Photography | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Photo of the Day: Ruby’s Old Tyme Bar by Kenny Lombardi

Posted in Food & Drink, Photo of the Day, Photography, Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island Boardwalk, Countdown to Corporatization, Kenny Lombardi, Ruby's Bar on October 9, 2011| 4 Comments »

Ruby’s Bar was closed on Saturday for Yom Kippur, but they’re open today and every day at 11 am till the end of October. Last fall, there were a slew of “last call” parties at Ruby’s, but sadly this year’s goodbye party on October 29th really is goodbye. The fact that Ruby’s merited a Critics’ Picks in New York Magazine and was voted one of the World’s 21 Sexiest Beach Bars by the Travel Channel means nothing to people bent on gentrifying and corporatizing the Boardwalk. As we wrote yesterday, the one-year reprieve is over for the Boardwalk Mom-and-Pops who were first served “surrender the premises” notices by Zamperla’s Central Amusement International last November.

Seven businesses–Ruby’s Bar, Paul’s Daughter, Cha Cha’s, Gyro Corner, Steve’s Grill House, Beer Island and the Suh family’s Coney Island Souvenir Shop– must vacate their City-owned storefronts by November 4, 2011 as per the terms of the one-year lease extension.

ATZ is saying goodbye to old friends with a favorite photo a day from October 8 through November 4. Click the tag “Countdown to Corporatization” to find all of the photos. Thanks to Kenny Lombardi–KeneL9999 on flickr– who frequently photographs Coney Island and its denizens, for this timeless photo of Ruby’s Old Tyme Bar and Grill.

UPDATE October 27, 2011, 11:40 am

Ruby’s “Final Closing Party” was changed to Sunday, October 30, due to weather forecast for Saturday. Same time–11am till ??–same place. Check Ruby’s Facebook page for updates.

Lucille Fornasieri Gold’s Coney Island Photos from the 1970s

Posted in Photography, tagged 1970s, Chelsea Market, Coney Island, exhibition, Lucille Fornasieri-Gold on October 2, 2011| 3 Comments »

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Two Dog Taffy, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

Passing through Chelsea Market last week, I happened to see the above photo of dogs napping in front of a Salt Water Taffy sign in 1970s Coney Island. Don’t know the dogs, but Philips Candy’s storefront is instantly recognizable and a delicious trip back in time for anyone who came and went to Coney via the old Stillwell Terminal. The image is part of “Shores of New York,” an exhibit of Lucille Fornasieri-Gold’s photographs of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, the Rockaways and other local seaside places in the 1970s and ’80s.

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Eating Under Handwriting, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

Lucille Fornasieri-Gold’s Coney Island subjects include ticket sellers, musclemen, members of the Polar Bear Club and people hanging out in their favorite spot by the sea. The images also afford a glimpse of vanished attractions like the candy shop and a funhouse. “While I didn’t intend to document New York City, they allow us a comparison to today,” says the photographer, who is now 80.

Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Fornasieri-Gold was first exposed to art through her father, a professor of architectural sculpture, according to her bio. “With the birth of her last child in 1969, she received her first camera and took pictures intensely for a ten-year period. In 2002 she retired to work only on her photography. She shoots frequently, and processes her negatives digitally.” Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Public Library.

Shores of New York at Chelsea Market: Funhouse, Coney Island 1970s by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold. Installation photo by Amusing the Zillion

“Shores of New York,” Photographs by Lucille Foransieri-Gold, on view through ~~mid-October~~ October 6, 2011 at Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets, New York, NY 10011. Doors to the market are open Mon-Sat from 7am to 10pm, and Sun from 10am-8pm.

Photography: Floating Above the Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Events, Photography, tagged ClampArt, Coney Island, New York City, Stephen Wilkes on September 7, 2011| 4 Comments »

Coney Island Boardwalk, Day to Night. Photo © Stephen Wilkes. Click on image for larger view

On a sunny Saturday in July, we noticed a photographer with a large format camera perched in a cherry picker above the Boardwalk at West 12th Street. The Coney Island Rumor Mill had no idea what the photo shoot was for, but it was an unusual sight and we snapped a few photos. Our first guess was that Google had sent someone to do panoramic photos of Coney Island, but as the hours went by it became clear he was shooting from a fixed perspective all day and into the night.

Yesterday we realized the mystery photographer was Stephen Wilkes after coming across his stunning “Day to Night” photo of Coney Island’s beach, boardwalk and amusement rides. “That was indeed me in the cherry picker on July 16th,” wrote Wilkes in an email. “A perfect Saturday on Coney Island.”

Wilkes says that he photographs a scene continuously for up to 15 hours. “A select group of images are then digitally blended into one photograph, capturing the changing of time in a single frame.” In regard to the Coney Island photo, Wilkes told ATZ: “We will be launching a really cool time lapse video from that particular shoot, which will also be in the gallery exhibition.” The “Day to Night” series includes images of Times Square, the High Line and Central Park, among others, and will be on view at ClampArt Gallery in Chelsea from September 8 through October 29.

In an interview with Jen Doll in the Village Voice, Wilkes said his favorite photo of the series is the one of Coney Island:

The perspective is from floating above the boardwalk. The amusement park is night, the beach is day, and it’s full of activity. The level of detail — I’m working with a large-format camera, and it’s exciting that people can see the detail online, but in person, you can see it 60 inches big, and the photos look like windows, and you can actually see into people’s windows…

“Stephen Wilkes: Day to Night,” September 8-October 29, 2011. ClampArt, 521-531 West 25th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10001, 646-230-0020. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11-6. Opening reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-8pm