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“Last Summer at Coney Island” Airs on PBS, DVD Offers Epilogue

Posted in film, Redevelopment, video, tagged Coney Island, JL Aronson, Last Summer at Coney Island on May 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

A 60-minute cut of JL Aronson’s documentary “Last Summer at Coney Island” will air on public television starting May 15 at 10 pm and May 16 at 2:30 am on WNET Channel 13. We recommend watching it and then buying the DVD with the full 90-minute version and a host of extras, including “Since Last Summer,” in which the film-maker narrates a candid update. “The City bought the land from Thor that they could have purchased at the start for less money, but then they would have been the ones to evict old timers who had been in Coney Island for decades,” he says.

When “Last Summer at Coney Island” premiered in August at BAM, the audience got teary eyed during the scene in which Astroland’s lights were extinguished, ride by ride, for the final time, and the illuminated Astrotower made its last descent. Many of us had attended the amusement park’s closing ceremony on September 7, 2008 after rallying unsuccessfully for one more year.

The next summer felt like another last summer for Coney Island. Real estate speculator Joe Sitt held Coney Island hostage as the City’s rezoning plan, which would approve high rise hotels on Sitt’s land on the south side of Surf Avenue, moved inexorably toward approval.

“Last Summer at Coney Island” chronicles Coney Island’s redevelopment hoopla with riveting scenes featuring Thor Equities CEO Joe Sitt and Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, as well as historian Charles Denson, Lola Star Boutique owner Dianna Carlin, City Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr, and then-CIDC president Lynn Kelly, among others. Aronson’s film ends with the City Council passing the rezoning in July 2009.

“The rezoning plan quickly became a sideshow itself, if not the main attraction,” says Aronson in the epilogue. “After shooting for a couple of years, I had to conclude the story at some point, and at a point that made sense, without waiting to see what might inevitably get built. If past lessons of Coney Island development tell us anything, it is that this process can take a very, very long time.”

Other extras on the DVD include an “Easter egg” with Coney’s “Unelected Mayor” Dick D Zigun. We found the hidden feature –it’s Zigun’s fiery speech at a hearing on the rezoning at which he resigned as a Director of the Coney Island Development Corporation in protest of “a deeply flawed plan.”

“Astroland” has interviews with longtime employees of the park, who consider themselves brothers and sisters, while “The Cyclone” focuses on Gerry Menditto, the now-retired manager of the landmark roller coaster. “The Friendly Butcher of Mermaid Avenue” is Jimmy Prince, who retired in 2009 after 60 years at a meat market beloved by the neighborhood. “The Ward family” features Jack Ward, who passed away last year, and whose family was the oldest property owner in Coney Island before selling their parcel to the City.

In fact so much has changed since “Last Summer at Coney Island,” about the only places in the film that look the same are the Thor-owned Grashorn building with its perpetual “for lease” sign and the landmark Cyclone, Wonder Wheel and Parachute Jump. Since Luna Park opened last summer followed by Scream Zone this spring, it feels like the beginning of a new Coney Island, though the future depicted in the City’s renderings, with hotel towers on Surf Avenue and glittering high rise condos to the west and north of MCU Park, is still a long ways off.

The hour-long cut of “Last Summer at Coney island” is scheduled to air on the following PBS stations:
WNET/Thirteen – New York – Sunday, May 15 – 10pm
WNET/Thirteen – New York – Monday, May 16 – 2:30am
NJN – New Jersey Public Television – Tuesday, June 21 – 10pm
WLIW/21 – New York – Tuesday, June 28 – 10pm
KQED – San Francisco – Saturday, July 23 – 6pm
KQED – San Francisco – Tuesday, July 26 – 11pm
More stations to be announced.

Video: Coney Island: OverUnder x Veng x Ephameron

Posted in art, video, tagged Coney Island, Ephamaron, Keith Schweitzer, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, street art, Veng on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Keith Schweitzer, who founded and curates No Longer Empty’s mural project, made this wonderfully edgy video of three street artists’ 48-hour transformation of Thor’s construction fence at Surf and Stillwell. The artists are Veng, OverUnder and Ephameron. We wrote about the project last month in “Photo Album: Whimsical Murals Blossom in Coney Island,” (ATZ, April 15).

Coney Island 2011: Videos of New Scream Zone Rides

Posted in Amusement ride, video, tagged Central Amusement International, Jim McDonnell, roller coaster, Scream Zone, Sling Shot, Steeplechase Ride, Turbo Force, Zamperla on May 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

Photographer and amusement park aficionado Jim McDonnell has uploaded two new videos of Scream Zone rides to his YouTube channel. Jim was the grand prize winner of last year’s Luna Park film contest and his videos feature an inspired pairing of edited images with music. Jim’s latest shows Zamperla’s Turbo Force, which has been christened the “Zenobio” in Coney Island. The 100-foot-tall thrill ride sweeps passengers through the air at speeds of over 60 mph.

As you can see in Jim’s vid, it’s also a thrill to stand and watch the Turbo Force in action. When I worked with Wade Shows, this spectacular was often set up near the entrance to the carnival midway. The first time that I happened to pass by the ride in action, I experienced the optical illusion that the whirling arm hurtling in my direction was coming directly at me. Pretty soon I was lingering by the fence to experience the vicarious thrill of this scream machine.

Jim’s short vid of the Steeplechase Cavalry coaster aka the Motocoaster is the first showing the ride in action in Coney Island. The Zamperla coaster pays homage to Steeplechase Park’s signature horse race ride that made a circuit around the park until it closed in 1964 (“Steeplechase Express: Will Zamperla MotoCoaster Pony Up for Coney Island?,” ATZ, February 15, 2010). It’s one of two new Zamperla coasters in Coney Island’s Scream Zone. When a video of the second –the Soarin’ Eagle aka Zamperla’s Volare– is available, we’ll post a link to it here.

This vid of the Sling Shot is one of several already uploaded to YouTube by Scream Zone visitors. We expect to see many more– the Sling Shot is as much of a show as a ride. On the vid’s soundtrack, you can hear the exclamations and screams of the crowd. In a few weeks, a video camera will be mounted on the capsule and patrons will be able to purchase a video recording of their ride complete with close-ups shots of their faces. This on-ride video of the Sling Shot is part of Luna Park’s Channel of Coney Island ride videos.