October | 2011 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for October, 2011

Coney Island Winter: Garland Jeffreys Live on Letterman

Posted in Music, Music Video, tagged Coney Island Winter, Garland Jeffreys, King of In Between on October 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Released in the spring, the Garland Jeffreys album “The King of In Between” has been called “as uncannily fresh and forceful as the songs on his debut record, from 1973” by the New Yorker. You’ll see why in this video of Garland Jeffreys and the Coney Island Playboys’ live performance of “Coney Island Winter” on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Friday night.

The Brooklyn-born singer songwriter grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island, and riffs on the “Twenty-two stops to the city” from his boyhood turf in “Coney Island Winter.” You can read the lyrics in “Hail, Hail Garland Jeffreys! Coney Island Has a New Anthem,” (ATZ, March 15, 2011). We’d love to see a live performance on the Boardwalk!

Garland Jeffreys last New York area shows of the year are coming up at the Highline Ballroom on October 14 and At the Tabernacle in Mt Tabor, NJ on October 22. Says Jeffreys on his Facebook page: “And then comes Nashville, Chicago, Austin, Houston, Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, and more !!!!”

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Photo of the Day: “The Chief” of the Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Food & Drink, Photo of the Day, Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island Boardwalk, Countdown to Corporatization, Gregory & Paul's, Paul Georgoulakos, Paul's Daughter, Sodexo on October 8, 2011| 7 Comments »

Paul Georgoulakos at Paul's Daughter on the Coney Island Boardwalk. April 17, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita

When we stopped by Paul’s Daughter last Monday, “The Chief” called out “light, no sugar” to a helper and offered us coffee and cookies. Paul Georgoulakos, 82, is the oldest operator on the Coney Island Boardwalk and beloved by all except the Bloomberg administration, which purchased the property occupied by his restaurant from Thor Equities, and Zamperla’s Luna Park, which leases it from the City. As Paul’s daughter Tina told ATZ earlier this year: “I wanted so much to be a part of the New Coney Island but they didn’t even offer me a tiny little spot on the Boardwalk.”

The Boardwalk restaurant formerly known as Gregory & Paul’s, a masterpiece of vernacular signage established in 1962, is being kicked out to make way for a soulless cafeteria run by Sodexo. The French multinational is the world’s largest food services management company and the world’s 21st largest corporation. In Coney Island, Sodexo also operates the new Cyclone Cafe on Surf Avenue, though you won’t find their name on the marquee. Apparently Luna Park’s “partner for one-site service solutions” likes to keep a low profile in the People’s Playground.

The City’s revitalization plan calls for year-round restaurants in Coney Island’s amusement zone. On Monday, Paul’s Daughter as well as Ruby’s Bar, Gyro Corner and the Suh family’s souvenir shop, whose days on the Boardwalk are also coming to an end, were open as usual. Sodexo’s Cyclone Cafe was shut tight as a drum.

With 27 days left until seven Mom & Pops are kicked off the Coney Island Boardwalk, ATZ will be saying goodbye to old friends with a favorite photo a day. The seven businesses must vacate the premises by November 4th. The one-year reprieve is over. If you have a photo, new or old, that you’d like to contribute, please post a link below or send to hello[AT]triciavita[dot}com

Paul's Daughter, Oct 31, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Lucille Fornasieri Gold’s Coney Island Photos from the 1970s

Posted in Photography, tagged 1970s, Chelsea Market, Coney Island, exhibition, Lucille Fornasieri-Gold on October 2, 2011| 3 Comments »

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Two Dog Taffy, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

Passing through Chelsea Market last week, I happened to see the above photo of dogs napping in front of a Salt Water Taffy sign in 1970s Coney Island. Don’t know the dogs, but Philips Candy’s storefront is instantly recognizable and a delicious trip back in time for anyone who came and went to Coney via the old Stillwell Terminal. The image is part of “Shores of New York,” an exhibit of Lucille Fornasieri-Gold’s photographs of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, the Rockaways and other local seaside places in the 1970s and ’80s.

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Eating Under Handwriting, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

Lucille Fornasieri-Gold’s Coney Island subjects include ticket sellers, musclemen, members of the Polar Bear Club and people hanging out in their favorite spot by the sea. The images also afford a glimpse of vanished attractions like the candy shop and a funhouse. “While I didn’t intend to document New York City, they allow us a comparison to today,” says the photographer, who is now 80.

Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Fornasieri-Gold was first exposed to art through her father, a professor of architectural sculpture, according to her bio. “With the birth of her last child in 1969, she received her first camera and took pictures intensely for a ten-year period. In 2002 she retired to work only on her photography. She shoots frequently, and processes her negatives digitally.” Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Public Library.

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Funhouse, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

“Shores of New York,” Photographs by Lucille Foransieri-Gold, on view through ~~mid-October~~ October 6, 2011 at Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets, New York, NY 10011. Doors to the market are open Mon-Sat from 7am to 10pm, and Sun from 10am-8pm.