kind of am. I’m getting there.”

Before anyone panics in fear of having to go cold turkey on their skeeball jones, remember that this is the same thing Albert said all last summer, when she repeatedly put her rides up for sale, then pulled them off again in hopes of striking a deal with Thor. In fact, the real news here is that Albert says she’ll now settle for a one-year lease extension… [read more]