July | 2013 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for July, 2013

The World’s Largest Traveling Bonanza Shooting Gallery

Posted in Amusement Game, tagged Bonanza Shooting Gallery, Erie County Fair, fair season, Matt Gallapoo, New York State Fair, Orange County Fair, shooting gallery, State Fair Meadowlands on July 22, 2013| 3 Comments »

Bonanza Shooting Gallery, State Fair Meadowlands, New Jersey. June 23, 2013. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

When we came across this wonderful, old-timey Bonanza Shooting Gallery on the midway at the June 17-July 7 NJ State Fair Meadowlands, our first question was — can we photograph it without triggering all the targets? Vintage Bonanza galleries used photocell sensors activated by a bright light source, usually from the rifles. That’s why there were multiple signs saying “No Photography” at the one in Coney Island’s Astroland, which is by the way up for sale. The attendant at the Bonanza Shooting Gallery at the Meadowlands Fair said, “Take all the pictures you want.” Since their rifles got a redo, they no longer have a problem with the targets going off when folks snap photos.

“The rifle shoots an infrared beam of light instead of flashing light,” Bonanza Gallery owner Matt Gallapoo said in an interview with ATZ. “It feels like a shotgun, but the sound is digital.” The Ohioan, whose family has been in the amusement business since the early 20th century, brings the Bonanza Shooting Gallery to the Orange County Fair in Middletown, NY (July 12-July 28, 2013), Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY (August 7-18, 2013), New York State Fair (August 22- September 2, 2013), Florida State Fair (February 6-17, 2014) and other big fairs.

Bonanza Shooting Gallery, State Fair Meadowlands, New Jersey. June 23, 2013. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

Manufactured by Taylor Engineering, Bonanza Shooting Galleries first debuted in 1958 and this one was built for his father in 1976. Gallapoo had the family heirloom refurbished in 2010 after acquiring it at a sheriff’s auction where it ended up after having been neglected by an ex-brother-in-law. The largest traveling shooting gallery of its kind has approximately 26 guns and 100 original interactive targets including a piano player and cigar store Indian. The gallery is housed in a 60-foot wide by 32-foot deep tent.

“My mother was born into the business. She was one of the original Otterbacher kids,” says Gallapoo whose family takes credit for pioneering such carnival games as the bottle-up and the softball in the milkcan and giving away live rabbits as prizes in the 1980s. He still has food concessions at some of the spots on their route including the August 23-25 Wine and Walleye Fest in Ashtabula, Ohio, where they will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most portions of fish and chips sold.

Bonanza Shooting Gallery, State Fair Meadowlands, New Jersey. June 23, 2013. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

Futuristic 3-D Portrait Studio Debuts in Coney Island

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 3-D portrait, 3-D printing, Coney Island, Coney Island Scan-A-Rama, Fred Kahl, Kickstarter, photo studio on July 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

Photo Tent on Coney Island Beach, 1890s. Library of Congress

Ever since the 19th century, beachside and sidewalk photo studios have offered tourists a chance to memorialize their visit to Coney Island’s fabled shore. Now sideshow performer and tech genius Fred Kahl is turning the time-honored souvenir photo into a 21st century art form with his 3-D scanning portrait studio. After launching a Kickstarter project to raise $15,000 to fund the venture, Kahl opened the tiny studio in a former fortune teller’s booth at 1208 Surf Avenue next to the Coney Island Sideshow. The Coney Island Scan-A-Rama is open Saturdays from 12 noon till 7:00 PM.

Coney Island Scan-A-Rama, 3-D Portraits by Fred Kahl

“The vision is to create the world’s first affordable 3D printing portrait studio,” Kahl writes on his Kickstarter page. “As a backer, you will get your very own personal 3D action figure or family portrait!” Getting scanned takes only a minute, though one is required to stand very still on a slowly revolving platform as shown in this video. With Kahl’s custom hardware and workflow, printing the 3-D figurine can take 4-7 hours, depending on volume and complexity. Figurines of 2-3 people take longer, he says. Duplicates of the 3-D portraits will be featured in a populated scale model of 1914 Luna Park to be exhibited at Coney Island USA in 2014. Some of the 3-D towers and minarets can be glimpsed in the background of the photo below.

Coney Island Scan-A-Rama, 3-D Portraits by Fred Kahl

“Coney Island has always been the place where cutting edge technology is presented as entertainment. Inventions like the elevator, electric light bulb, hot dog and the rollercoaster found their first audiences here,” says Kahl. “I wanted to update the art of amusement park portraiture for the 21st century. In the past you would have had a caricature drawn, silhouette cut or a photo taken. Well, that technology has barely changed in 100 years… Until now!”

Here’s a time lapse video showing the printing process of the 3D portrait of burlesque performer Kat Mon Dieu at the Coney Island Scan-A-Rama…

The Kickstarter campaign has raised nearly one-third of the $15,000 goal with contributions ranging from $5 to $220, but Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing funding model. The full amount must be pledged by August 8 for the project to be funded. A pledge of $50 will get you a 3-D figurine of one of a dozen Coney Island celebrities. For $60, you’ll receive a 3-D custom portrait of yourself. A group of 2-3 people can get a 3-D portrait for a pledge of $100 or more. “I am also planning to add a new reward this week,” says Kahl. “A model of the Luna Park tower!”

Visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fredini/coney-island-scan-a-rama for more info and updates.

Update: Fred Kahl’s Scan-O-Rama 3D portrait studio will be open most Saturdays from 12-5pm through December 21, 2013 at Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Avenue.

Coney Island Scan-A-Rama, 3-D Portraits by Fred Kahl

Photo of the Day: Dragonflies Swarm Coney Island

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Brooklyn, Brooklyn Beach Shop, Coney Island Boardwalk, dragonflies, dragonfly, Maya Haddad Miller, swarm of dragonflies on July 17, 2013| 5 Comments »

Dragonfly Visits Brooklyn Beach Shop, Coney Island Boardwalk. July 16, 2013. Photo © Maya Haddad Miller/Brooklyn Beach Shop

“We don’t know anything about what the dragonflies do when they get in the vicinity of the city,” says Michael L. May, a professor of entomology at Rutgers University in an article in the New Yorker. Now we do, they like to shop for beach gear in Coney Island.

On Tuesday, we received an email from Maya Haddad Miller of Brooklyn Beach Shop on the Coney Island Boardwalk: “Is this an annual thing? Hundreds of dragonflies show up around the same time each year? When I arrived this morning, it looked like over a hundred of them were swarming the boardwalk. I had a few in the shop from the night before. They fly in and out all day. I had a about five in the shop at the same time. I’m thinking its cause of the heat.”

Is Coney Island on the dragonflies’ migratory path or are they simply coming out to the beach to beat the heat like everyone else? A web search turned up a tweet from last year around this time that said, “Omg Coney Island is swamped with dragonflies – Williamsburg Night at the Cyclones game…” And also led us to Backyard and Beyond’s lovely photos of “Weekend Dragonflies” in Brooklyn Bridge Park two days ago. It’s definitely dragonfly time in Brooklyn