June | 2011 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for June, 2011

Music Video: Mermaid Day Parade by Barefoot Walking

Posted in Events, Music Video, tagged Barefoot Walking, Cha-Cha's, Coney Island, live music, Mermaid Day, Mermaid Parade on June 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Brooklyn-based band Barefoot Walking’s first music video “Mermaid Day Parade” was filmed on Coney Island’s beach, Wonder Wheel and Sideshows by the Seashore’s stage. The song is from their first album “Running with Sprinklers,” which was released last year. On June 18th at 8pm, after the Mermaid Parade, lead singer Livia Beasley and the band will be singing their songs at Cha Cha’s, the “Home of Wild Women and Wise Guys” on the Coney Island Boardwalk.

Cha Cha’s Mermaid Day Party begins at 3:30 pm with Killer Joe’s classic rock and blues. Frederick the Victorious takes the stage at 7 pm. $5 cover charge pays for first drink.

Also on the Mermaid weekend schedule at Cha Cha’s: Punk Rock Show with 11 bands on Sunday, June 19th, from 2-10 pm. No cover, no minimum.

Last Chance to See Mermaid Parade Before It Turns 30!

Posted in Events, Photography, Visitor Info, tagged Coney Island, Mermaid Parade on June 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Lollipop and Candy Mermaids. Coney Island Mermaid Parade, June 20, 2009. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

This Saturday is the 29th annual Mermaid Parade and if you’re anywhere near New York City, you should come out to Coney Island for the day. Take the D, F, N or Q to Stillwell Avenue and arrive well before the 2 pm start of the parade to pick out a spot on Surf Avenue or the Boardwalk.

If you’re in a faraway state or foreign country, there’s always next year. Of course, we’re joking about seeing the parade before it turns 30. The Mermaid Parade is a quirky Coney Island institution that gets better with age. It should be on your list of things to do before and after you turn 30.

Here’s our slide show from the 2010 Mermaid Parade, featuring our view from the judges stand. The pix are posted pretty much in chronological order, from the judges sitting in the empty stand before the parade to paraders walking east on a still barricaded and empty Surf Avenue after it was over.

This part of our post is for a friend of a friend, who is coming all the way from the Netherlands to play in Sunday’s Brooklyn Pinball Championship in Williamsburg. He was looking for “some advice as a tourist” in Brooklyn so here it is: It’s a big weekend in Coney Island, with the first fireworks of the season on Friday night at 9:30 pm and more fireworks on Saturday after the Brooklyn Cyclones’ season opener. If it’s your first time here– or your first time in a long time– check out the attractions and events listing on the Coney Island Fun Guide before you go.

ATZ’s must see-and-do list includes the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel, the Eldorado Bumper cars, the Air Race in Luna Park, the new Sling Shot ride in Scream Zone, Coney Island USA’s ten-in-one circus sideshow, vintage films and photo exhibit at the Coney Island History Project, Tazo the Sea Otter at the Aquarium, the bars and businesses on the Bowery and Boardwalk, the original Nathan’s Famous, and Williams Candy or Denny’s Ice Cream for dessert!

Coney Island Kiddie Park Getting Squeezed by Thor Equities

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, Joe Sitt, McCullough's Kiddie Park, Thor Equities on June 14, 2011| 6 Comments »

Ride being dismantled and moved in McCullough's Kiddie Park, Coney Island. June 13, 2011. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Coney Island had 64 rides when we did our annual ride census in April, but starting this week it will have 62. McCullough’s Kiddie Park, whose colorful banners trumpeting “More Rides” had a dozen rides, is losing two. The kiddie park owner is getting squeezed out by Thor Equities. A section of their park occupied by three rides–the Frog Hopper, kiddie train and boats– is a lot owned by Thor and was subleased to them a few years ago by Norman Kaufman.

Now that the sublease has expired, Thor Equities reportedly offered a new lease with such onerous terms that the park’s owners will not sign it. The three rides have to be off Thor’s property by Thursday, June 16th. On Monday, the little park’s train ride was sent packing. The kiddie boat ride also went bye bye. Meanwhile, the majority of the other rides had to be dismantled and rearranged to accommodate the Frog Hopper, which is staying. McCullough’s Kiddie Park, located at West 12th and the Bowery in Coney Island, will reopen this weekend with 10 rides.

The McCullough family is related to Steeplechase Park’s Tilyous and has owned and operated rides in Coney Island for many years and we hope many years to come. In 2005, Jimmy McCullough sold the B & B Carousell, the last wooden carousel in Coney Island, to the City after the death of his business partner Mike Salzstein. You can listen to Jimmy McCullough’s interview about learning the carousel business from his father, James McCullough, who began his career working on the Steeplechase and Stubbman carousels, in the Coney Island History Project’s Oral History Archive.

Joe Sitt, CEO of Thor, on the other hand, has zero rides on his Coney Island property. What he does have is a dismal flea market disguised as a festival because flea markets are not allowed by the zoning. Despite what you may have read in a NY Times puff piece on Sitt, the flea does not feature “upscale product.” What’ll he do with the tiny lot reclaimed from the kiddie park, put in a few more flea market tables?

Joe Sitt is infamous for evicting amusement rides from his Coney Island properties. In 2007, the real estate speculator evicted the Zipper from 12th Street. He also evicted Norman Kaufman’s Go Karts, Bumper Boats and Batting Cages from Stillwell Avenue to “allow the new development to proceed in a timely manner,” but has built NOTHING there except a failed flea market in 2009 and another flea market this summer. (“Thor’s Coney Island: What Stillwell Looked Like Before Joe Sitt,” ATZ, March 3, 2010)

It’s bad enough that the City has let Joe Sitt continue to get away with blighting the amusement area. Why do the New York Times and other mainstream media continue to enable Sitt’s bad behavior with clueless coverage referring to him as a developer? Read the graffiti scrawled on his so-called construction fence: It says “Blight for Spite.”