View of Thor Equities New Plywood-Wrapped Building from Stillwell Terminal. February 20, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr
Last week, Thor Equities got rid of a pair of century-old relics of Coney Island history when a new sidewalk was laid on Surf Avenue. Two trolley utility poles which date back to the 1890s are gone. Missing from the above photo of Joe Sitt’s brand-new, plywood-wrapped building viewed from Coney Island’s Stillwell Terminal, the poles can be seen in these photos from January 2012 and April 2011. The new building is the first sight you’ll see when you exit Stillwell Terminal. It occupies the site of the century-old Henderson Music Hall, which Thor Equities demolished in 2010.
When trolley service on the Surf Avenue-Seagate line ended on December 1, 1946, the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce requested that the poles on both sides of Surf Avenue be left in place in the amusement area to be used for holiday decorations. Stan Fox, the former owner of Playland Arcade, told ATZ that about ten years ago, Charlie Tesoro of the Chamber asked him to count them. “There were sixty-four,” says Fox. “Since then some have fallen down. Others were removed.” The ones in front of MCU Park were removed when the stadium was constructed, he says. (Fox updated his trolley pole census the day after this article was posted. He says there are currently 43 poles on Surf Avenue.)
The poles in front of Luna Park have enjoyed a kinder fate. They were painted red, white and blue, as you can see in the photo below. Although most visitors to Coney Island probably pass by these humble artifacts without noticing them, the poles extend from West 5th to West 21st Streets. Trolley service began in 1893, which makes the poles older than Steeplechase Park (1897), Luna Park (1903) and Dreamland (1904), as well as any of Coney Island’s landmarks, including the Wonder Wheel (1920) and the Cyclone (1927).
Red, white and blue trolley poles on Surf Avenue in front of Luna Park Coney Island. February 20, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr
On Flickr, the Coney Island Trolley Utility Poles Archive has documented 45 poles in the amusement area and collected historic images. “Nonetheless, with the wholesale demolition of the Coney Island amusement area in the offing within the next few years,” wrote the archivist in 2007, “the days of the trolley utility poles are numbered, and they will be inevitably consigned to the scrap heap, never to be seen again, except on this Flickr page.”
Interestingly, a commenter from the Boston area wrote: “Actually, poles almost exactly like this, and probably of the same vintage, are still in use in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now they run the wires for the ‘trackless trolleys’ (electric buses).”
Trolley pole at Surf Avenue and W 12th Street in front of Thor’s empty lot. February 20, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr
Related posts on ATZ…
April 4, 2012: Photo of the Day: Granville T. Woods Memorial Trolley Pole
February 18, 2012: Thor Equities Boards Up New Building in Coney Island
February 2, 2012: Thor’s Coney Island: Generic New Building at Surf & Stillwell
April 29, 2010: Photo of the Day: Interior of Coney Island’s Doomed Henderson Music Hall
Amusing the Zillion 
Oh, no. I remember first noticing those, asking a good friend about them (Gordon, a native Coney-ite) – he knew what they were, and I felt enlightened about this likely often-overlooked neighborhood presence. Damn that Sitt.
That’s horrible. I’m a big fan of trolleys and I wish the trolleys down Surf Avenue would return.
Arthur Melnick’s Brooklyn City Streetcar Company has a proposal to return trolley service to Coney Island as part of the revitalization effort, but it hasn’t been approved. He writes:
“With parking a major problem in Coney Island, it is proposed to build a large facility near the Belt Parkway. From there, BCSC’s vintage trolleys can carry passengers via West 8th Street, following the original Surf Avenue route from the Aquarium to Keyspan Park. This would cover the entire existing amusement area and afford transfer to and from the subway at West 8th Street and the newly rebuilt Stillwell Avenue Terminal as well as the bus. Eventually, this line can extend to the entrance to Sea Gate at the end of Surf Avenue. Additional extensions could follow the original route into Sheepshead Bay.”
http://www.brooklynstreetcar.org/proposals/
Did anybody really think that Joe S-itt would care about two trolley poles that were part of Coney Island history after he has already torn down the Henderson building plus…….???
I have heard about that proposal for trolleys to return to Surf Avenue when at one of those MAS Coney Island meetings. I hope it happens during my lifetime but unfortunately I doubt it.
Other stray trolley poles exist in strange locations. For years one stood on Avenue X near McDonald Avenue. It carried wires not for the trolley but for the BRT when it ran on the ground along McDonald Avenue. Other ghost poles are in Canarsie along the abandoned route of the original ground running Canarsie line.
The oddest poles are out in Staten Island on MTA property on Hylan Blvd & Richmond Avenue used for the S59 bus turnaround. No trolley ever ran that far south on S.I., yet the poles and ancient electric equipment are there.
Wow! Obviously there needs to be a census of all the ghost trolley poles in NYC
[…] to Tricia Vita of the Coney Island blog Amusing the Zillion, trolley service began on Surf Avenue in 1893; service ended on the #36 Surf Avenue line on […]
Visit the Shore line trolley museum, in East Haven, Ct . you will see trolley poles and ride trolleys some from Brooklyn!
http://www.Shorelinetrolley.org
Weren’t those poles on City property, same as trees?
I wonder if Thor has violated some city ordinance by removing them and will go unpunished unless somebody raises a REAL ruckus?
I would like to have purchased them… too bad they are gone.