At Coney Island

I've been following the development hell that is Coney Island of late. (If you're not up to speed, on Tuesday, the Times had a decent overview of where things are...and be sure to check out Kinetic Carnival and Gowanus Lounge for as-it-happens news...not to mention coneyisland.com and any others that I'm forgetting...)

Anyway. This past holiday weekend seemed like a good time to visit Coney Island...to see things for myself...



Given everything that I had read to date, I expected a grim scene...



That's what I got. Suitably depressing. And almost unbelievable, really.



[Sigh] Ruby's, I was hoping maybe those reports were...not true.



I don't have much to add to what has already been noted other places...One thing: I was one of about, oh, 50 people walking around taking pictures. At one point, there were nearly 12 people in front of the now-derelict Shoot the Freak taking photos. I felt as if I was at a press conference.



Left 4 Dead? I'll say.



Hmmmm.



See some 50 more photos on my Flickr page.

Mid-morning musical interlude

"Strange Powers" by the Magnetic Fields from 1992. Just take in that Coney Island sun. (Oops...I had embedded the wrong video earlier...Heh.)

Get warm (and depressed)

Our friend Karate Boogaloo posted this preview of "Last Summer at Coney Island" over at Stupefaction. He has more details there...Meanwhile, get warm (and depressed, because this will likely all be gone) by taking a trip to the boardwalk and beach....

Buy the Astrotower for $99,000

That's the going rate for an iconic piece of Coney island history. Ten Astroland Park rides were posted for sale last week following the announcement that the Coney Island park will close for good today. The rides are listed with Ital International, a Nashville-based broker. (New York Post)


Will there be a 11th hour repieve?

Meanwhile, there's a new book on what it was like to grow up in a deteriorating neighborhood adjacent to Coney island in the 1960s and 1970s. (Kinetic Carnival)

Is this finally the end for Astroland?

The Post reports:

The end could finally be here for Coney Island's fabled Astroland Park.

Longtime operator Carol Albert sent a recent letter to lawyers for the site's landlord, controversial developer Joe Sitt, threatening to shut down the 46-year-old amusement park if she doesn't get a two-year lease extension by Sept. 4 at 1 p.m. at the same rate, sources said.

Sitt, however, isn't budging.

"We are extremely disappointed that Carol Albert has decided to give up on the future of Coney Island when her current lease isn't even up for a number of months, said Sitt spokesman Stefan Friedman," adding Astroland would be replaced next summer by new "amusements, games, shopping and entertainment galore."

Astroland appeared doomed only last year until Albert and Sitt struck an 11-hour deal to keep the park open through 2008.

Many expected Astroland to return in 2009 since the city is at least a year away from implementing an area rezoning plan that, in part, would replace Astroland and other attractions with new amusements.

Saving Coney Island (on film)

Kinetic Carnival brings us the news that there's a new Coney Island documentary on the way. Here's the trailer for Save Coney Island: the Movie:

Happy birthday, Gene Simmons!

We don't usually do this kind of thing here. But! Seeing as Kiss is the second-greatest band from New York who liked to get gussied up, we're making an exception! Anyway, Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons was born on this date in 1949 (born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel). He and Queens native Paul Stanley formed Kiss in New York in December 1972.

Simmons, of course, is also featured in two of the greatest motion pictures ever made.

Runaway from 1984:


And! The masterpiece: Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park from 1978:


Meanwhile, AMC took to Coney Island to discuss Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (via Kinetic Carnival)


We imagine Gene will be doing some really low-key today to celebrate.

Weekend getaway

Let's take a trip back to Coney Island in the 1940s...

The 2008 Siren Festival, and one more summer at Coney Island as we kind of remember it?

[Photos of Coney Island courtesy of Mrs. Grieve]


Stereogum (and several other sites, actually) had the news yesterday about the 2008 Village Voice Siren Festival. Here's the good-looking lineup thus far:

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Broken Social Scene
The Helio Sequence
Beach House
Times New Viking
Jaguar Love
The Dodos
Annuals
Film School
Parts & Labor
Dragons Of Zynth
These Are Powers

I went to the very first Siren Festival in 2001. And it was ungodly crowded. Too many stupid people there for the show. There was a line for Ruby's; people visiting it for the first time started acting as if they owned the place. Regardless! Seeing the festival lineup (I thought last year was it, to be honest) gives me hope for at least one more fairly normal summer at Coney Island, eating more expensive hot dogs at Nathan's and having beers at Ruby's. (They managed to eek out one more summer, right?) I don't know what's going to happen with this whole ridiculous development being bandied about. Still. But I plan on enjoying every moment I'm at Coney Island this summer.







Meanwhile, Gothamist has details on the May 22 rally to save Coney Island from the evil Thor Equities.