Long-shuttered storefronts on Thor Equities side of Jones Walk. Luna Park games on City-owned land on the Walk’s east side. June 21, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita
With Mayor Bloomberg, Councilman Domenic Recchia and other electeds responsible for the rezoning of Coney Island leaving office in 120 days, and their would-be successors campaigning for the September 10th Primary, it’s time to look at the City’s accomplishments in Coney Island and what has yet to be done. The New Coney Island. We’ll also take a look at some of the casualties as well as some of the survivors of the July 2009 rezoning. ATZ hopes to cover these topics in a series of posts over the next couple of months.
Let’s start with the Surf Avenue side of Jones Walk, the last of Coney Island’s historic walks. Before Thor, it used to be a vibrant and authentic place, a midway of midways. Now “the Walk” looks like a victim of a split personality disorder. The City-owned east side of Jones Walk, re-activated by Luna Park with cute carnival games and a few food stands, and Thor Equities-owned west side, vacant since 2009, offers a stark contrast between Coney’s largest property owners. While the City has brought in replacement amusements, Thor–whose slogan for a time was “Coney Island, Retail Ride of a Lifetime”— has gotten rid of amusements.
Luna Park’s Stinky Feet Water Race Game, Jones Walk. Coney Island. May 27, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
You’d never know from looking at it, but the building on the west corner of the Walk is Coney Island’s oldest, the circa 1880s Grashorn Building. Originally Henry Grashorn’s hardware store, the building later housed shooting galleries, arcades, and cotton candy and taffy stands. Now it’s a victim of the continuing decimation of the amusement area by Thor CEO Joe Sitt. The Grashorn building fronts Surf Avenue and extends along the west side of the walk, yet this location has remained vacant and devoid of activity for five seasons. WHY? A business owner who had leased a small stand on the Walk from Thor in 2008 told us in 2009 that the rent had tripled from $8,000 to $24,000. He declined the space and left Coney Island, never to return.
Thor Equities Vacant & Shuttered Grashorn Building. August 15, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
Since then, the Grashorn has fallen victim to squatters, blight and burst water pipes. A parade of sideshow operators and arcade owners tried but failed to lease the Jones Walk space from Thor. The only use that it has seen since we started blogging in 2009 was as a set for HBO’s Bored to Death (2011) and an office for the production company filming Men in Black 3 (2012).
Meanwhile, on the east side of the walk are carnival games, including the comical “Stinky Feet” water race, newly installed this year by Luna Park on property leased by the City to Zamperla in 2012. The city displaced independent operators with an RFP for a single operator to renovate and re-activate the property. The result was a few unsavory operators got the boot while the good guys relocated to City-owned or private property elsewhere in Coney.
We’re lucky the Grashorn Building is still standing. Unlike the Bank of Coney Island, the Surf Hotel and the Henderson Building, which Sitt demolished, the Grashorn parcel at Surf Ave and Jones Walk was not rezoned by the City for a 30-story high rise hotel. There’s also the fact that the building is just a few doors away from Luna Park’s entrance. And there’s also the fact the City owns the east side of Jones Walk. The demolition of the Grashorn would have created a desolate empty lot right next to the City’s showcase amusement park and completely killed business on the Walk.
Luna Park’s New Games on Jones Walk. Coney Island. May 27, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
In Coney Island: Lost and Found, historian Charles Denson writes that the building at 1104 Surf dates back to the 1880’s and the Grashorn hardware store served Coney Island’s amusement businesses for more than 60 years: “The clapboard façade, dormers, cast iron resting, chimneys and fish-scale shingles were removed when the building was renovated in the 1980s but the mansard roof retains its shape.”
What will be the fate of Coney Island’s historic Jones Walk and its oldest building under the next administration? Will Thor Equities’ property remain vacant? Will it be sold? Will Joe Sitt seek a zoning variance from the next administration for this property or for any of his vacant lots? To be continued…
Grashorn Building in 1969. Photo © Charles Denson via Coney Island History Project
Related posts on ATZ…
June 18, 2013: Thor’s Coney Island: Shoe Store Invades Amusement Area
December 19, 2012: Will Coney Island’s Surf Ave Become a Mecca for Franchises?
October 7, 2012: ATZ’s Big Wish List for the New Coney Island
March 3, 2010: Thor’s Coney Island: What Stillwell Looked Like Before Joe Sitt
Amusing the Zillion 
Excellent piece, Trish. I look forward to a continuation of this investigation, as it pulls the events of the past few years into a perspective visible to those seeing Coney from street level, perhaps unfamiliar with its history and wondering “what’s wrong with this place” even while enjoying what it is.
As for me, I prefer this kind of story to those about cats, with due respect to animals and those who adore them (I have three dogs, myself).
I also (as you know) am hoping we can press the next group of elected monkeys (not to mention Bullard’s heir) for a Pavilion of Fun redevelopment next to the Thunderbolt Redux.
It’s obvious from the sparse crowds I’ve seen on weekends this year that a great portion of the regulars have been going elsewhere. It’s clear, that these new “improvements” are not only diluting the Coney Island Brand, they’re killing the vibe. People talk about “The New Coney Island” and ask me if I want to see it slide back to what it was in the 70s. I don’t. What I want is for it to go back to what it was in the 90s, pre $itt’s decimating the amusement area. I want a return to an amusement area that stretches from The Cyclone to Most Consistently Underused Park. I want to see (G-d willing) new Mayor De Blasio and new Councilman Dobrin use Eminent Domain to wrest $itt’s Desolation Alley AKA Stillwell Ave between Surf and the Boardwalk from him, turn it over to a third amusement operator and fill it up with rides. I want to see the furniture stores on the north side of Surf evicted and arcades open up in their place. I want to see an enclosed amusement palace open up in the empty lot where $itt tore down the Coney Island Bank. I want to see affordable independently owned eateries open up on Surf, and I want to see The Bowery and Jones Walk live again! That should be The New Coney Island, not Times Square by the Sea. New York has a Times Square, it’s in Midtown Manhattan. This is Coney Island, Brooklyn! Let it live, breathe, jump, shout and shine again!
…and if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to see a new LED covered bridge where the late, lamented Shark Bridge once spanned Surf.
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