From the Coney Island Development Corporation Website:The CIDC Unveils Redesigned Website
We’ve updated our website with a fresh new design and expanded content. The site will continue to be a resource for the extended Coney Island community to learn about the many active projects, initiatives and opportunities in the neighborhood.
The temporary rides by Reithoffers Playland are up and Coney Island's roving photographer Captain Nemo has posted them on the Coney Island USA message board.
Thor Equities has also put up Beer Island where the mini golf course and the Hippo water slide was up last year. Beer Island seems like a parking lot for drunks. A temporary drunk fest in Coney Island. The images below were also posted on the Coney Island USA message board by Captain Nemo.
Still wearing light jackets in the end of May, Save Coney protesters huddled around on the boardwalk chanting their usual slogans and rants to save Coney Island's amusements from being swallowed up by plans to bring mostly the same everywhere-else-America to Coney Island. Many are now blaming the city as well as Thor Equities for not giving a hoot about what makes Coney Island...Coney Island."Why do people love Coney Island? Not for strip mall, not for condominiums,” said protester Angie Pontani. “They love it for the amusement and the history and when we redevelop we have to focus on preserving that. And the major change in the city’s plan is now to reduce the amusement district."
"I think they believe were taking away the amusement area which is frankly inaccurate,” said Lynn Kelly of the Coney Island Development Corporation. “We are more then doubling the existing size of what’s out there today and we are providing uses in and around it that will compliment an amusement area and bring people here year round, such as restaurants, entertainment, retail bowling alleys, movie theaters."All in all change is what we need here in Coney Island - but the right change. Perhaps the city should rethink the whole idea and forget about big business in Coney Island. And instead, should create some sort of template to allow the little guy to thrive here.
Here are some pics of yesterday's Save Coney Island protest which some feel was not the turn out that was hoped for. Unfortunately with all these rallies and protests it seems that the numbers of those with a desire to save Coney's amusements are not as large as needed to make the right kind of noise.
Lola Staar needs your help to save and bring back her roller rink by making a generous pledge. For the gratitude, prizes will even be awarded, like; VIP passes, unlimited season passes, lifetime membership. But you need to act fast! The Lola Staar Dreamland Roller Rink also has a new website that you can check out.
Support your local Coney Island cultural arts organization...Coney Island USAIt's Time for the Coney Island USA Spring Gala!Come out and celebrate the 2008 season with us, as we kick off the summer with a big blowout at the Angel Orensanz Foundation. There's an Open Bar, and The Brooklyn Bombshells will teach you some swing dance moves so you can dance to to the stylings of our band: Lady Luck and the Suicide Kings.
Coney Island USA Spring Gala
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
7 PM to 11 PM
Angel Orensanz Foundation
172 Norfolk Street New York, NY
It seems Thor Equities has been busy keeping their promise. So far they have begun assembly on a new ride. A picture taken by Coney Island USA message board poster Screwtape.
Image courtesy of GerritsenBeach.Net [Flickr.com]
Thor Equities is hoping to win your hearts by creating a summer dreamland this summer.
Their press release reads:
Joe Sitt: Bring On the Petting Zoos at Coney Island [New York Observer]
Thor Declares “Summer of Hope,” Brings Rides [Gowanus Lounge]
You can follow the discussion on the Coney Island USA message board here.
This opening beach day at Coney Island come out and help save Coney Island with the Save Coney Island Demonstration. 9:45AM will be the gathering for the rally to start at 10:30.
NO to High Rises in the Amusement District. . NO to Retail, Malls or Entertainment Retail in the Amusement District. NO to shrinkage of the Amusement District from 15 acres to 9 acres! YES to preserving Amusement Zoning in the Amusement District!! YES to keeping Coney Island the People’s Playground- providing accessible Amusements for ALL to enjoy!!
WHAT TO BRING:
Big Colorful Signs!! (see below for slogan ideas)Attend our FREE Poster making party on May 13th (details below)
WHAT TO WEAR:
We will be providing FREE Save Coney Island tee shirts to those attending the demonstration (while supplies last!!) or Wear the Save Coney Island colors electric blue, red, and yellow!!or Costumes! Glitter! Face Paint! Wear whatever costume that you feel expresses the Spirit of Coney Island!!
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!!: Download this Save Coney Island
Demonstration Flyer Make copies! Hang it up in your neighborhood! Pass em out!! Decorate your office with them!! Please help us promote these events!!
The Coney Island History Project Presents:The development will run between Sea Breeze Avenue to the north, Surf Avenue to the south and West 5th Street to the west. The formal review process for the project is supposed to start sometime this year
Found on New Filmmakers website, an organization that gives independent filmmakers the chance to show their work directly to the public and gives New York audiences the opportunity to see outstanding new films.
Of the most scenic and beautiful boardwalks of the country according to America Online's top 10 list.
The Pike at Rainbow Harbor
Location: Long Beach, California
Atlantic City
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Canal Walk
Location: Richmond, Virginia
The full summer schedule for the Coney Island History Project can be viewed in full detail at the History Project's MySpace.
This year Cha Cha's in Coney Island will again the Coney Island Advertising Freakshow. As with all advertising festivals, they are open to the imagination. And the best ideas usually wins some sort of prize. Though last year's event mostly went on without much of a notice. This year there is hope for more.
No call for entries, no fees.
Come to the party, bring one great idea on a thumb drive or other removable media. Entries will be judged in real time and the Grand Coney will be awarded all in the same
night.
Nathan's Famous has started to post up their calorie contect alongside their prices. As Captain Nemo has observed and posted on the Coney Island USA message board, he writes:The hot dog here is comparable to the Subways sandwhich which boast about half the calories to the McDonald's Big Mac and the Burger King WhopperNathans is now posting the calories of all their food items. The difference in some of the prices and their calories is very close Ever wonder what the calories are in a plain hot dog? wonder no more.
New Coney Island Coalition Says:
Oppose New Zoning! Save Coney Island!
Coney Island USA, The Coney Island History Project, Citylore and the Coney Island Hysterical Society are just a few of Coney Island Community groups who have joined forces with Save Coney Island, which has over 4,000 members, to form a coalition to oppose the city’s new zoning compromise. The City's new plan almost completely abolishes the amusement industry for the sake of residential condos, hotels and retail.
The Under the new proposal, Coney Island will be overwhelmed by new residential, hotel and retail uses and amusements will be squeezed out!
Coney Island is currently zoned for 61 acres of amusements; the city’s new proposal reduces the amount of amusements to 9 acres, supplemented by retail.
This reduction of proposed space for amusements will be unable to create critical mass for the amusement area, defeating the goal of creating a world class amusement and tourist destination. This is not the grand amusement park that we were promised!
Goodbye day at the beach…hello day at the shopping mall!
25 to 30 story towers do not belong in an amusement neighborhood!
Retail is no substitute for amusements! Niketown is not a rollercoaster! Toys ‘R Us with a ferris wheel is not an amusement park!
“Amusements are not profitable” is a lie! Ask Disney, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Astroland, Deno’s or the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions!
Politicians seeking to turn Coney Island into the Mall of America are placing their own parochial interests over those of Coney Island, Brooklyn and New York City! Shades of Walter O’Malley!
There is plenty of other space in Coney Island for hotels and retail! Why destroy the amusement area forever to meet this goal?
Save Coney Island will protest the city's plan with a demonstration during the Opening of the Beach Ceremony on May 22nd in Coney Island. In glittering Coney Island style, we will demonstrate that Coney Island Community does not want malls and high-rises in the Amusement District.
It wouldn't be much to argue that Coney Island could be on a list of the most photographed places in the world. Many photographers from Coney lovers to professionals have fallen in love with this place, capturing its every nook and cranny from many prospectives. Something we would could only wish had been done all along Coney's rich history.
Using equipment that encompasses everything from the latest Canon equipment to his vintage Speedgraphic camera, Kevin's photographs capture the older "good-ol'" days: vintage signs, the Lollipop Hotel, greasers at a Rumblers Car Show and candied marshmallows and the Sideshow at Coney Island. His work contains in them, a medley of cultures, peoples and places, from Mexican wrestlers to the shrines of Tokyo.
During this workshop, students will be documenting the changing conditions of light and weather, interacting with the environment and architecture of Coney Island. The natural elements and all of the remaining details tell the story of its history beginnings as the people's playground to the present. Students will be shooting the icons of the Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, Astroland and the Mermaid Parade, boardwalk denizens and personalities, the beach, Nathan's, the tourists, etc., from the water to Mermaid Avenue, developing their powers of observation and their techniques.
The Coney boardwalk gets plywood placed over a section in front of the Lola Staar Boutique. Captain Nemo posted the image above on the Coney Island message board. He speculates that the city has probably patched it up. Another posted claims they've actually seen the Parks Department do the work.Gowanus Lounge wrote:Someone, possibly the city, places boards over the area that a couple of weeks ago, was sectioned off. The businesses operating on the Boardwalk threatened to fix things on their own, so I am not sure who did this.
Injuries promise to keep the FDNY and NYPD teams on the boardwalk all summer
long.
It's time for the burlesque at the beach to start.
As found by Switchback and posted on the Coney Island USA message board here are shots of Coney versions in the animated on Kids WB "The Spectacular Spider-Man"
It seems the designs posted yesterday that were found on the Arquitectonica website (which are now, probably, going to be taken off their website) are stale. CIDC president Lynn Kelly and EDC senior project manager Nathan Bliss have informed Kinetic Carnival that these drawings no longer represent to new city plans. The map below shows the current city plan and is also compared with the Thor Equities plan for the area being called Coney East which, a precentage of it, will consist of the amusement core.
The City plan leaves 9 acres for amusement which many consider still too small.
(Click image to enlarge)
As already knows the Thor plans even cuts the amusement zone further.
(Click image to enlarge)
Arquitectonica was tapped by the New York EDC to draw up some fresh plans to study the revitalization of Coney Island in making it a year-round destination.
Arquitectonica website states:Coney Island Urban Revitalization Plan
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Arquitectonica was selected by the New York EDC to master plan and develop zoning guidelines for over thirty blocks between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The goal of the study was to revitalize Coney Island by turning it into a 365-day a year destination, with retail and attractions, while still maintaining the character of the area. Arquitectonica's recommendations are currently being used by the city to revive the area in a sensible manner.
Here are some screen shots and video clips from the new console game Grand Theft Auto IV (from Rockstar Games) inspired from Coney Island. The amusement zone here is called Firefly Island which is part of Liberty City.
The stills and vids that follow were found and posted by Switchback on the Coney Island USA message board. You will find references to Nathan's (here called Johnson's), Lola Staar, parked school buses, the Shore Theater (here called the Firefly), the old bank building, Coney Island USA, Astroland, and even Sea Gate (here called Beach Gate). In the game version it's the middle of winter and so everything is closed - which is also a time when the area radiates with mystic and charm.
