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Coney Island

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For other uses, see Coney Island (disambiguation).
Aerial view of the beach at Coney Island
Image of Coney Island, located in the middle left of the picture, taken by NASA. The peninsula to the right is Rockaway, Queens.

Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach lying on the Atlantic Ocean. The eponymous neighborhood is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and Gravesend to the north.

The area was a major resort and home of Astroland amusement park that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. In recent years, the area has been revitalized by the opening of KeySpan Park, home to the successful Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team. The Cyclones have an enormous cult following, bringing in many fans during spring and summer.

Geography

Overlooking Coney Island downtown

Coney Island is the westernmost of the barrier islands of Long Island, about four miles long and one-half mile wide. It used to be an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, part of which was little more than tidal flats. There were plans into the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II. The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas.

History

The name

Dreamland tower and lagoon in 1907

The Native American inhabitants of the area called the island Narrioch, "land without shadows", because, as did other south shore Long Island beaches, its compass orientation keeps the beach area in beautiful warm sunlight all day.

The Dutch name for the island was Conyne Eylandt,[1] or Konijn Eiland (Rabbit Island) using modern Dutch spelling. This name is found on the New Netherland map of 1639 by Johannes Vingboon. (New York State and New York City were originally Dutch Settlements, referred to as New Netherland and New Amsterdam respectively.). As with other Long Island barrier islands, Coney Island was virtually overrun with rabbits, and rabbit hunting was common until the resorts were developed and most open space eliminated.

It is generally accepted by scholars [2][3] that Coney Island is the English adaptation of the Dutch name, Konijn Eiland. Coney is an obsolete and dialectical English word for rabbit. Coney came into the English language through Old French (Conil), which derives from the Latin word for rabbit, cuniculus. The English name "Conney Isle" was used on maps as early as 1690[4] and by 1733 the modern spelling "Coney Island" was used.[5] The John Eddy map of 1811 also uses the modern "Coney Island" spelling.[6]

Even though the history of Coney Island's name and its Anglicization can be traced through historical maps spanning the 17th century to the present[7] and that all the names translate to "Rabbit Island" in modern English, there are still those who contend that the name derives from other sources. Some say that early English settlers named it Coney Island after its cone-like hills. Others claim that an Irish captain named Peter O'Connor had named Coney Island after an island in Ireland in the 1700s. Yet another purported origin is from the name of the Indian tribe (the Konoh tribe) who supposedly once inhabited it. A further claim is that the island is named after Henry Hudson's "right-hand-man" John Coleman, supposed to have been slain by Indians. Most of these claims can be found in a posting on the PBS website.

The resort

The Wonder Wheel and Astroland Park as seen from the Coney Island Beach.

Coney Island became a resort after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s. With the rail lines, steamship lines and access to the beach came major hotels and public and private beaches, followed by horse racing, amusement parks, and less reputable entertainments such as Three-card Monte, other gambling entrepreneurs, and prostitution.

When the steam railroads were electrified and connected to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned more rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements.

The first carousel at Coney Island was built in 1876 by Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver. It was installed at Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. The complex was later called Balmer's Pavilion. The carousel consisted of hand-carved horses and animals standing two abreast. A small coach was mounted on the platform for people who did not want to ride the horses. The ride was illuminated with kerosene lanterns (Thomas Edison did not announce his first light bulb until three years later, in 1879). Two musicians, a drummer and a flute player, provided the music. A metal ring-arm hung on a pole outside the ride, feeding small, iron rings for eager riders to grab. A tent-top protected the riders from the weather. The fare was five cents.

Nathan's Famous' original hot dog stand opened on Coney Island in 1916 and quickly became a landmark. An annual hot dog eating contest has been held there of July 4th since its opening, but has only attracted broad attention and international television coverage during the last decade.

In 1915 the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the New West End Terminal for all the subway lines in 1919 ushering in Coney Island's busiest era.

After World War II, contraction began seriously from a series of pressures. Air conditioning in movie theaters and then in homes, along with the advent of automobile access to the less crowded and more appealing Long Island state parks, especially Jones Beach, lessened the attractions of Coney's beaches. Luna Park closed in 1946 after a series of fires and the street gang problems of the 1950s spilled over into Coney Island. Though there was not a real danger as would be understood today, the menacing appearance of some of the youths, and their often harassing behavior made parents less willing to bring their young children to Coney or allow their teenaged children to go there.

Subsidized apartments for low-income residents around Coney Island.

The presence of threatening youths did not impact the beachgoing so much as it discouraged visitors to the rides and concessions - the staples of the Coney Island economy. A major blow was struck in 1964 when Steeplechase Park, the last of the major parks, was closed.

The builder and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses actively opposed the "tawdry" entertainment at Coney and discouraged the building of new amusements. Housing projects, both for low and moderate incomes, were built and used up space of what had been amusement areas, and the aquarium project, where Dreamland once stood, reduced the available area for more traditional amusements.

In Coney Island's lowest years there was some incremental improvement in relatively small areas, notably the preservation and later the expansion of what had been the rides area at the back of the Feltman's property as Astroland. The general improvement in New York City's infrastructure, commercial prospects and image after the 1970s fiscal crisis under the mayoral administration of Edward I. Koch helped Coney Island, and many improvements were made under the mayoralty of Rudolph Giuliani, continuing with his successor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, all helped by the Wall Street booms of the 1980s and 1990s.

While all of the city's original amusement parks have long since closed down — Steeplechase being the last in 1964 — one since revived, Astroland, gradually expanded and there are now also several more or less organized amusement areas along with a number of independent rides and concessions. For example, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park is a successful family owned park with over 20 rides located directly on the Boardwalk. However, the Coney Island amusement area is set to change in the 21st century.

A resort-like senior living house on Coney Island.

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose family had owned the gritty but storied park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November 2006 for an unspecified amount. Thor Properties proposed a $1.5 billion renovation and expansion of the Coney Island amusement area to include hotels, shopping, movies, an indoor water park and the city's first new roller coaster since the Cyclone. The developers hope to start construction in 2007 and complete the project by 2011. As part of the renovation, they announced that Astroland would close by the end of 2007.[8] The Aquarium is also being renovated.[9] The six-acre park that Thor plans to include on the site would have 21 rides, a hotel, a glass-enclosed atrium, commercial space and a man-made canal for boat rides.

The flagship ride will be the "Leviathan," a 100-foot-tall coaster with loop-de-loops that dips under the Boardwalk before flying back aboveground. Including the Cyclone and another coaster planned for Stillwell Ave., it would be the third for the area. Another marquee ride, the Aviator, would soar 120 feet, with gondolas guided individually by hand-held joysticks.

Today, coming somewhat back down to reality - in their article The New York Times prints a new rendering by ThinkWell Design & Production which looks very much like the drawings ThinkWell conceived the last time. For one thing - fortunately, this time the buildings aren’t ghostly figures of high rises. And though they are supposed to be hotels and time-shares this time around – they unfortunately look like Donald Trump style boxes with windows.

The new proposal is less dense, he [Sitt] said, but has more of "the new, the edgy, and the outlandish" rides and attractions that America's first resort was once known for.

"This is our way of showing the New York community that we're responsive to what they want," said Sitt, the founder and chief executive of Thor Equities.

The new plan keeps the concept of a new glass-enclosed water park, but instead of apartments call for three hotels, including more than 400 time-share units, along with restaurants, shops, movie theaters and high-tech arcades. The latest renderings depict a pulsating entertainment complex with an Elephant Colossus statue and architecture that evokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland amusement parks.

The plan has been already criticized, calling the time-shares looking an awful lot like apartments and that the complex looks more like a mall than Coney Island.

Robert Lieber, president of the city's Economic Development Corporation, who criticized the plan said it had essentially the same density but dressed up with these hotels and time shares. He also said, "the building heights still exceed the 271-foot Parachute Jump. And he's [Sitt] looking for a huge subsidy from the city, of more than $100 million.

The Coney Island amusements

Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks, Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, as well as many independent amusements. It was finally eclipsed by Disneyland in California.

Rides

Dante's Inferno, part of Astroland
World-famous Cyclone roller coaster.

Today, the amusement area contains various rides, games such as skeeball, ball tossing, and a sideshow; games of shooting and throwing and tossing skills.

The rides and other amusements at Coney Island are owned and managed by several different companies, and operate independently of each other. For this reason, it is not possible to purchase season tickets to the attractions in the area.

Three of the rides at Coney Island are protected as designated NYC landmarks and recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

  • Wonder Wheel. Built in 1920, this steel ferris wheel has both conventional stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet tall and weighs over 2,000 tons. It is currently part of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.[10]
  • The Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927, is one of the nation's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. A favorite of some coaster aficionados, the Cyclone includes a 85-foot, 60 degree drop. It is currently owned by Astroland.
  • The Parachute Jump, originally the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 190 feet in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. Although the ride has been closed since 1968, it remains a Coney Island landmark and is sometimes referred to as "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower." Between 2002 and 2004, the Jump was completely dismantled, cleaned, painted and restored, but remains inactive. After an official lighting ceremony in July 2006, the Parachute Jump was slated to be lit year round using different color motifs to represent the seasons. However, this idea was scrapped when New York City started conserving electricity in the summer months. It has not been lit regularly since.

Other notable attractions include:

  • The B&B Carousel. In addition to its unusual spelling, this is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, now surrounded by furniture stores, near the old entrance to Luna Park. The carousel is an especially fast one, with a traditional roll-operated band organ. When the long-term operator died unexpectedly the carousel was put up for auction and it was feared the ride would leave Coney Island or, worse, that it would be broken up for sale to collectors, being one of the last intact traditional carousels in the U.S. still in private hands. In an act of brinksmanship with the owners, the City of New York bought the B&B Carousel a few days before the auction. The carousel has been dismantled and will operate in Coney Island; the specific location is still to be determined.
  • Bumper cars. There are three separate bumper car rides in Coney Island, located in Astroland, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and Surf Avenue.
  • Haunted houses. Three traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island: Dante's Inferno (Astroland), Spook-a-Rama (Deno's) and the Ghost Hole (independent).

Rides of the past

The Thunderbolt, as of 1995
  • Thunderbolt, a roller coaster across the street from Steeplechase Park that was constructed in 1925. The ride closed in 1983. It was torn down by the city "to protect public safety" in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park.
  • Tornado, a roller coaster constructed in 1926. It burned down in a fire in 1977.

Other parks and venues

Coney Island is also the location of the New York Aquarium since June 6, 1957, on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park. In 2001, KeySpan Park opened on the former site of Steeplechase Park to host the Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball team.

In August 2006 Coney Island hosted a major national volleyball tournament sponsored by the Association of Volleyball Professionals. The tournament, usually held on the West Coast, was televised live on NBC. The league built[citation needed] a 4,000-seat stadium and 12 outer courts next to the Boardwalk for the event. Its promotional partner is Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment.

Lifeguard at Coney Island Beach

The beach

Coney Island still maintains a broad sandy beach from West 37th Street at Seagate through the Coney Island and Brighton Beach to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately two-and-a-half miles (~4.0 km). The beach is continuous and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann boardwalk, the subject of the famous song "Under the Boardwalk", first popularized in 1964. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the land side of the boardwalk, as is the New York Aquarium and a variety of food shops and arcades.

The beach is groomed and replenished on a regular basis by the city. The position of the beach and lack of significant obstructions means virtually the entire beach is in sunlight all day. The beach is open to all without restriction and there is no charge for use. The beach area is divided into "bays", areas of beach delineated by rock jetties, which moderate erosion and the force of ocean waves.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club[11] is a group of hardy individuals who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months, most notably on New Year's Day when additional participants join them to swim in the frigid waters, recorded by television reporters covering the scene.

The communities

In front of the Parachute Jump, walkers stroll along the Coney Island boardwalk.

The neighborhoods on Coney Island, running eastward are Sea Gate (a private community), Coney Island proper (called West Brighton until the 20th century), Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and Oriental Beach.

Sea Gate is one of a handful of neighborhoods in New York City where the streets are owned by the residents and not the city; it and the Breezy Point Cooperative are the only city neighborhoods cordoned off by a fence and gate houses.

Its main subway station is called Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and is reached by the New York City Subway trains of the D​, F, <F>​​, N​, and Q. The three main avenues in the Coney Island community (as opposed to the island itself), are (north to south) Neptune Avenue (which crosses to the mainland to become Emmons Avenue), Mermaid Avenue, and Surf Avenue (which becomes Ocean Parkway and then runs north towards Brooklyn's Prospect Park).

The cross streets in the Coney Island neighborhood proper are numbered with "West" prepended to their numbers, running from West 1st Street to West 37th Street at the border of Sea Gate.

The majority of the population of Coney Island resides in approximately thirty 18- to 24-story towers, mostly comprised of various forms of public housing. In between the towers are many blocks that were filled with burned out and vacant buildings. Since the 1990s, however, there has been steady revitalization of the area. Many townhouses were built on empty lots, popular franchises have set up shop, and Keyspan Park was built to serve as the home for the Cyclones, a minor league baseball team in the New York Mets' farm system. Once home to many Jewish residents, most of those living on Coney Island today are African American, Italian American, or Hispanic.

Education

Coney Island, like other parts of New York City, is served by the New York City Department of Education.

The Coney Island neighborhood is zoned to PS 100 The Coney Island School (K-5) and IS 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg (6-8). There are no zoned high schools.

Nearby high schools include:

Mermaid Parade

The Mermaid Parade, which takes place on Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, featuring floats and various acts, has been produced annually by Coney Island U.S.A. — a non-profit arts organization which is dedicated to preserving the dignity of American Popular Culture. The group, which was established in 1979, also produces the Coney Island Film Festival, Burlesque At The Beach, and Creepshow at the Freakshow (an interactive Halloween-themed event), and houses the Coney Island Museum.

Development efforts and controversy

The Parachute jump towers over the Coney Island boardwalk.

Development on Coney Island has always been controversial. When the first structures began to be built around the 1840s, there was an outcry to prevent any development on the island and preserve it as a natural park. Starting in the early 1900s, the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue. It was an effort to reclaim the beach which by then had almost completely been built over with bath houses, clam bars, amusements, and other structures. The local amusement community opposed the city. Eventually a settlement was reached where the beach did not begin until 1000 feet south of Surf Avenue, the territory marked by a city-owned boardwalk, while the city would demolish any structures that had been built over public streets to reclaim beach access. In 1949, Robert Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards, demolishing many structures including the city's municipal bath house. He would later demolish several blocks' worth of amusements to clear land for both the New York Aquarium and the Abe Stark ice skating rink. Critics complained that Moses took three times more land than each structure needed, surrounding each with vacant lots that were of no use to the city.

Since the 1920s, all property north of the boardwalk and south of Surf Avenue was zoned for amusement and recreational use only, with some large lots of property north of Surf also zoned for amusements only. In 1944, Luna Park was damaged by fire, and sold to a company who announced they were going to tear down what was left of Luna Park and build apartments. Robert Moses had the land rezoned for residential use with the proviso that the apartment complex include low-income housing. In 1953, Robert Moses had the entire island rezoned for residential use only and announced plans to demolish the amusements to make room for public housing. After many public complaints, the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22 Streets and The Cyclone as amusement only and threw in 100 feet of property north of Surf Av. between these streets. It has since then been protected for amusement use only, which has led to many public land battles.

In 1964, Coney Island's last remaining large theme park, Steeplechase Park, closed. The rides were auctioned off, and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump. Trump, convinced that the amusement area would die off once the large theme parks were gone, wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property. Instead, he spent ten years battling in court to get the property rezoned. At the lowest point in the battle, Trump organized a funeral for amusement parks in Coney Island. His Steeplechase property included an historic large pavilion that housed most of the park's rides but was now empty. The press was invited to the funeral where bikini-clad girls first handed out hot dogs, then handed out stones which Fred invited all to cast through the stained-glass windows of the pavilion. Then, pronouncing the amusement park dead, he had the pavilion bulldozed. After a decade of court battles, Trump exhausted all his legal options and the property was still zoned only for amusements. He eventually leased the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements on a corner of the site calling his amusement park "Steeplechase Park".

But between the loss of both Luna Park and the original Steeplechase Park, as well as a disastrous urban-renewal plan that took place in the surrounding neighborhood where middle class homes were replaced with housing projects, fewer people were willing to visit Coney Island. With attendance dropping, many amusement owners simply abandoned their properties. In the late 1970s, the city came up with a plan to revitalize Coney Island by bringing in gambling casinos, just as had been done in Atlantic City. However, the city's plans backfired when the prospect of selling property to rich casino owners created a land boom where property was bought up and the rides cleared in preparation of reselling to developers. As it turned out, gambling was never legalized for Coney, and, instead of casinos being built, the area ended up with vacant lots. In addition, the city purchased Steeplechase Park in 1979 from Fred Trump and proceeded to evict Norman Kaufman's amusements. By this time, Kaufman had expanded his park and had plans to eventually rebuild the historic Steeplechase Park. He had even bought back the original Steeplechase horse ride with plans to install it the following season. But the city decided they did not want to wait decades for Steeplechase park to be rebuilt and believed they could attract a developer to build a large combination theme park and casino on the site. Instead, that property remained vacant for another five years.

File:NewYorkAquarium.jpg
The New York Aquarium opened up in 1896. It currently occupies 14 acres by the sea in Coney Island, and boasts over 350 species of aquatic wildlife.

In the mid '80s, businessman Horace Bullard approached the city to allow him to rebuild Steeplechase Park. He had already bought several acres of property just East of the Steeplechase Park site including the property with a large coaster called The Thunderbolt as well as property west of Abe Stark rink. His plans called for the combination of his property as well as the Steeplechase property and the unused property on the Abe Stark site as one massive multimillion-dollar theme park based on the original. The city agreed, and in 1986 the state legislature approved the project. However, several bureaucrats held up the project for another two years while the NYC Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report. In 1987, state senator Thomas Bartosiewics attempted to block Bullard from building on the Steeplechase site. Bartosiewics was part of a group called The Brooklyn Sports Foundation who had promised another theme park developer, Sportsplex, the right to build on the site. Construction was held up for another four years as Bullard and Sportsplex fought over the site.

In 1994, Rudy Giuliani took office as mayor of New York and officially killed the deal with Bullard. Giuliani claimed he wanted to build Sportsplex, provided it include a stadium for a minor-league team owned by the Mets. But when Giuliani ordered the stadium to be built first, Sportsplex accused the city of planning to build a parking lot on the property earmarked for the Sportsplex construction. Even though Giuliani publicly denied this and promised Sportsplex could begin construction the moment the stadium was finished, as soon as the stadium was completed, Giuliani killed the Sportsplex deal and had the parking lot built. The Mets decided the minor league team would be called The Brooklyn Cyclones and sold the naming rights to the stadium to Keyspan Energy. Executives from Keyspan complained that the stadium's line of view from the rest of Coney Island amusement area was blocked by the now derelict Thunderbolt coaster and considered not going through with the deal. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the coaster as part of a scaled-down amusement park. The following month, Giuliani ordered an early-morning raid on the Thunderbolt, claiming that the coaster was in immediate danger of collapse and ordering it bulldozed. The structure that was supposed to be near collapse took many days to be torn down. No connection between the Mets organization and the demolition has ever been proven, but many accuse Giuliani of tearing it down at the Mets' request.

In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the 2012 Olympics. A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation. When the city lost the bid for the Olympics, revitalization plans were rolled over to The Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC) who came up with a strategic plan for restoring the resort. Many amusement owners worried about one of the report's goals to develop the area as a year-round destination as their businesses are only seasonal, and the implication that they could be forced out if they did not meet the CIDC's year-round goal. The CIDC also suggested that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark should be rezoned for other uses including residential to lure developers into the area. Shortly before the CIDC's plans were publicly released, a development company, Thor Equities, purchased all of Bullard's western property, worth $2.2 million, for $16 million. Now owning property that was earmarked for rezoning to residential, they flipped the property to Taconic for a $72 million profit. Thor then went about using much of the $72 million to purchase property well over market value lining Stillwell Avenue and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area. Quickly, rumors started that Thor was interested in building a retail mall in the heart of the amusement area. In September 2005, Thor's founder, Joe Sitt, went public with his new plans, which he claimed was going to be a large Bellagio-style hotel resort surrounded by rides and amusements. He also claimed that the interior of the resort would have an indoor mall that would allow local amusement owners to relocate their rides and operate them indoors year round and made promises that he had no intention of driving out any local amusement owners and wanted them all to be part of his new resort. Sitt released renderings of a hotel that would take up the entire amusement area from the Aquarium to beyond Keyspan Park and would most likely need to involve the demolition of The Wonder Wheel, Cyclone, and Nathan's original hot dog stand, as well as the new Keyspan Park. At the same time, the borough of Brooklyn was involved with two other major development projects: the Atlantic Yards project, which involved eminent domain; and the Brooklyn Bridge Park project, which involved the demolition of a building with landmark status. Many feared that the city had already backed Thor's plans and that the entire amusement district would be demolished to make way for the new multimillion dollar resort.

Current plans and controversy

But things changed in June 2006 when Eek, an architectural design firm working for Thor, released detailed renderings of Thor's planned resort area that now showed luxury high-rise condo towers in place of the hotel with retail on the ground floor. Since the area has both zoning restrictions only allowing amusements and no buildings taller than 260 feet, Thor initially denied any inclusion of condo towers in their plans, and Eek quickly removed the renderings from their site. But not before blogs everywhere published copies of the renderings. Thor quickly released renderings of rides they proposed for their resort, including a steel coaster that would run above the boardwalk, a two-tiered carousel, and a fountain at the foot of Stillwell Av. that would project images of whales and mermaids. Thor then admitted that condos would be part of their resort but claimed that the resort was not economically feasible without the addition of condos. At a public meeting, Thor representatives continued to downplay the condos by claiming that they only wanted to build hundreds of condo units, not thousands. However, while Thor initially said they only wanted to build 575 condos, the number crept up to 975, which was very close to the 1000 units they claimed they were not building. Late in 2006, Thor announced that they had just purchased Coney Island's last remaining amusement park, Astroland, and would be closing it after the 2007 season. Immediately, plans were announced to build a Nickelodeon-themed hotel on the site. Then in January 2007, Thor released renderings for a new amusement park to be built on the Astroland site called Coney Island Park.

Critics pointed out that, even though Thor claimed their project would expand the amusement area, Thor had already evicted several acres of amusements from the property they bought and planned to evict the rest of the amusements on their property after the 2007 season as well as closing Astroland. The amusement park proposed for Astroland's site would have to share it with a hotel, and it has not yet been worked out how much of a footprint the hotel would take up of the Astroland property. Meanwhile, the rest of the resort would be condos built on top of retail. They also point out that any amusements that Thor promised would only be built if the condos made a substantial profit. They also underlined that once Thor has built the condos they will not be legally required to build any amusements. Other critics point out that bringing residential into the amusement area would create a conflict between the residents and the remaining amusements and arcades. Since building condos in the area would require rezoning it as residential, then the condo owners could legally have any amusements abutting their homes to be closed down as public nuisances.

Meanwhile, the city brought up their own concerns about Thor's plans based on their history with the developers. In 2001, Thor purchased the Albee Square Mall for $25 million claiming they wanted to revitalize it. They said they wanted to give it a Vegas-style makeover and bring in more name-brand retail while maintaining the original vendors that occupied the mall. All they needed was for the city to rezone the property to allow the building of an office tower above the mall. Thor claimed they would need to build the tower to finance the expansion of the mall. But not too soon after Thor got the rezoning they asked for, it was announced that Thor sold the property, zoning changes and all, for $125 million to Arcadia Reality Trust. Arcadia soon after announced plans to demolish the mall and build the tower only with a possible box store on the ground level. Aside from Albee Square, Thor has a long track record of flipping property for a profit and no track record of ever actually building any major project they have proposed in the past. City officials question Thor's motives for wanting the zoning changes inside the amusement zone and fear that once Thor gets those changes that they will flip the property to the highest bidder who in turn will have no obligations to build any amusements. They also point out that Thor had owned many acres of property earmarked for rezoning in Coney but instead sold it for a profit. They also are upset with Thor's hardball negotiation tactics where in the fall of 2006 they bulldozed the amusements on the property they owned even though construction, if allowed, would not begin for another three years and they could have still leased that property for amusements until then. They have also publicly threatened that they are prepared to leave their property idle for the next ten years if necessary until they found a mayoral administration that would go along with their plans, which would mean that most of Coney Island would be vacant lots surrounded by plywood fences. Since the city had already invested millions in the area both on the minor-league stadium and a new subway terminal, turning it into a ghost town would bring a substantial loss to their investments. Then in the winter of 2007, just to show the city that Thor meant business, they began to evict businesses from the buildings they now owned along the boardwalk. But when one of the business owners went to the press with a statement that Thor was requiring their tenants to sign a confidentiality clause that lasted three years, preventing them from publicly commenting on Thor redeveloping the area, Thor quickly reinstated their leases.

While Thor is getting most of the attention, the other large property owner, Taconic, has also drawn attention. On their website, they announced that they planned to build condos on their property but made no mention of any amusements or entertainment businesses. The CIDC's plans for rezoning that area were on condition that amusements be built on the ground floor and residential above, not residential only. In addition, the site said that they were in talks with buying from the city property adjacent to theirs which would include the Abe Stark rink for further condo development. Taconic has since removed those pages from their website without any explanation. There are only two amusement owners left in the area not owned by Thor. One is Denos Wonder Wheel, which includes the landmark ride, a small kiddie park, the Spook-a-Rama, and a few adult rides making it just short of being a full amusement park. The other is the El Dorado bumper-car ride on Surf Avenue. Denos has already stated that if the city gives Thor the rezoning it asked for then they will also demand rezoning so they can build a hotel on the property they own. Today, coming somewhat back down to reality - in their article The New York Times prints a new rendering by ThinkWell Design & Production which looks very much like the drawings ThinkWell conceived the last time. For one thing - fortunately, this time the buildings aren’t ghostly figures of high rises. And though they are supposed to be hotels and time-shares this time around – they unfortunately look like Donald Trump style boxes with windows.(as of June 18, 2007)The new proposal is less dense, he [Sitt] said, but has more of "the new, the edgy, and the outlandish" rides and attractions that America's first resort was once known for.

"This is our way of showing the New York community that we're responsive to what they want," said Sitt, the founder and chief executive of Thor Equities.

The new plan keeps the concept of a new glass-enclosed water park, but instead of apartments call for three hotels, including more than 400 time-share units, along with restaurants, shops, movie theaters and high-tech arcades. The latest renderings depict a pulsating entertainment complex with an Elephant Colossus statue and architecture that evokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland amusement parks.

The plan has been already criticized, calling the time-shares looking an awful lot like apartments and that the complex looks more like a mall than Coney Island.

Robert Lieber, president of the city's Economic Development Corporation, who criticized the plan said it had essentially the same density but dressed up with these hotels and time shares. He also said, "the building heights still exceed the 271-foot Parachute Jump. And he's [Sitt] looking for a huge subsidy from the city, of more than $100 million.


On stage and screen

  • You can see many of the long-lost rides of Coney Island's earlier years in action in the movie "IT!" made in 1927 and starring Clara Bow, which features a trip to the park and a tour of the historic rides.
  • Perhaps the most famous fictional residents of Coney Island come from Walter Hill's 1979 cult film The Warriors. Based on Sol Yurick's novel, the film charts the progress of a street gang called "The Warriors" as they travel from their Coney Island turf up to a meeting in the Bronx, get framed for killing a powerful gang leader, and then have to fight their way back to Coney Island with gang members and police chasing them. In 2005, The Warriors movie was also adapted as a video game for the Playstation 2 and Xbox home entertainment systems and on Play Station Portable system. Both the movie and the video game open with an iconic nighttime shot of Deno's Wonder Wheel.
  • We see the lead character in Woody Allen's 1977 semi-autobiographical film classic Annie Hall, Alvy Singer, living in Coney Island as a child in a house that was under the Thunderbolt rollercoaster that shook wildly every time the coaster made its rounds. Alvy's father ran the bumper cars' concession.
  • Neil Simon's 1983 Brighton Beach Memoirs play (also a 1986 movie) also depicts growing up in the Coney Island area, and features scenes with the Coney Island rollercoaster in the background.
  • In the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, David the boy robot and Teddy the mechanized bear travel to the flooded ruins of Coney Island in a submersible (Coney Island, as well as the entire Manhattan area, is now at the bottom of the ocean because of global warming). Just when David finds a sculpture of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and starts praying to it to turn him into a real boy, the Wonder Wheel collapses on top of them, trapping them for the next two thousand years.
  • Coney Island has a reputation both locally and nationally for producing outstanding basketball players. A number of accomplished basketball players hail from Coney Island, including Stephon Marbury, currently playing for the New York Knicks and Sebastian Telfair of the Boston Celtics. Telfair was one of the top high-school players in the country and one of the last to make the jump directly to the NBA. His life in Coney Island is the subject of the documentary film Through the Fire. Telfair and Marbury happen to be cousins. Additionally, Spike Lee's 1998 film He Got Game, a fictional story about the struggles of a top high school basketball player, was set in Coney Island.
  • In Uptown Girls (2003), Coney Island was featured as the childhood runaway home of Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy). It was also the place where she took Ray Schleine (Dakota Fanning), to go on the spinning tea cups to get away from all the problems in life.
  • In the 1953 independent film Little Fugitive, the title character spends his day on Coney Island after thinking he has killed his brother.
  • The 1986 erotic classic 9 1/2 Weeks has Mickey Rourke (John) and Kim Basinger (Elizabeth) spending a fun, romantic day on the Coney Island Boardwalk.

Literature

  • "A Coney Island of the Mind" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a classic collection of poems from the Beat era inspired, somewhat, by Coney Island.
  • The Warriors by Sol Yurick is the 1965 novel that the 1979 movie with the same name (see above) was based upon.
  • Samantha at Coney Island by "Josiah Allen's Wife" (Marietta Holley), 1911, was a popular young-adult novel in the early 20th century.
  • In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby invites Nick to go to Coney Island after his meeting with Jordan Baker.
  • In "Coney" by Amram Duchovny, a tale about 1930s Coney Island as told from the perspective of a 15-year-old Jewish boy as he relates his interactions with his family, the group of freaks from Coney's sideshow, the midget who owns the bike shop on the boardwalk, the wheelchair crime boss with arson on his mind, and many other colorful characters from this historic Brooklyn landmark.
  • Poem "Coney Island" by Jose Martí in 1881

In slang

  • "Coney Island" is a slang term used for a style of chili hot dog topped with a dry meaty chili, then mustard and sweet onions, common in Michigan. Restaurants that serve these are commonly called "Coney Island Restaurants". An example[12] would be "Gillie's Coney Island Restaurants" in Flint Michigan or National Coney Island of Roseville, Michigan.

In song

  • Brooklyn metal band Type O Negative has referenced Coney Island in two songs; "Stay Out Of My Dreams" and "(We Were) Electrocute".
  • The Magnetic Fields mention a Coney Island Ferris Wheel in the opening line of Strange Powers from their album Holiday.
  • Tom Waits has yet another song called "Coney Island Baby," on his 2002 album Blood Money. He also mentions Coney Island in his songs "Table Top Joe" from the album Alice (also released in 2002) and "Take It With Me" from the 1999 album Mule Variations.
  • "Coney Island Whitefish" is a song by Joan Jett.
  • Coney Island is mentioned in the Ramones song "Oh Oh I Love Her So" from the 1977 album Leave Home
  • Coney Island is referenced throughout the avant-garde hip-hop lyricist Aesop Rock's career, most notably his Daylight EP where he muses, "I keep my ghoul spirit concealed, until the warriors return to the Coney Isle Wonder Wheel"
  • Coney Island is mentioned in a song by Fountains of Wayne on their 1999 album Utopia Parkway called "Red Dragon Tattoo" about a boy going to Coney Island to get a tattoo to impress a girl.
  • Coney Island is mentioned by Vancouver band cub in a list of New York City attractions in the song "New York City". The song was later covered by the better known Brooklyn band They Might Be Giants.
  • Coney Island is mentioned by David Bowie in the song "Slip Away" on his 2002 album "Heathen".
  • Van Morrison performed a song titled "Coney Island", but that song refers to the Coney Island in County Down in Northern Ireland, where he spent some time on holiday.
  • Coney Island was the subject of Woot.com's daily podcast song on April 20th, 2007.
  • Phish marked the beginning of its last tour with two shows on Coney Island. A recording of the first night, June 17, 2004, has been turned into a DVD box set entitled, Phish: Live in Brooklyn.

Mr Shean, Mr Shean.
I have made that trip so I know just what you mean.
But there's one light that shines so bright,
It's the brightest light in sight!
Statue of Liberty, Mr Gallagher?
CONEY ISLAND, Mister Shean!"

  • The American Horrorcore-Rapper Necro says in his song "I Need Drugs":

I could go on forever mixing dope with my methadone dosage.
You could find me at Brighton Beach or Coney Island
Or Rikers Island.
My crack pipe's my violin.

  • The Brooklyn-based band Piñataland has released a Coney Island-themed EP, Songs from Konijn Kok, which includes a track, titled "Coney Island Funeral," about the electrocution of Topsy the elephant.
  • Indie rock band Mercury Rev's debut album features the song "Coney Island Cyclone."

On TV

  • A character in the HBO special Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground rides The Cyclone while waiting for his date, only to be beaten up in the Coney Island subway station by her actual boyfriend afterwards.
  • In Futurama, Fry is shown in a flashback to have attended "Coney Island College," which was little more than an attraction on the midway. Remembering his college days, Fry declares, "Good Old Coney Island College - Go Whitefish!"
  • In The Simpsons, a song titled "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" is one of the songs performed by Homer when he was a member of the barber-shop quartet "The Be Sharps".
  • Coney Island is often shown in episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series as a famous New York landmark and as a background for some scenes, like the first of kiss of a main character.
  • On Ugly Betty, Coney Island is the place the Meade family went to on birthdays when Daniel and Alex were young.
  • In a King of Queens episode Doug and Carrie revisit Coney Island to relive memories.
  • In the Disney animated series '"Gargoyles"' episode '"The Reckoning"' Coney Island is the setting where Thailog and Demona reveal the clones of the Manhatten clan. A burning Cyclone Roller Coaster is the place of Thailog and Demona's final battle where they both presumably perish after it collapses.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Joan Vinckeboons (Johannes Vingboon), "Manatvs gelegen op de Noot Riuier", 1639. Coney Island is labelled "Conyne Eylandt". Image of Vinckeboons map at Library of Congress.
  2. ^ Library of Congress New Netherland Website Lists Conyne Eylandt as Dutch name for Coney Island.
  3. ^ "De Nieu Nederlandse Marcurius", Volume 16, No. 1: February 2000. This is the newsletter of the New Netherland Project. Cites New Netherland map labeling "Conyne Eylandt" in 1639 Johannes Vingboon map.
  4. ^ Robert Morden, "A Map of ye English Empire in the Continent of America", 1690. Coney Island is labelled "Conney Isle". Image of Morden map at SUNY Stony Brook.
  5. ^ Henry Popple, "A Map of the British Empire in America", Sheet 12, 1733. Coney Island is labelled "Coney Island". Image of Popple Map can be found at David Rumsey Map Collection
  6. ^ John H. Eddy, "Map Of The Country Thirty Miles Round the City of New York", 1811. Coney Island is labeled "Coney I." Image of Eddy Map can be found at David Rumsey Map Collection.
  7. ^ Refer to maps given above.
  8. ^ See Bloomberg News, November 29, 2006.
  9. ^ "Plans Coming Together For Coney Island Amusement Park Expansion", NY1, November 14, 2006
  10. ^ See [www.WonderWheel.com Deno's Womder Wheel.]
  11. ^ http://www.polarbearclub.org/
  12. ^ Gillie's Coney Island"About us"

Further Reading

  • Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York: A retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (Academy Editions, London, 1978; republished, The Monacelli Press, 1994 — a large part of the book focuses on Coney Island amusement parks)
  • John F. Kasson, Amusing The Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (Hill and Wang, New York, 1978; Distributed in Canada by Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.)
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