Submissions are now being accepted for the 8th annual Coney Island Film Festival, which will be held in September. The regular deadline is April 25th, though there is also a 'late deadline' (June 25th), as well as an 'extended late deadline' (July 3rd). Entry forms can be submitted electronically, or via old fashioned paper
Image courtesy of jesskeylon (Flickr.com) 
As part of their 'New York Neighborhoods/Development and Preservation' program series, the Museum of New York will be hosting a panel discussion on the future of Coney Island in March. The slated speakers are Lynn Kelly of the Coney Island Development Corporation, Brad Lander of the Pratt Center for Community Development, David Gratt of Coney Island USA, Chuck Reichenthal of Community Board 13, and City Councilman Domenic Recchia.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle recently ran an article entitled 'As Coney Faces Change, Arts Venues Rush To Exhibit Photos of Amusement Area.' The article's titular point is well taken. As anyone who reads Kinetic Carnival knows, everyone from the Brooklyn Museum to the New Yorker has recently devoted space to Coney photography. YouTube is filled with short films seeking to 'document what might be the last season for Coney Island,' B-list TV stars are exhibiting their pictures of Coney Island, and numerous galleries and websites have been hosting Coney Island photo collections.
The initial calendar for the upcoming 2008 season has been posted to the Coney Island USA website. The current calendar is described as 'a very rough draft,' and will be updated as more events are books. As it stands now, though, the calender already includes enough Sideshow and Burlesque performances to satisfy any Coney aficionado.
Doo Wop singer Kenny Vance - who is known as a former member of Jay and the American, as well as the leader of The Planotones - will be gracing Coney Island with a 'Night of Dining, Dancing and Doo Wop' this Friday.
Last week Captain Nemo of the Coney Island USA bulletin board reported that one of the pavilion gazebos on the boardwalk near the old Thunderbolt site was broken and had collapsed to the grown. As of yesterday afternoon the gazebo is still down. Seen here by a couple of photos sent to Kinetic Carnival by photographer Deborah Matlack. No word yet from any sources as to how the structure has been flattened or even if will be rebuilt or fixed by season opening.
The Parachute Jump is no longer a functional ride, and many (including Brooklyn borough president) don't think it shines brightly enough to fulfill its role as landmark. The local falcons, though, seem to have no complaints.The unused steel tower is a favorite perch for the local peregrines. I usually go to about 8 [cyclone] games a year […] and it was during my first or second game that I discovered the raptor's choice perch. Our seats were along the first base line, in line with the tower. I noticed one, then two, then several feathers fluttering passed. The source was from the top of the tower. A Peregrine Falcon had just caught a pigeon and was plucking it from its perch on the parachute ride. It was a nice diversion during a slow inning.
It's been a long time since one had to actually venture down to Surf Avenue to get a Nathan's hot dog. Nathan's franchises can be found everywhere from shopping malls to highway rest stops. Now, according to Fox News, getting a Nathan's hot dog will be as easy as popping some quarters in a vending machine and waiting 34 seconds for the bun and hot dog to be warmed.
The primary goal of this new joint venture with Kosher Vending Industries LLC is apparently not to increase the accessibility of Nathan's hot dogs, but to increase the popularity of Nathan's with customers who keep kosher.
Brooklyn is the home for cultural awareness
So in all fairness, you can never compare this
Some good, some bad. little hope for
the weak Dangerous streets and Coney Island Beach
- Gangstarr, 'The Place W here We Dwell'
Coney Island has always kind of been off on its own, kind of excluded from the rest of the borough. It's a nice little vibe out here, man. It's about a 25- 30 block radius, everybody knows each other, there's only 3 avenues, so, about 25 blocks everybody pretty much knows each other, knows what's going on. For the most part, it's a nice close knit community; of course it's like any other hood. We got our crimes and little problems amongst each other. But for the most part Coney Island it's all love out here. […]
Coney is more famous for the ball playing than the emceeing, but there are a few dudes that are out to change that…
Brooklyn Historian John Manbeck recently devoted his 'Historically Speaking' column in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle to Brooklyn's role in World War II. Every neighborhood did its part. Bay Ridge was already home to Fort Hamilton, the Flatlands provided Floyd Bennett Field as a Naval Air Station, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard held… the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Coney Island, for its part, gave the Half Moon Hotel, for use as the Sea Gate Naval Hospital.
A recent Brooklyn Daily Eagle article- which was posted on the Coney Island USA message board, before it was available on the Eagle's website- includes two unsettling quotes relating to the redevelopment of Coney Island.
City Council President Christine Quinn's recent call for mass transit ferry service has received an endorsement from The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. Considering that the MWA is broad umbrella organization made up of 323 civic organizations, this is a pretty important endorsement.
Here's and interesting story by Sarah Ryley of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. With permission, It is posted here in its entirety.
“The Bronx said no way,” said Community Board 13 District Manager Chuck Reichenthal. Another board member, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The Zoological Society will not put up the other half, so that’s most likely why, out of frustration, Marty called for breaking [the aquarium] away and forming a separate organization with its own board of directors.
It can be difficult for the uninitiated to keep track of all the various sideshow performers which have graced Coney Island. Luckily, the blog Mental Floss has compiled a fairly thorough history which gives descriptions and biological information on many of these performers, as well as general information of the history of Coney Island freak shows.
The character of Coney Island exists not just in Coney Island itself, but also in small pockets outside of the physical boundaries of Coney Island. One such pocket is Wild Bill's Nostalgia Center in Middletown, CT.
The Coney Island photo portfolio which appeared in last week's New Yorker is now available online. The set is about what you would expect. The (frequently foggy) photos that make up 'Coney Island Days' are of obvious subjects (Nathan's, the Wonder Wheel, etc.), and the accompanying text is full of the typical pretentious New Yorker-isms, such as "outer-borough-ese" and "Coney's singular poem is the boardwalk, two and a half elegiac herringboned miles."
Pictures of the recently painted over B&B Carousel sign on Surf Avenue have been posted to the Coney Island USA message board by the keen eyed user Capt_Nemo.
It's becoming something of a trend these days to use Coney Island as the subject of photographs and films. Many of these works seem to focus on the aesthetic or symbolic aspects of Coney, rather than the actual political and economic issues the area is currently facing. "Coney," a forthcoming documentary brought to our attention via The Gowanus Lounge, is an exception to this.
In his State of the Borough Address last week, Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz announced a proposed $1.5 million revamping of the Parachute Drop's lighting. This raised a few eyebrows, considering that the last such revamping was only two years ago.Mr. Markowitz originally called the redone stucture "a beacon of light for this and future generations, harking and heralding Coney Island as a place where dreams come true." Last week, he said it needed "more bling."Particularly displeased with the plan to revamp the lighting was Leni Schwendinger, who designed the current lights. Schwendinger responded to Markowitz's announcement with an editorial in Wednesday's Post:
The Coney Island Parachute Jump illumination is an internationally recognized symbol of Coney Island and Brooklyn - created in close collaboration with NYC's Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Brooklyn Borough President's office and the espected engineering firm STV ("City To Do the Light Thing for Coney LandMark," Feb. 8).
For over two years, this design - depicting seasons, moods and the Coney-by-the-Sea carnival tradition - has appealed to audiences, young and old and from every walk of life.
It has been celebrated in publications worldwide, and it has received awards from professional engineering, construction, lighting and landmark associations.
When a politician flies in the face of all this goodwill to divisively demand more "bling" and less "art," New Yorkers should ask themselves: What's wrong with this picture?
Leni Schwendinger
Principal Light Projects LTD, Manhattan
Brownstoner reports that John Catsimatidis's Red Apple Group has purchased the land on which Brad Zackson and David Weisz had been planning to build their luxury condo complex, 'Ocean Dreams.'
Yesterday evening's public scoping meeting at Lincoln High School was a fairly orderly and tame affair. This wasn't too surprising- considering that the meeting was devoted to specific responses to a specific document (the Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS)– but was still a departure from the emotion and boisterousness of other meetings that the Coney Island Development Corporation has held over the past several months.
Marty Markowitz is not the only one who unveiled some big plans in his annual address. In her recent State of The City address, City Council speaker Christine Quinn suggested that the new ferry service which will begin servicing the Rockaways this summer might be extended to serve all five boroughs.
The fourth installment of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto- which is slated to be released in April, by Rockstar Games- features thinly veiled Coney Island images, such as a Cyclone clone called the 'Screamer.' A screen shot from the game featuring the 'Screamer' has been posted to the Coney Island USA message board by user 'keithnoir.' Apparently, the southern Brooklyn backgrounds stem from the fact that the game's plot centers around that popular stock character, a Russian gangster.
It is easy for those of us who love Coney Island to fall into the trap of over idealizing Coney Island's heyday. In reality, there were many deeply problematic aspects involving the legendary amusement parks of Coney Island. The Coney Island History Project's 'Ask Mr. Coney Island' recently delved into one such episode, in response to a question from a UC San Diego PhD student studying indigenous Latin American communities:The Bolivian Indian Village exhibit was located on Tilyou Walk at the Ocean, at what would now be West 16th Street. Indigenous natives were common attractions at Coney Island at the end of the nineteenth century, and the humane treatment of the odd visitors became a cause for reformers who monitored the shows for abuses. American Indians, Philippine tribesmen, and Eskimos were among those displayed in re-creations of their native habitats.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that The Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC) has hired Nicole Robinson-Etienne as their new outreach coordinator.
At the end of this month, a retrospective of the work of photographer Stanley Greenberg will open at the Gitterman Gallery, on the Upper East Side. The show will include work from various projects which Greenberg - a Brooklyn native, and former city worker,whose photos appear in the Met, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Whitney- has produced over the past fifteen years. Among these projects his 2003-2004 series exploring the sandcastles of Coney Island and Brighton Beach. According to a write up on the French photography website ActuPhoto, "Some of these images look like archaeological sites where nature has come to reclaim the land, while others appear to be creations by alien civilizations. They are a reminder of the ephemeral nature of construction, large and small." This artistic statement is particularly relevant now, as Coney Island area prepares to engage in a new round of construction.
As The Gowanus Lounge so accurately puts it, "Of all the structures in Coney Island, one of the most interesting ones to many visitors is the ruined Playland arcade." Indeed, after a long shot down the deserted winter boardwalk, a shot of Playland's facade from across the litter strewn (one time) Thunderbolt lot is probably the most common picture taken by those who want to eloquently (and obviously) capture the current state of Coney. Now, however, Coney Island USA message board user POCI (who worked at Playland, in their student days), has posted some photographs of the inside of Playland. POCI comments, "No[t] exactly the way it was when I was making change for skeeball!"
- post by Ben Nadler
Found on The Gowanus Lounge's Coney posts for today: 1, 2, and 3 - Borough President Marty Markowitz announces a few plans for Coney Island in his State of the Borough Speech.
of a Brooklyn-based board of directors to take control" of the New York Aquarium.Mr. Markowitz basically suggested the institution is getting a raw deal in terms of budget and attention from the Society. He said he is working with the Mayor’s office to "consider the possibility of a Brooklyn-based board of directors to take control" of the New York Aquarium.Was it barely two years ago that the lighting scheme esigned by Leni Schwendinger was unveiled? Well, the very subtle lighting debuted to mixed reviews and apparently hasn't done the trick and, now, Borough President Marty Markowitz is pushing a $1.5 million project that would include another redo of the lighting for Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower.
Markowitz's who said the Grimshaw firm, which has dozens of high profile projects around the world in its portfolio and is doing the redesign of the historic Queens Museum building in Flushing Meadow Park as well as the (much diminished) design of the Fulton Transit Center in Manhattan, will design a new "Coney Island Center" that would become a stop on the summer outdoor concert circuit akin to Jones Beach. There has been community opposition to the noise such a facility would create, as it is surrounded by apartment buildings.
The Boston band Beat Circus will be performing at the Knitting Factory this Saturday to promote their recently released CD, 'Dreamland.' Yes, the Dreamland in question is that Dreamland, the amusement park which graced Coney Island from 1904 until it's unfortunate demise be fire in 1911.
Since Kinetic Carnival first reported on the release of 'Safe Inside The Day'- the new album from former Coney sideshow performer, tree surgeon, church organist, and Antony and the Jonhsons sidewoman, Baby Dee- a couple of weeks ago, the album has gone on to win rave reviews, both nationally and internationally. Suffice to say, all this praise is well deserved."They billed me as 'The Bilateral Hermaphrodite'," she remembers. "My job was to pick out the most threatening man in the whole place - the one who hated my guts the most - and say: 'You're not going to be able to see from way back there, sir.' The more they booed, the better the act was."
The National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and even the Professional Golfer's Association all have their own video games.
Image 'f-coney island 17' courtes of penmadison
Classic Coney Rides [Brooklyn Museum]
Everyone has their own Coney Island Memories. Actor Andrew McCarthy- known for his roles in such Brat Pack flicks as St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink- shared his own with Slate:
One of the unique things about being an actor based in New York for so long is my relationship with the city: Certain locations are forever set in my mind as ouchstones. I can never walk past the boat pond in Central Park without thinking of the day when I pushed a young kid into the water for a scene during the shooting of Weekend at Bernie's, and it's impossible for me to go to Coney Island and not remember kissing Mary Stuart Masterson under the boardwalk in a scene from Heaven Help Us
With the City's plan for a new Coney Island becoming more and more likely, people are becoming concerned with what specifically might be lost to the wrecking ball. Earlier this week it was Nathan's. Now, the city gardening blog Flatbush Gardener has raised the concern- shared by local community gardening activists- that three of Coney Island's community gardens lie on land slated to be redeveloped.
