January | 2012 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for January, 2012

Video of the Day: Climbing Coney Island’s Parachute Jump

Posted in Photography, video, tagged Brooklyn, Charles Denson, childhood dream, Coney Island, landmark, Parachute Jump, Seth Kaufman, Steeplechase Park on January 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Just watching this video of Coney historian Charles Denson climbing the 270-foot tall Parachute Jump gives us vertigo. Ten years ago, when the landmarked Jump was about to get a $5 million refurbishment, we did a story for Preservation that featured a striking portrait of Denson standing atop the tower. Denson’s 10-minute film of the climb, released today via his “Coneyologist” Channel on YouTube, features video footage by Seth Kaufman and his own exquisite photos.

The Coney Island native, who came of age riding the Parachute Jump with his dad in Steeplechase Park, told us: “That ride—there was nothing like it, before or since. Just when you thought, ‘It can’t go any higher,’ the chute hit the top and exploded. You were flying in a free fall. Then it billowed open and you sailed down.”

Originally designed by a retired Naval commander to train military paratroopers in the 1930s, parachute towers were modified into amusement attractions when civilians clamored to ride. Denson last soared from the Jump’s tower in 1962, two years before the great granddaddy of vertical-thrill rides, along with the rest of Steeplechase Park, closed forever.

In 2002, Denson fulfilled his childhood dream to once again see the view from the top. He writes:

The Jump was a nature preserve. The motor room base was filled with pigeon nests and covered with muddy footprints of the raccoons who fed on the eggs. A raptor circled us at the top as we disturbed its perch, and the feet of the many small birds it had caught and devoured were spread out across the catwalks. I grew up a few blocks from the Jump and have documented it since it closed. When the city decided to dismantle and renovate the Jump ten years ago, my engineer friend Seth Kaufman had the only copy of the original plans. The city needed them so we made a deal: We got to climb it legally.

If you think it would be crazy fun to scale Brooklyn’s Eiffel Tower, keep in mind Denson has issued a warning remarkably similar to that of a sideshow sword swallower: “Do NOT try this on your own. It is extremely dangerous and chances are that you will die.”

Photo of the Day: Signs of Coney’s Club Atlantis Resurface

Posted in art, Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Boardwalk, Bruce Handy, Cha-Cha's, Club Atlantis, Coney Island, mermaid, vernacular signage on January 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Signage for Coney Island’s Club Atlantis, including this voluptuous mermaid, resurfaced after the sign for the evicted Cha Cha’s Bar & Cafe was removed from the building’s facade. The Boardwalk store was home to the Atlantis from the 1940s through the 1990s. In the last few years of its life, the letters from the famed sign that spelled Atlantis became corroded and were removed. This hand-painted signage replaced it. Does anyone recall who painted it and when?

The club had many different owners over the years, including Murray Weingar, a co-owner of Miami’s Copacabana, and bandleader Mousey Powell in the 1940s. In the ’70s, the Atlantis featured a singing cowboy and in the ’90s it became a Latin dance club, writes Charles Denson in Coney Island: Lost and Found. Cha Cha’s, the Home of Wild Women and Wise Guys, was also called Cha Cha’s Club Atlantis until it closed at the end of October.

One of the earliest mentions we could find for the Atlantis was during World War II. A notice in the July 11, 1942 edition of the Billboard said:

Atlantis bar, grill and dance hall on the Boardwalk, owned by Murray Weingar and Hymie Schuman, operates under blue dim-outs after sundown. Bar trade on main floor entertained by Ralph Lawrence, accordionist; Embassy Trio, singers and intrumentalists, with Ruth Blair doing the vocals. Patriotic display changed weekly in bar’s center. On top deck is a squared arena for the jitterbugs tripping to Sol Curry’s Ork and applauding Karen Kaye’s singing.

Tom’s Restaurant of Prospect Heights is renovating the Boardwalk space formerly occupied by both Cha Cha’s and Nathan’s, the site of the original Atlantis. The new restaurant will have a roof deck and is expected to open in April. Cha Cha’s, one of six Boardwalk businesses whose leases were not renewed by Central Amusement International, is seeking to relocate nearby.

Thanks to Coney Island photographer and Sunday archaeologist Bruce Handy for these photos!

Music Video: Alan Jackson’s So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore

Posted in Favorites, Music Video, tagged Alan Jackson, Boardwalk, Coney Island, country, New Release, So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore on January 13, 2012| 6 Comments »

In early December, ATZ posted Eric Kowalsky’s photos of country singer and songwriter Alan Jackson strumming his guitar on the Coney Island Boardwalk. The music video was released today on YouTube and it’s a beauty. We love it that Coney’s landmark Cyclone, Wonder Wheel and Parachute Jump, as well as the Astrotower and Paul’s Daughter’s Mama and Papa Burger make an appearance along with the Beach and the Boardwalk.

In the new single about the end of a love affair, Jackson sings that he’ll be the SOB, “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore.” The shuttered stores and lonely beauty of Coney Island on a December day suit the lyrics, which are sorrowful yet defiant, in the way that the best country songs often are.

I will keep all those memories of the good times
Yeah there were some good times
So when you think of you and me
They won’t even cross your mind

“I didn’t write this one. It was written by Jay Knowles and my nephew, Adam Wright,” Jackson told Country Weekly in December. “This one just hit me. I can say this because I didn’t write it, people are comparing it to ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today.’ I would never put one of my songs up against that one, but since I didn’t write it, it’s OK.”

Thanks to Alan Jackson for making Coney Island the setting for your next no. 1 hit!