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Video & Photos of the Day: Grucci Fireworks for Chinese New Year in New York City

Posted in Events, Photo of the Day, Photography, video, tagged Chinese New Year, Fantastic Art China, February 17, fireworks, Grucci, Hudson River, Jim Levine, Lunar New Year on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_fISAEaF9Y&feature=youtu.be&rel=0

Happy Lunar New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year 4713, the Year of the Sheep, based on the Chinese lunar calendar. On Tuesday night, a Grucci fireworks display over the Hudson River launched a week-long celebration of Chinese art and culture in New York City. For the event schedule, visit the website Fantastic Art China. Many thanks to ATZ reader Jim Levine, who sent us his gorgeous photos and video of the fireworks.

Grucci Fireworks Spectacular on Hudson River for Chinese New Year 2015

Grucci Fireworks Spectacular on Hudson River for Chinese New Year, February 17, 2015. Photo © Jim Levine

According to the event’s organizer, the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (part of the Chinese Ministry of Culture), this is the first time in U.S. history that a large-scale fireworks show celebrated the Lunar New Year. The three-barge Grucci Fireworks spectacular employed 27 pyrotechnicians and took 972 man hours to set up. Grucci has produced the fireworks entertainment for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 60th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, as well as seven consecutive U.S. Presidential Inaugurations, and World’s Fairs.

Grucci Fireworks Spectacular on Hudson River for Chinese New Year, February 17, 2015. Photo © Jim Levine

Video & Photos of the Day: Riding Coney Island’s Abandoned Giant Slide (1973)

Posted in Amusement ride, Photo of the Day, Photography, video, tagged 1970s, 1973, abandoned ride, Arthur Tress, Charles Denson, Garto brothers, Giant Slide, home movie, Parachute Jump on February 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

In this home movie shot in Coney Island in March 1973, a group of kids climb through a broken fence and cheerfully ride the heck out of an abandoned giant slide. The cameraman even manages a few POV shots and pans up at the abandoned Parachute Jump next door. The derelict attractions were their playground. The short film, which was posted by YouTube user huntersgodfather, brings to life scenes glimpsed in remarkable documentary photos from the same year by Charles Denson.

Retired arcade operator Stan Fox tells AtZ the Giant Slide was operated for only a few years by longtime Island concessionaires the Garto brothers, who also had rides at Wonderland, the predecessor to Astroland Park.

1973 Photo by Arthur Tress for Environmental Protection Agency Project DOCUMERICA of abandoned slide in Coney Island

“It was an abandoned slide that went in after Steeplechase was demolished. Please don’t confuse with the original Steeplechase!,” says Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project, who grew up in the neighborhood and recalls the Slide and the Jump being wide open. His photo of kids climbing the stairs to the slide against the backdrop of the neglected and vulnerable Jump appears in his book Coney Island: Lost and Found.

“I first attempted to climb the Parachute Jump in 1973, when it was a rusting, abandoned ruin. It was too dangerous,” says Denson in an intro to his film Climbing the Parachute Jump.

“In 2002 I finally realized my childhood dream and got to climb to the top of the tower. The Jump was a nature preserve. The motor room base was filled with pigeon nests and covered with muddy footprints of the raccoons who fed on the eggs. A raptor circled us at the top as we disturbed its perch, and the feet of the many small birds it had caught and devoured were spread out across the catwalks.”

Video of the Day: Florida State Fair Midway at Night

Posted in Amusement ride, video, tagged Florida state Fair, midway, Sky Wheel, Space Roller, state fair, Tampa, Wade Shows on February 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w8pa5QXKVo&rel=0

Wish we were there! The 111th Florida State Fair opened on Thursday with Wade Shows midway featuring 114 rides. Among this year’s spectaculars are the new Delusion, owned by Dreamland Amusements, and Jeremy Floyd’s Space Roller, along with popular classics like the Enterprise and the Zipper. Robin D. Colles video of the 2014 midway at night shows many of the rides that have returned this year. The Tampa fair runs through February 16th.