July | 2013 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for July, 2013

Astroland Rides Find Homes in Brooklyn, Costa Rica and Australia

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Astroland, Coney Island, water flume on July 17, 2013| 4 Comments »

Pirate Ship from Surf Avenue, Sept. 7, 2008. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo57 via flickr

Since the July 4th demolition of the Astrotower, the last remnant of Astroland in Luna Park, readers have been asking “What happened to the rest of Astroland’s rides?” and there has been speculation on the Coney Island message board.

Astroland’s rides were taken down and removed from the property by the Albert family at the end of 2008 and the majority were sold to other parks, both in the U.S and abroad. ATZ spoke with Mark Blumenthal, former operations manager of Astroland, who has overseen the sale of the rides. The biggest surprise for readers will be that Neptune’s Water Flume, which was widely assumed to have been scrapped after being disassembled, was sold to a park in South America.

Astroland’s last night, water flume ticket booth. September 7, 2008. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

The only Astroland ride currently in Coney Island is the Barbieri bumper cars with their psychedelic artwork and rainbow-trimmed pavilion. The ride was refurbished by Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park and brought back home to Coney Island in 2012 with new cars added post-Sandy. You can catch a glimpse of the ride in the “I Love New York” TV commercial about New York’s beaches in which Wonder Wheel Park is featured.

Bumper Cars at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island. May 15, 2013. Via Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park flickr

Here’s a rundown of the Astroland rides new locations, courtesy of Mark Blumenthal. He now manages Adventurer’s Park in Brooklyn, where the Astroland Teacups and Circuit 2000 have found a new home.

Dante’s Inferno, the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Scrambler are still for sale, he says, along with the Bonanza Shooting Gallery, which was next to Gregory & Paul’s on Surf Avenue.

Topspin on Astroland’s Last Night, September 7, 2008. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo57 via flickr

The Topspin relocated to Seaside Heights, New Jersey, where it survived Sandy and has since been sold to Deggeller Attractions, a traveling carnival.

The Enterprise at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights also survived Sandy but is not running this year due to damage to the pier.

The Pirate Ship and Breakdancer went to Costa Rica. The Kiddie Coaster is in Australia.

One of the Astroland stars from the Surf Avenue gate is in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The 8-foot by 7-and-a-half-foot lighted star will be on display with other space-age icons in the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center after construction is completed.

UPDATE January 20, 2015:

Remember Astroland’s Scrambler? It’s back at home in Coney Island at Deno’s! The Scrambler will be located between the Wonder Wheel and the Barbieri Bumper Cars, which also hail from Astroland and were refurbished and returned in 2012.

Coney Island 2015: Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park Adds Scrambler, ‘Twist & Shout’ Drop Tower

UPDATE January 6, 2014:

BLAST OFF! Today the Coney Island History Project announced: “In late December our proposal for the return of the Astroland Rocket was approved by the City and we’re now planning an extensive exhibit about the rocket and space-themed Coney attractions of the past. Ownership of the historic Rocket will be transferred to the History Project and the Vourderis family will provide a permanent home for it in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park.”

Astroland Bumper Car Pavilion in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island. June 21, 2013. Via Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park flickr

Rare & Vintage: Voltess, the Girl Who Defies Electricity

Posted in art, Artifacts, tagged electra, Electric Girl, Millard & Bulsterbaum, sideshow banner, Voltess on July 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

Vintage Sideshow Banner: Voltess, The Girl Who Defies Electricity circa 1930. Millard & Bulsterbaum, 2894 W 8th St. Coney Island via Urban Country

This vintage Millard and Bulsterbaum banner for “Voltess, The Girl Who Defies Electricity” was painted for Sam Wagner’s World Circus Sideshow in Coney Island. Variously known as Electra, Electricia and Voltara, the act features a girl who is said to be able to withstand high voltage and shoot sparks from her fingertips due to having been struck by lightning. The banner, which measures approximately eight by five, is offered for sale by Urban Country.

Algernon Millard and John Bulsterbaum established their Coney Island shop around 1915 at 2894 W 8th Street and were in business through the Depression. Their ads proclaimed “We Paint Banners That Get Top Money for Carnivals and Circus.” The studio was credited with introducing liberal use of orange paint and bold lines that made their banners visible from clear across the midway.

Millard and Bulsterbaum, 2894 W 8th Street, Coney Island

Music Video: Wonder Wheel by Josh Joplin

Posted in Music Video, tagged Josh Joplin, Wonder Wheel on July 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The music video for this exquisitely elegiac song by Josh Joplin was filmed in 2002, but we just now discovered it on the singer-songwriter’s YouTube channel. In addition to the landmark “Wonder Wheel” that is the song’s namesake and anchor, you’ll catch glimpses of the long vanished Zipper and Astroland and the recently demolished Playland Arcade and Astrotower. The poetic lyrics perfectly capture the mood of something irrecoverably gone. “I’m not sure exactly how I feel,” muses Joplin in this single from the album The Future That Was.

“My friends Ben Niles and Geoffrey O’Brien made this beautiful video for my song Wonder Wheel,” Joplin wrote in 2010. “Coney Island is going to change very soon as developers have bought it up and plan on demolishing much of what gives this magical place its soul. I’m so happy to have footage of it as it was when I first came there as a 13 year old kid.”