Coney Island’s “Mr Cyclone” Gerry Menditto Elected to People’s Hall of Fame

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Coney Island’s “Mr Cyclone” Gerry Menditto Elected to People’s Hall of Fame

September 25, 2009 by Tricia

Gerry Menditto, Manager of the Cyclone, visits the History Project on the Coasters Opening Day 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/Coney Island History Project via flickr

Gerry Menditto, Manager of the Cyclone, visits the Coney Island History Project on the Coaster's Opening Day 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/Coney Island History Project via flickr

Congrats to Gerry Menditto, manager of the Coney Island Cyclone Roller Coaster! An email from our friends at City Lore informed us that Gerry has been elected to the People’s Hall of Fame.

Gerald Menditto, for enabling New Yorkers to experience the thrills and chills of the world’s greatest roller coaster, the Coney Island Cyclone, by “walking the tracks,” and keeping it safe and running for more than three decades.

Each inductee will receive a larger-than-life-size token of esteem — that is, a large bronze cast of an actual subway token — from City Lore. The ceremony will be interlaced with performances honoring the honorees. Following, we will celebrate our honorees with light refreshments, music and dance. Red Baraat, a “Bangin’ Bhangra and brass funk” band will perform, and a brief Bhangra dance lesson will be offered to guests. Call 212-529-1955, x 0 for tickets ($15 for members, seniors, and students, $20 for others).

City Lore’s 11th People’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony and party is set for Sunday, October 25th from 3- 6 pm at the Museum of the City of New York. In advance of the celebration you can watch this video profile of Gerry Menditto from Thirteen.org’s new online series “New York On the Clock.” The mini-documentary webisodes about “New Yorkers who make the City work” premiered on September 14 with this feature on Coney Island’s “Mr. Cyclone.”

In a similar vein, City Lore’s annual People’s Hall of Fame awards celebration honors the contributions of local people to New York City’s cultural life and was established in 1993. In addition to Gerry Menditto, the 2009 People’s Hall of Fame inductees are James V. Hatch and Camille Billops, Dionisio Lind and Michael Smith, Margarita Kagan, and “DJ Rekha” aka Rekha Malhotra. Honorees are selected by a committee working with City Lore’s Board of Directors. If you would like to nominate your New York City cultural hero to the 2010 People’s Hall of Fame, email a note to City Lore along with the reasons for your nomination.

Previous honorees with Coney Island or amusement industry backgrounds include Pete Benferamo, the Lemon Ice King of Corona Queens; The Ross Family of Coney Island Bialys, the oldest bialy business in the city; Rudy King for bringing the steel drum to New York City; Dick Zigun for founding the Mermaid Parade and Coney Island USA; and Hovey Burgess for mentoring a new generation of circus artists.