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Ruins of Coney Island’s Beer Island & Ghost of Hey Joey!

Posted in Food & Drink, Redevelopment, tagged Anthony Berlingieri, Beer Island, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, Shoot the Freak, small business on November 6, 2011| 13 Comments »

The End of Beer Island. November 6, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy’s Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

Coney Island’s Beer Island is no more. The popular bar that sold a wide variety of beer on a sandy beach adjacent to the Boardwalk was trashed yesterday as you can see in the above photo. ATZ called Anthony Berlingieri, the bar’s co-owner, to ask what happened. “I wouldn’t say it’s trashed, it’s scrapped,” he said of the bar. “I told people, take whatever you want.” On Saturday and Sunday treasure hunters were combing through the ruins, picking up signs, plastic trophies and other souvenirs. The bar was one of the Boardwalk businesses evicted from City-owned property that had until November 4th to vacate the premises.

“The last thing I wanted to see was them use that bar that I built with my own hands,” said Berlingieri, who believes that Zamperla USA, the company that leases the City’s property in Coney Island is “looking to copy it and not give me a chance to run it. They would not even sit down to talk with me.”

After hearing the news that fellow evictees Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter were offered leases when a Miami restaurateur suddenly pulled out of a deal to develop the Boardwalk, Berlingieri phoned to pitch his proposal. But he says Valerio Ferrari, president of Zamperla, replied that it was time for him to move on. “If he would have said it in front of me, you would have read about it in the paper,” says Berlingieri, noting that he and his partner offered to pay for a redo of Beer Island, conforming in every detail to Ferrari’s “vision.” “I told him, just send me the blueprints. We will go partners, 50-50, on the gross. Not a dollar out of your pocket.”

Beer Island was launched in partnership with the owner of Cha Cha’s and a local arcade in 2008 on the site of the miniature golf course evicted by Thor Equities. When ATZ wrote about the bar last month in “Butterflies and Beer Island,” we discovered some reviews on Yelp that entertainingly convey its appeal. More than a decade ago, Berlingieri created another original, Shoot the Freak, which was evicted last year to make way for the new Scream Zone entrance. At the time of last year’s evictions, Zamperla issued a statement saying “We look forward to creating an incredible new experience on the boardwalk, while continuing to honor Coney Island’s magnificent past.”

“We kept Coney Island a place people came to all these years,” says Berlingieri. “The City gave it to a bunch of people who never stepped foot in Coney Island.” He is bitter that Zamperla pays only $100,000 rent and a small percentage of receipts for all of the City property they lease in Coney Island. Each of the Boardwalk businesses has been paying $100,000 per year rent, plus a $10,000 surcharge initiated this year. “Where do we go? It’s like a death sentence,” he says. “It’s not like there’s twenty amusement parks to move to. You’ve heard of the American Dream. It doesn’t apply in New York.”

The End of Beer Island. November 6, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy’s Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

The current tally is 7 out of the 11 businesses that were Hy Singer’s or Astroland’s and then Thor Equities tenants before the Boardwalk property was bought by the City of New York in 2009 are now goners–closed, moved, put out of business. Four businesses closed and moved out by the deadline of November 4th: Beer Island, Cha Cha’s, Gyro Corner Clam Bar and Coney Island Souvenir Shop. Steve’s Grill House has to move out within ten days. In addition, John’s Deli, which subleased from Steve’s, and Maritza’s Souvenir Shop (formerly in the now-demolished Henderson Building) on the Stillwell side of Cha Cha’s had to move out. Pio Pio Riko did not join the Coney Island 8 in contesting last year’s evictions and its location became the site of Coney Cones. Four Boardwalk businesses were invited back, but lease deals cannot be confirmed: Nathan’s, Lola Star Boutique, Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter. Some deals are still being negotiated and could go either way, according to the Coney Island Rumor Mill.

Asked if he planned to relocate his two businesses, Berlingieri said Beer Island is over because Zamperla plans to copy it. As for Shoot the Freak, he would reopen it if he could get a lease that wasn’t year to year. “I took two empty lots and turned them into the coolest things in Coney Island –Shoot the Freak and Beer Island. I can’t build it and not see it stay.”

Another casualty of the eviction of the Boardwalk businesses is the L.A. based Gents of Desire’s famed mural “Hey Joey!” A couple of days ago, Hey Joey’s face and plate of clams were scraped off and made into ghost signage by persons unknown. We expect that this sad but apt transformation will make it less painful when the mural is inevitably painted over to make way for the new. Many thanks to photographer Bruce Handy for these photos from his Coney Island Photo Diary.

The Ghost of the Famed Hey Joey!. November 6, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy’s Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

Scoop: Randazzo’s Clam Bar Eyeing Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Food, Redevelopment, tagged Brooklyn, Clam Bar, Coney Island, news, restaurants on November 3, 2011| 7 Comments »

Last week, the buzz in Coney Island was that the folks from Randazzo’s Clam Bar, a landmark in Sheepshead Bay, were seen eyeing Cha Cha’s location on the Boardwalk. Coincidentally, “randazzosclambk” joined twitter and began following ATZ. The twitter page proclaims: “Randazzo’s is king of clams and lobster, shrimp and calamari, too!!! But it is most certainly all about grandma Helen Randazzo’s HOT or MEDIUM sauce!!!” Our appetite was piqued.

ATZ phoned Randazzo’s to ask if the rumor was true that they have plans to open a restaurant on the Coney Island Boardwalk. “It’s a possibility. We’re trying to,” said Joey Randazzo, son of Paul Randazzo, who is the star of the “Art of Opening a Clam” video on the New York Times website. Their family-owned and operated restaurant began in 1908 and is a perennial “Best” among New York City seafood restaurants. “We’re still trying to work out negotiations,” Joey Randazzo told ATZ. “There’s a committee that evaluates you. You have to be approved.”

Hmmm, well, we approve of their menu and their South Brooklyn cred. Randazzo’s has the potential to be a destination restaurant in Coney Island. We wish them the best of luck negotiating with Valerio Ferrari’s Vision for the Boardwalk Committee. As Ruby’s fan Bogframe writes on the Coney Island Message Board, “every time Valerio Ferrari says ‘vision,’ something valuable dies.” Last year at this time, Ferrari, CEO of Zamperla USA and Luna Park, told ATZ that the evicted Boardwalk Mom & Pops “didn’t have the vision that we have for the Boardwalk.” An investment of $1.4 million was being made by Sodexo in a new restaurant at the corner of Surf and 10th Street, formerly occupied by Gregory & Paul’s. He said that a Boardwalk restaurant/bar hoping to get a lease renewal would have had to make a million dollar investment as well.

ATZ asked Joey Randazzo if they were contemplating a $1 million investment at Cha Cha’s location. He said it could be half a million or a million, they’re not sure yet. As for the “randazzosclambk” twitter account, it stopped tweeting almost as soon as it started and Joey Randazzo says it’s not theirs.

The opportunity for Randazzo’s and others who are eyeing the Boardwalk opened up after a Miami restaurateur pulled out of a $5 million dollar deal to open four upscale eateries on the Boardwalk between Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street. Unlike Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter, Cha Cha’s was not offered a new lease by Zamperla USA, which has a ten-year deal to develop the City-owned Boardwalk property purchased from Thor Equities in 2009.

Cha Cha’s last call was on Sunday and some of their restaurant equipment, furnishings and memorabilia was auctioned on Tuesday. Club owner John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia, an actor in The Sopranos who also owns a restaurant in Little Italy, has been looking at other locations in Coney Island, including Surf Avenue and the Bowery. As the saying goes in Coney Island, once you’ve got sand in your shoes, you can’t get it out.

UPDATE December 12, 2011…Tom’s Restaurant, a popular family-owned Prospect Heights eatery founded in 1936, edged out Randazzo’s for the space formerly occupied by Cha Cha’s and Nathan’s. Tom’s of Coney Island expects to open in April 2012. For a sneak peek at the Boardwalk line-up for 2012, see “Coney Island 2012: What’s New on the Boardwalk” (ATZ, Nov. 15, 2011).

Live from Coney Island! Wanna Buy a Chair from Ruby’s Bar?

Posted in Auction, Redevelopment, tagged Cha-Cha's, Coney Island Souvenir Shop, Ruby's Bar on November 1, 2011| 1 Comment »

Live from the Coney Island Boardwalk! Items Set to be Auctioned today at Ruby's Bar. November 1, 2011. Photo © Charles Denson

If you can get out to the Coney Island Boardwalk in the next hour or two (it’s 3:30 now), you can bid on an authentic chair from Ruby’s Bar and Grill! Chairs and tables along with a slew of old restaurant equipment are piled up in front of the venerable Boardwalk establishment, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. The bar is also open for business in case this news makes you want to have a drink.

Oh, and if you missed Sunday’s “final last call,” you actually didn’t. Ruby’s co-owner Melody Sarrel told ATZ that Ruby’s will open this weekend and next from 11 am till the usual closing time, which is around 6 or 7 pm. Negotiations for a multi-year lease with Zamperla, the operator of Luna Park, are ongoing. Although November 4th is the final date by which the Boardwalk businesses are required to vacate the premises, the deadline was extended through November 14 for Ruby’s and Paul’s Daughter, which were offered leases. But as we said before, it is not a done deal.

The auction, which ATZ first reported on October 30, is currently in progress at Cha Cha’s. After about an hour, the auctioneer will move on to the Coney Island Souvenir Shop and then to Ruby’s. Our original report, “Nov 1: Auction Sale at Cha Cha’s, 4 Others on Coney Island Boardwalk” cited five stores mentioned in the advertisement in the New York Times. The auctioneer told ATZ he had a contract with five businesses, but evidently two of them bowed out of today’s auction.

Today is the one-year anniversary of Zamperla’s attempted eviction of Coney Island Boardwalk Mom & Pops. From ATZ’s archives on Nov 1, 2010: “Out With the Old in Coney Island: Only 2 of 11 Boardwalk Businesses Invited Back.” Eight of the businesses banded together to fight the eviction from the City-owned property on the Boardwalk leased to Zamperla. Seven won a one-year lease, which expires on November 1, 2011.