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Amid Demolitions & Evictions in Coney Island, City Landmarks Shore Theater

Posted in historic preservation, tagged Coney Island, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Shore Theater on December 14, 2010| 5 Comments »

The Shore Theater, formerly the Loew's Coney Island, is up for City landmark designation. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Shore Theater, formerly the Loews Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

On December 14, the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will designate the Shore Theater an official New York City Landmark, according to the website of the Municipal Art Society. We applaud the landmarking, which is long overdue. The designation will help rescue the building, which has been vacant and neglected for 35 years. But the timing of the announcement, just as the demolitions and evictions of much of old Coney Island are in the news, including the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, strikes us as a little too coincidental. It’s as if the City is saying, hey look over here, we’re saving Coney Island!

Five years ago, the 1925 Shore Theater, formerly the Loew’s Coney Island, and five other historic buildings were nominated for New York City landmark designation by Coney Island USA. But the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission dragged its feet and would not calendar any of the buildings until February 2010, months after Coney Island had been rezoned. Of the nominated buildings, only two–the Childs Restaurant (owned by CIUSA) and the Shore Theater (owned by Horace Bullard)– were considered worthy of landmark designation. The Shore Hotel was demolished on Friday and the Henderson Building is next on Thor Equities hit list. The doomed buildings were on parcels rezoned for high rise hotels.

As for the Shore Theater, we would not be surprised if the City ended up acquiring the building. At the Community Board’s public hearing on the Coney Island rezoning, there was a proposal to revive the Shore as a community center. When the LPC held a public hearing on the landmark designation in March 2010, ATZ noted…

The Shore’s history as a year-round entertainment venue fits in with the Bloomberg administration’s long-term plan to revitalize Coney Island as a year-round destination.

Sources tell ATZ that the City has been trying to buy Bullard’s Coney Island properties or negotiate a land swap. We have also heard rumors of a “blight” taking of the Shore Theater based on the fact that the property owner has done nothing with the building for 25 years. In fact, the Shore has been vacant for over 35 years! Bullard’s acrimonious relationship with the City dates back to the Giuliani administration, when the Mayor killed his plans to build a new Steeplechase Park and illegally demolished the Thunderbolt roller coaster.

The day before the LPC’s calendaring of the Shore Theater in February, Bullard was served with a violation from the Department of Buildings. The caps are the DOB’s: “FAILURE TO FILE AN ACCEPTABLE SIXTH ROUND TECHNICAL FACADE REPORT.” Cycle 6 ended February 20, 2010. Chunks of the facade are falling off.

If the building is landmarked, Demolition by Neglect laws could come into play. The New York City demolition by neglect ordinance states, “every [owner] of a landmark site or historic district shall keep in good repair (1) all of the exterior portions of such improvement and (2) all interior portions thereof which, if not so maintained, may cause or tend to cause the exterior portions of such improvement to deteriorate, decay or become damaged or otherwise to fell into a state of disrepair.” NEW YORK, N.Y., CODE § 25-311 (2001).

Last year, in a precedent setting lawsuit, the City was awarded $1.1 million in civil penalties and gave the owners of the landmarked Windermere apartments a choice of fixing the property or selling it. “This settlement sends a message to owners of landmarked buildings that they must keep them in a state of good repair,” said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in a New York City Law Department press release about the case. “Buildings like the Windermere are an indispensable part of New York City’s architectural heritage and must be preserved for future generations.”

Coney Island Theatre Building. Photo © katherine of chicago via flickr

Goodbye (Or Maybe Not?) to My Coney Island Equivalent of Proust’s Madeleine

Posted in historic preservation, Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island Boardwalk, cotton candy, french fries, Gregory & Paul's, Paul's Daughter on November 21, 2010| 5 Comments »

Thank you to Paul Georgoulakos and his family and staff for more than 40 years of service to Coney Island. Here’s our slide show from November 13th’s “Thank You Coney Island! We Love You” party along with additional images.

Writing about the closing of Paul’s Daughter, formerly known as Gregory & Paul’s, is so overwhelmingly sad that we keep postponing it. We keep hoping the Coney Island Rumor Mill has it right this time and the rumors that some or all of the evicted Boardwalk businesses will get one to three year leases from Luna Park turn out to be more than wishful thinking. The legal wrangling begins in court on Monday.

Paul Georgoulakos behind the counter on Paul's Daughter's last day. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The evicted business owners and their attorney will be rallying on the Boardwalk on Monday at 2 pm. A politician is expected to show up. We can’t say the pol’s name, but considering the absolute silence from officials since November 1st’s Monday Morning Massacre, a politician’s support would be news. UPDATE... ATZ learned that the event previously described to us as a “rally” and which we were unable to attend was actually a meeting on the Boardwalk in front of the Grill House. In attendance were the business owners, their attorney and a politician, as well as the press and bystanders. The pol was State Senator Carl Kruger, who said “Coney Island should be evolution not revolution” and promised to fight for their cause. Watch News 12 Brooklyn at 5 pm for a report and check Rich Calder’s blog in the NY Post.

When Mayor Bloomberg visited Coney Island this season, we’re told that he posed for a photo with 81-year- old Paul Georgoulakos. If somebody would send us the photo, we’ll gladly post it with an appropriate caption: @MikeBloomberg: Please show respect for Coney Island’s elders & renew Boardwalk leases. In the meantime, call 311 or 212-NEW YORK outside of NYC and leave a comment for the Mayor.

The Best French Fries in Coney Island. Paul's Daughter on the Boardwalk. November 13, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Paul’s hand-cut french fries are the best in all of Coney Island–yes, better than Nathan’s! Our fondess for G & P’s fries is linked in our memory to Gregory’s appearance in the lede of our travel feature for Islands Magazine in 2000. Color photos of Coney’s characteristic “Shish-Kabob Hot Dog French Fries” signage were splashed across the pages along with pix of the Wonder Wheel and the Mermaid Parade. “Greetings from Coney Island!” was published in the Best Beaches Issue along with Thailand, Greece, Kauai, Puerto Rico and Bermuda! A sticker proudly proclaiming “Coney Island NYC” appeared on the cover of issues for sale in New York.

Here’s the beginning of the story…

Last summer in Coney Island, I discovered that a freshly-spun cotton candy from Gregory and Paul’s was my equivalent of Proust’s madeleine. I was waiting for my order of crinkle-cut, Coney Island-style french fries, when the sight of cotton candy being turned out by a deft hand caught my eye. One, two, three twirls round a paper cone — and it was done. But instead of handing the confection to the fellow who was putting the finished products into clear plastic bags, Gregory handed it to me.

“How did you know I wanted one?” I was incredulous.

“I could see it in your face,” the canny showman explained.

He was right. Though it never would have occurred to me to eat cotton candy as an appetizer to french fries, that’s exactly what I did at Coney Island that day. And blissfully. The moment the magical stuff began to melt on my tongue, I was transported back to the little New England carnivals of the 1950s and ’60s, when I was a carny kid who had the run of the midway, and “floss,” as we called it—along with french fries, hot dogs, popcorn and snowcones — was everyday fare.

Cotton Candy, Saltwater Taffy and Hand-painted Signs at Paul's Daughter. November 6, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

When the magazine came out in December 2000, Coney was on the cusp of a renaissance. Now it’s come to this: out with the old-timers and the quintessential Coney Island eateries and every little bit of authenticity. Why can’t old and new co-exist in the new Coney Island?

Last French Fry. Paul's Daughter 'Thank You Coney Island" Party. November 13, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Joe Sitt’s Gang Punches Holes in Bank of Coney Island Building

Posted in historic preservation, Photography, Redevelopment, tagged Bank of Coney Island, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, demolition, Eric Kowalsky, Joe Sitt, Thor Equities on October 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Joe Sitt's Demolition Crew Punched Holes in the Bank of Coney Island's south wall. October 18, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

On Monday at 2 pm, “Mayor” Dick Zigun sounded the alarm on the Coney Island Message Board: “They have just started to punch holes in the Bank of Coney Island building’s south wall, facing the Bowery. The holes are being punched out from the inside via drills and jack hammers. Earlier today they erected scaffolding along the north and east facades.”

Bank of Coney Island Demolition. October 18, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Coney Island photographers Eric Kowalsky and Bruce Handy have been documenting the demolition for the past two days. They’re made of strong stuff. We’ve put off posting the images because it was painful to see this 87-year-old building having holes– first two and three, and now eleven– punched through its walls. We know a building is not a human being, but this is torture. The building looks as if it faced a firing squad and is a dead man standing.

Bank of Coney Island Demolition. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

A poster on the Coney Island board claims that the holes are for shoring up the upper part of brick wall while they build the scaffolding from the inside, so as not to disturb what’s left of the fire-damaged arcade next door. But the bank building was built to last and isn’t going to come down easily. On the first and second day of Joe Sitt’s 40 Days of Demolition, the worst is yet to come.

ATZ promised to live-tweet the demo to keep Sitt’s ongoing desecration of Coney Island in the public eye. But we have no idea how we’re going to weather the ordeal if the first two holes in a wall look like wounds to us. If we could have picked one building to save, the Bank of Coney Island would have been the one. For more info, read “A Rare Peek Inside Endangered Old Bank of Coney Island,” (ATZ, October 9, 2009).