It’s official: Coney Island amusement park Astroland will be open again in 2008. The pirate ship will take flight again: In what seemed inconceivable only a few months ago, Astroland operator Carol Hill Albert and her landlord Thor Equities have … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
It’s the last weekend of the season for Coney Island – okay, really the next-to-last, and some attractions will stay open into October – and the start of what should be the most momentous winter in the neighborhood’s history. Locals … Continue reading
New York City makes would-be Coney Island condo developer Joe Sitt an offer he’d be stupid to refuse. In a Coney Island summer that has mostly been devoted to rumors and the report of rumors – Carol Albert is putting … Continue reading
Joe Sitt offers to swap his condos for timeshares, but the city calls it a mere bait and switch. Developers Thor Equities dropped a bombshell yesterday afternoon, sending out a terse two-paragraph e-mail declaring that it had “completely eliminated the … Continue reading
A forum on the future of Coney Island bodes ill for the beach’s oldest amusement park. Last night, the somewhat unlikely pairing of the Municipal Art Society (representing white-haired Manhattan urban planning geeks) and Coney Island USA (representing a different … Continue reading
Most of last month for me was spent on one story, but oh, what a story. As I detailed at length in the April 11 Village Voice, most of Coney Island’s historical amusement district is at risk of being shut … Continue reading