March | 2011 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for March, 2011

Video: Seasons of the Cyclone Roller Coaster by Charles Denson

Posted in video, tagged Charles Denson, Coney Island, Cyclone, roller coaster on March 10, 2011| 3 Comments »

Historian Charles Denson’s latest video on his Coneyologist channel is “Cyclone Roller Coaster: Four Seasons.” This behind-the-scenes look at Coney Island’s landmark roller coaster lets you walk the tracks–summer and winter–and get up close to the machinery in the motor room. The soundtrack is awesome! Denson is director of the Coney Island History Project and the author of Coney Island: Lost and Found and Wild Ride: A Coney Island Roller Coaster Family.

Paul’s Daughter: “We love Coney Island and we love what we do”

Posted in Coney Island Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island 8, Coney Island Boardwalk, Mom & Pops, Paul's Daughter, Ruby's Bar on March 9, 2011| 5 Comments »

Yes, all eight of the Coney Island 8 signed the agreement with property manager Zamperla’s Central Amusement International and the City that will allow 7 of them–Shoot the Freak is out– to lease their City-owned Boardwalk locations for one final summer. The Georgoulakos family, owners of Paul’s Daughter, one of the Coney Island 8 Mom & Pop businesses, sent out the following statement today:

We are excited about returning for the 2011 season, but at the same time, this settlement is bittersweet. It is not the outcome we were hoping for, but the one we thought attainable. We love Coney Island and we love what we do. We have been in this location for 41 years through the good and the bad. It has been our living, our family, our heart and soul. We do not know what the future holds, but it is our wish that Coney Island remain the unique, quirky, fun place for all that is has always been — with or without us. Hope to see you on the Boardwalk this summer!

Happily, we’ll have to revise the captions on our photos of “the last French fry” at Paul’s Daughter and “last call” at Ruby’s. Let’s see plenty of eating, drinking and being merry at the Boardwalk establishments this summer, for they are contractually obligated to exit quietly at the end of the season.

As ATZ reported in January, Sodexo, the world’s ~~22nd~~ 21st largest corporation, will open their own restaurant at Paul’s Daughter’s location. A year-round sports bar is planned for the space occupied by Ruby’s and Coney Island Souvenirs.

The other evicted businesses granted a reprieve for 2011 are Ruby’s Bar, Cha Cha’s, Steve’s Grill House, Gyro Corner, Beer Island and Coney Island Souvenirs. Ruby’s posted a message on their Facebook page:

It is Official. A deal was signed yesterday, and we are happy to announce that RUBY’S will be celebrating our 36th year in business, and will be open for the 2011 season. This small victory has happened in part due to the help and support of ALL of our loyal friends, and patrons. THANK YOU!!!

Inexhaustible Cows & Bottomless Cups of Chocolate Milk

Posted in Artifacts, tagged chocolate milk, Coney Island, Inexhaustible Cow, Michigan State Fair, milk dispenser, Samuel Robb on March 9, 2011| 4 Comments »

Cow, Coney Island from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. New York Public Library, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs

When I worked the Crazy Ball at the Michigan State Fair, instead of taking daily draws to eat, I lived on bottomless cups of chocolate milk. It cost only a quarter and if you saved your cup, the workers in the dairy barn would gladly pour unlimited refills from the stainless steel dispenser. I got hoarse yelling “Hey it’s Crazy Ball Fun Time, You Pick the Colors, the Crazy Ball Picks the Winners” and acquired a taste for Michigan’s chocolate milk. When I got back to New York, I looked in vain for a brand that was as delicious.

Inexhaustible Cow at Feltmans. Photo © Charles Denson Archive

Sadly, Michigan’s fair, the oldest state fair in the nation, ended in 2009 due to state budget cuts and its bottomless cup of milk is no more. The 25-cent tradition is now as much a part of history as Coney Island’s Inexhaustible Cow, a 19th century attraction which dispensed milk in its booth in Culver Plaza. I first glimpsed Coney’s cow in a photo in Charles Denson’s book Coney Island Lost and Found: “Pure ice cold milk, 5 cents.” Another photo from the Denson archive shows another milk dispensing cow at Feltman’s Restaurant. The home of the hot dog was also the home of an Inexhaustible Cow!

One of the Coney Island cows has apparently survived and is being offered for sale. Greg Kramer, a Pennsylvania dealer of Americana, is selling the cow (milk not included) for $78,000. It is marked down from its original asking price of $145,000. The cow was brought to our attention when Nashville House & Home Magazine tweeted from last month’s Music Valley Antiques Show “saw a vintage lifesize cow milk dispenser once used at Coney Island. It’s a steal. Very shabby, rustic looking wood. …”

Coney Island Cow attributed to Samuel Robb, New York City. Circa 1881. Photo courtesy of Greg K Kramer & Co. Americana

Kramer told ATZ that he ID’d the cow in an 1881 drawing which appears in Frederick Fried’s book Artists in Wood. Fried attributes the cow to Samuel Robb, a wood carver known for his cigar store Indians and circus carvings. His shop was located at 195 Canal Street. Fried writes, “The cow was a larger than life size wooden cow with a hollow interior into which was placed cans of milk on ice. Spigots fitted into the wooden udder and poured milk for a nickel a glass.” Kramer’s cow still has its spigots as well as “a third coat of paint, restoration to feet and horns, one original eye and normal expected weathering.”

In 1893, an article in the New York Times lamented the loss of Bauer’s Hotel after a fire: “And you also conjure up the days and nights when you used to drink milk at the booth where the big Aldernay cow stood as ‘patiently’ while the pretty milkmaids filled your glass to the brim. There is an absence, too, of the booth where you could get a glass of champagne, of uncertain vintage, but reputed to be from France, at 10 cents a glass.” Other writers slyly suggest that Coney Island’s Inexhaustible Cow would dispense milk to children and lager to adults.