May | 2012 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for May, 2012

Photo of the Day: A Sea of Runners in Coney Island

Posted in Events, Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Brooklyn, Brooklyn Half Marathon, Bruce Handy, local, marathon, road race, running, sports on May 21, 2012| 2 Comments »

After the Half Marathon, Stillwell and Surf, Coney Island. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Nope, this is not the warm up for Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, though it’s the same corner. Stillwell Avenue was a sea of runners after Saturday’s Brooklyn Half Marathon, which is turning into a huge crowd-pleaser for Coney Island. New York Road Runners called it “The Race to the World’s Most Famous Hot Dog.”

More than 14,000 runners finished out of the 15,000 who registered, compared to last year’s tally of just under 6,000. The reconfigured 13.1 mile course took them through Grand Army Plaza, around Prospect Park, down Ocean Parkway, and along the Coney Island Boardwalk to a finish line just shy of the Scream Zone.

Our favorite tweet about the Brooklyn Half came from the venerable New York Athletic Club:

Guess which Coney Island event is televised. 14,000 people completing a half marathon or 10 people downing 300 hot dogs? #joeychestnutftw!
— NYAC Track and Field (@NYACTrack_Field) May 20, 2012

If that other borough’s half marathon, the one that starts in Central Park and ends at South Street Seaport, got two hours of live television coverage for the first time this year, why not Brooklyn’s? Here’s photographer Bruce Handy’s slide show of the race, from the construction of the finish line outside Ruby’s Bar to the runners arriving in Coney Island and sprinting past the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel to victory.

Paul’s Daughter & Ruby’s Bar Reopen on Saturday, Restored Signs to Return!

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, tagged Coney Island, local, Paul's Daughter, restaurant, Ruby's Bar, vernacular signage on May 19, 2012| 4 Comments »

Clam Bar: Original Signage Restored and Set to Return to Paul’s Daughter, Coney Island. © Paul’s Daughter

On Saturday, May 19, you’ll find us in Coney Island enjoying the first plate of clams and a beer at Paul’s Daughter and raising the first toast of the season at Ruby’s Bar. After attending several “Last Call” protest parties at Ruby’s and lingering over more than one “Last French Fry” at Paul’s, there’s no place we’d rather be. The two Mom & Pops will open for the 2012 season this weekend after months of renovations and missing Coney Island’s Opening Day on April 1st. Both businesses were required to do gut rehabs of their Boardwalk establishments after dodging eviction and winning eight-year leases from Zamperla, the landlord of the City-owned Boardwalk

Paul’s Daughter on Last Night of Business in 2011. October 30, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

“It took time to be that iconic and it’s going to take time to put some of it back,” Paul’s daughter Tina Georgoulakos told ATZ about the work in progress at her store. The family business was co-founded 50 years ago by her father Paul Georgoulakos, now 83, and Gregory Bitetzakis on the Coney Island Boardwalk as Gregory & Paul’s. Saturday will be the soft opening of the new Paul’s Daughter, with the grand opening scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend. Some work remains to be done in the kitchen, which will be finished and inspected next week. This weekend’s bill of fare will be limited to clams on the half-shell, Brooklyn craft beer and soda. “It’s a brand new place with the same people,” said Tina.

Lollypops, Crackerjacks and French Fries: Original Signage Restored and Set to Return to Paul’s Daughter, Coney Island. © Paul’s Daughter

While the new lighted signs and striped awnings mandated for the Boardwalk stores have yet to go up at Ruby’s or Paul’s, the good news is that some of the quirky vernacular signage that gave both places such character will return after all! At Paul’s Daughter, the original signs will be be put up on Monday or Tuesday, said Tina, who sent us these photos of a few of the restored signs. Back in November, when lease negotiations were in progress, it was heartbreaking to see the cavalcade of beloved characters and foods torn from their home on the Boardwalk building’s facade: Mr Shrimp, Chiefito and Chiefita (the Nice N Sweet/Fluffy Cotton Candy Kids), Shish Kebab (“Made with Love”) and other enticements. Some of the signage has been here since the restaurant’s earliest days and was meticulously restored a couple of years ago.

The rendering for the new store released in November showed the spruced up Burger statues on the roof (where they have remained throughout this saga) and what appeared to be new hand-painted signs in the spirit of the original along the bottom. At the time Tina told us she doubted whether the age and fragile condition of the signs would allow her to return them to the building’s exterior. The happy solution was to have the thin metal signs mounted on a wood backing.

Cold Beers Sodas: Original Signage Restored and Set to Return to Paul’s Daughter, Coney Island. © Paul’s Daughter

The announcement of Ruby’s Saturday opening was posted on their Facebook page yesterday: “WHEW! After months of construction….Ruby’s will be open Tomorrow!!! Look forward to seeing everyone.” The bar, newly trimmed with ipe wood salvaged from the Boardwalk redo, will be open, of course. The menu, still a work in progress, will include hot dogs, hamburgers and knishes. French fries are yet to come.

As we previously reported, the vernacular signage touting Hot Corn, Fried Shrimp and Shish-Ka-Bob have survived and are alive and on the inside at Ruby’s Bar and Grill. The charmingly hand-painted food and lettering surrounding the grill got a touch up and has been trimmed with recycled wood from the Boardwalk. The plastic tabletops have also been replaced with Boardwalk wood. See you there!

Last Call Protest Party at Ruby’s Bar, Coney Island Boardwalk, November 6, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Rare & Vintage: Pinto Bros. Pony Cart from Coney Island

Posted in Amusement ride, Artifacts, Auction, tagged Coney Island, kiddie ride, Pinto Brothers, Pony Cart, ride manufacturer on May 18, 2012| 2 Comments »

Pinto Bros. Pony Cart, Image Courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio

This charming cast iron pony and wood cart manufactured in Coney Island, New York, by the Pinto Brothers is up for auction on May 19 at Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. Two bids have already been placed online via liveauctioneers. The Pinto Brothers were kiddie ride manufacturers in Coney Island during the 1940s and ’50s. Like their better known contemporary William F Mangels, who also manufactured a popular pony cart ride, the Pinto family had a factory on West 8th Street. Pinto rides turn up less frequently than Mangels, which makes this piece of Coney Island memorabilia desirable despite– or perhaps because of?– its condition: “Unrestored, horse repainted, paint loss to cart, wooden slats of cart damaged with age.”

The owner found the piece at an antique mall in Lexington, Kentucky, where its name plate and Coney Island provenance went unnoticed: Pinto Bros Mfg. Amusement Devices, Coney Island, NY, USA. Among the kiddie rides that they manufactured and advertised for sale were a carousel, ferris wheel, rocket, roller coaster, miniature trains, sail boats, fire engine and pony carts.

In June 1948, the Billboard reported that Pinto Bros three new kiddie pony and cart rides built in their shop at 2940 West 8th Street were featured at Feltman’s park, in McCullough’s lot adjoining the Dangler on West 15th and Surf, and in Asbury Park. The brothers Albert and Silvio, along with their cousin Henry and father Silvio Sr., also operated a variety of other rides in Coney Island, including a Mangels Whip, a Scrambler, and the Tornado roller coaster and Spook House.

When the widening of the street for the New York Aquarium construction swallowed up their shop in 1954, they continued to manufacture ride parts for customers and operate rides. In 1959, the Pinto family bought the Cyclone roller coaster, which they operated before selling it to the City a decade later. According to a post with reminiscences of the Pinto Brothers on the Coney Island History Project’s blog “Ask Mr. Coney Island,” a pony and cart was restored at the Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky, Ohio.