Yesterday was the last day for Coney Island’s Astroland amusement park, possibly forever. I stayed to the bittersweet end to deliver this report.

Yesterday was the official last day of business for Astroland, and supporters of the 45-year-old Coney Island institution turned out in hopes of sparking an 11th-hour reprieve that would keep the park’s 23 rides and three game arcades open into 2008. Brian Gotlieb, the former Community Board 13 chair who formed Save Astroland last month, came bearing an estimated 9,000 petition signatures calling on all parties involved to broker a deal; he told the few dozen Coney fans who rallied outside the gates at noon, “The idea behind this is to keep things open until the plans for Astroland’s successor are finalized.”… [read more]