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Happy Birthday to Coney Island’s Cyclone Roller Coaster!

Posted in Amusement ride, Events, tagged anniversary, birthday, Coney Island, Cyclone, roller coaster, Switchback on June 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Cyclone Roller Coaster, View #3. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

We’re going to a birthday party today in Coney Island. The Cyclone Roller Coaster, which gave its first ride on June 26, 1927, is 82 years young. As Gerry Menditto, the operations manager for the coaster told the Daily News, “I’ve been here 34 years, and we’ve probably rebuilt this entire ride while I’ve been here. While most of the steel has been around since the beginning, the wood gets replaced regularly.” This season we started taking photos (like the one above) that highlight the architectural beauty of the National Register-listed New York City landmark.

According to the official history of the Cyclone:

Brothers Jack and Irving Rosenthal commissioned the legendary Vernan Keenan to design, and Harry C. Baker to construct, the preeminent wooden-tracked roller coaster. The design had to be exceptionally tight and steep because of the relatively small ground space that was available for the attraction. The construction of this masterpiece began on a historical site which was significant in the world of roller coasters — the Cyclone graces the place which contained the world’s very first roller coaster, LaMarcus A. Thompson’s Switchback Railway.

Thompson’s “Roller Coasting Structure,” the first coaster to be designed as a U.S. amusement ride, opened in June 1884. National Geographic is celebrating the 125th anniversary with pictures of the Switchback Railway, the Cyclone and other notable coasters.

Today’s birthday celebration begins at 11 am. On its 82nd birthday the first 100 people in line get to ride the Cyclone for free. The coaster opens at 12 noon but the line is expected to start forming early. Miss Cyclone Angie Pontani will be there to meet, greet, and dance with visitors. From 11 am to 1 pm, the Cranky DJ will spin 78rpm records on his 1923 Brunswick phonograph and 1921 Victor Victrola.

“These songs are from a very special time in the history of recorded music<” says the Michael Haar aka The Cranky DJ. Some of the selections that will be played at the Cyclone Roller Coaster’s birthday party are Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “Everybody’s Doing It” from 1911 and 1912, “The Sidewalks of New York,” singing sensations Al Jolson and Nora Bayes, and the vocal comedian Billy Murray. The party takes place at the Coney Island History Project’sexhibition center on Surf Ave under the Cyclone.

AUG. 28 UPDATE: Due to the ongoing Coney Island redevelopment hoopla, ATZ is getting more than the usual number of queries that ask: Will the Cyclone be open in 2010? The answer is YES, THE CYCLONE WILL BE OPEN IN 2010 and for many years to come. The roller coaster’s designation as an official New York City Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1988 is one of the strongest possible safeguards. The Cyclone is owned by the City, which leases it out to the Albert family (former owners of Astroland Park) to operate. The Cyclone is open daily, noon to closing, until September 7. Then it will be open weekends only through September 27.

How Sweet It Is: Wedding Party at Cyclone Roller Coaster

Posted in Amusement ride, Photo of the Day, tagged bride, Coney Island, Cyclone, roller coaster, wedding, wedding party, wedding photography on June 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The newlyweds stopped traffic on 10th Street while they kissed. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

On Saturday this bride and groom drove up in their convertible and posed for photos at Surf and West 10th against the backdrop of the Cyclone’s iconic sign. I was able to stand alongside their official photographer and take a few photos for my flickr set.

Throughout the year wedding parties come to Coney Island to take photos on the Boardwalk and in front of Coney’s landmarks. The limos often park at the bus stop on Surf in front of the Cyclone. Some of them make arrangements for a photo shoot sitting in the roller coaster’s train. Others actually go for a celebratory ride! It’s a great photo op. Contact Cyclone Coasters for details.

A bevy of bridesmaids in front of Coney Island's Cyclone Roller Coaster. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

Coney Island Ride Count: Veteran Ride Ops 40, Joe Sitt 10!

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Joe Sitt, Kiddie Park, rides, Thor Equities on June 4, 2009| 2 Comments »

The Wonder Wheel....Go Up...It's Great! Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

This post was written in 2009. For updated info, please see most recent ride census from April 2011: “Coney Island Has 64 Rides and 30 Weekends of Summer!”

* * * * *

Yesterday a teller at my bank said she thought Coney Island had been redeveloped into a flea market with just a few rides. Where’d she get that idea? Joe Sitt’s cartoonish “Festival by the Sea” subway posters. Some of the search terms being used to find ATZ have been “What rides are left at Coney Island?” and “Are the rides and games open at Coney Island?” When people hear that Astroland closed, they mistakenly think ALL of Coney’s rides have closed. I went around and did a ride count last weekend (May 30-31). The numbers may surprise you.

THE GOOD NEWS

Coney Island currently has a grand total of 50 operating rides, That’s right FIFTY RIDES. Pretty good for a place that’s rumored to have closed. Forty rides are owned and operated by longtime Coney ride ops Cyclone Coasters, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, McCullough’s Kiddie Park, 12th Street Amusements and Eldorado Skooters.

On real estate speculator Joe Sitt’s property, there are currently 10 rides of the “more than 25 fun-filled rides” promised by Thor Equities in an April 2 press release.

A carousel under construction on May 25 is one of 10 rides in Thor Equities "Dreamland Park." Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

Sitt’s pr team hasn’t said a word about rides lately, but the Coney Island Rumor Mill is abuzz with rumors of everything from coasters to kiddie rides being on the way. ATZ will keep you posted if and when more rides do arrive in Sittland East aka “Dreamland Amusement Park,” which is a work in progress.

If you want to see the full list of Coney Island’s 50 rides, Click here for the second part of my post, “What rides are open at Coney Island?”

STARTLING STATS

When you break down the current ride count, forty (40) rides are owned and operated by Coney’s veteran ride owners on land that is NOT owned by Joe Sitt or Thor Equities. Sitt is the largest property owner in Coney Island, with 80% of the land in the amusement district in Thor Equities investment portfolio. Yet two months after Coney’s opening day of the season, Sitt has mustered only ten (10) carnival rides for his so-called Dreamland Amusement Park. McCullough’s Kiddie Park, which occupies a tiny piece of land at the Bowery and 12th Street, has squeezed more rides onto their site than Joe Sitt has in all of Coney Island. The score is McCullough 12, Sitt 10. Or Veteran Showmen 40, Predatory Real Estate Speculator, 10. If this were a ball game, the showmen would win!

McCullough's Kiddie Park in Coney Island has 12 rides. Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

The “dozens of amusement rides” ballyhooed by Thor’s pr firm Knickerbocker SKD in their April 2 press release later dwindled to the promise of “25 rides and attractions” and “upwards of 25 rides”. Obviously Thor Equities picked the number “25” to say, see you’re not missing anything, we’re replacing the evicted Astroland’s old rides with an equal number of new rides.

The startling fact is that last year during Thor Equities “Summer of Hope” (May 22-June 2), Sitt had 52 rides on all of his Coney Island properties. This year, he has only 10. This means Coney Island is down 42 rides from last year during the same time period.

On Sitt’s property on the last weekend of May 2008:

52 rides including

Astroland – 24 rides (Palm Sunday- Sept 7)

Reithoffer Carnival – 18 rides (May 22-June 3)

Geren Rides – 10 rides (May 22- mid-July)

On Sitt’s property on the last weekend of May 2009:

“Dreamland Amusement Park” 10 rides

This year Thor has come up very short. Instead of spending huge amounts of money on the tents and advertising for his flopped Festival by the Flea, oops I mean Festival by the Sea, Sitt should have bought rides and set them up on the property, which is zoned for amusements. A batting range, go karts, bumper boats, mini-golf and other popular amusement attractions thrived here before Joe Sitt bought the property and bulldozed them in 2007 to deliberately create his empty lots and the opportunity for a zoning variance.

“What rides are open at Coney Island?”

Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park has 22 rides. In addition to the legendary Wonder Wheel and Spook-A-Rama dark ride, adult rides include the Thunderbolt, Bumper Cars and Tilt-A-Whirl. The Kiddie rides are the Dizzy Dragons, Mini Enterprise, Willie the Whale, Fire Engines, Pony Carts, Jets, Free Fall, Boats, Carousel, Flying Elephants, Jumping Motorcycles, Pirate’s Pond, Red Baron Airplanes, Big Foot Trucks, Rio Grande Train and Sea Serpent Roller Coaster.

Mangels Pony Cart Ride at Denos Kiddie Park, Coney Island. Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

McCullough’s Kiddie Park has 12 kiddie rides on the Bowery at 12th Street. The rides are the Bumblebeez, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Swings, Motorcycles, Yellow Submarine, Dizzy Dragons, Himalaya, Ladybug, Frog Hopper, Circus Train and Tug Boat.

Thor Equities new “Dreamland Park” (former Astroland property) has 10 rides. Adult rides are the Himalaya, Spin Out, Ring of Fire, Scrambler, Trabant and Star Dancer. Kiddie rides are the Carousel, Dragon Wagon, Kid Country and Drive In.

The world famous Cyclone Roller Coaster is a city owned landmark and continues to be operated by the Alberts, the former owners of Astroland Park (Surf Avenue at 10th St)