Amusing the Zillion

Saturday Matinee: Coney Island’s Mite Mouse Coaster (1992)

September 22, 2012 by Tricia

This rare footage from 1992 is all that remains of the Mite Mouse roller coaster, which was in Coney Island for just a few seasons. Nestled against the Jumbo Jet, seen in the background, the little coaster kept a low profile. When YouTube user swampfoxer posted this video clip of two friends riding the Mite Mouse, he noted that “most people I know that frequent Coney Island never knew it was even there. Guess I picked the lucky year to visit Coney Island.” His footage of the Jumbo Jet, shot the same day, was featured in “Remembering Coney Island’s Jumbo Jet Coaster 1972-2002” (ATZ, April 21, 2011).

The first Mite Mouse came out of the Allan Herschell factory in North Tonawanda, New York, in 1959 and traveled with Conklin Shows. The manufacturer described the ride as “extremely portable and ideal for smaller carnivals and such permanent installations which want a Mouse ride but do not require the larger Mad Mouse.” The Coney Island ride had previously operated at a park in Ocean City, Maryland, where it was called Miller’s Gold Mine.

Opening This Weekend: Tom’s Restaurant in Coney Island

September 21, 2012 by Tricia

Tom’s Coney Island Under Construction on the Boardwalk. August 25, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The long-awaited opening of Tom’s on the Coney Island Boardwalk is planned for this weekend, the manager at the restaurant’s Prospect Heights location told ATZ. We phoned Tom’s for confirmation after hearing from a friend who is a regular customer that Saturday was the day. Characterizing Saturday’s debut as a “soft opening” with the grand opening yet to come, the manager said “we’re trying to work out some last-minute details. Worst case scenario it will be Sunday. That’s why we’re not publicizing it.”

The full menu will be identical to that of the original location with the addition of seafood entrees~~, but their famous pancakes and some other items may not be available this Saturday.~~ Asked if we could go in and sit down and order an omelette and coffee, the manager said yes. Sounds like a plan for Sunday brunch! In this Brooklyn Independent Television segment on the popular Tom’s of Prospect Heights, owner Jimmy Kokotas says a combination of “the homey feeling, the service and the food” have made his family’s restaurant a neighborhood favorite since 1936.

Tom’s Coney Island is located on the Boardwalk at the corner of Stillwell Avenue. Though it is opening near the end of the amusement park season, the new restaurant is expected to initially remain open at least nine months of the year. The former location of Nathan’s and Cha Cha’s Club Atlantis (as well as the original Club Atlantis) required by far the most work and investment of any of the rehabbed Boardwalk stores. Due to structural issues, the place had to be completely gutted and rebuilt, including the roof and some of the brickwork. Windows were installed in the west wall. A new roof deck for alfresco dining will have spectacular views of the beach and boardwalk. Nathan’s moved to the Boardwalk and West 12th Street and Cha Cha’s relocated to the north side of Surf across from the original Nathan’s.

UPDATE September 23, 2012:

Yes, the full menu including pancakes is available! See Photo Album: First Brunch at Tom’s Coney Island by Bruce Handy

Up For Auction: Vintage Bonnie & Clyde Crime Show Banner

September 20, 2012 by Tricia

Bonnie and Clyde Crime Show Banner. Photo via RR Auction, Amherst, NH

Among the popular attractions on carnival and park midways in the 20th century were crime shows featuring life-size figures of 1930’s gangsters like Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. A vintage sideshow banner used to advertise one of these shows will be sold at RR Auction’s Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawmen Sale on September 30. The painted banner, which is said to date back to the early 1930s, is the work of a Kansas City painter named Gene and has a pre-sale estimate of $10,000 – 12,000. The banner’s lurid headlines enticed customers inside and at the same time instructed that crime does not pay: “Crime Wave… Boy & Girl Gangsters… See Inside… The Wages Of Crime Is Death.”

Why aren’t Bonnie and Clyde mentioned on the 12 by 9 foot banner? According to the auction catalogue:

It is believed that this banner being offered here is one of the first ever Bonnie and Clyde roadshow banners. Interestingly enough, Bonnie and Clyde were still alive when this banner was in use. This is why their names are not printed at all upon the poster as the roadshow profiteers were not stupid, because if their names were on it, that might have led to a visit from the gangsters, and the outcome of that visit could have been less than pleasant.

After Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed on May 23, 1934, their bullet-riddled death car–as well as some imitations– went on to become a lucrative sideshow attraction on carnival midways and at Coney Island Cincinnati. The car is currently on display at a Nevada casino. Crime may not pay but it sells tickets and artifacts associated with dead celebrity outlaws have become marquee investments.

Among the more than 100 items in the sale are Bonnie Parker’s Colt Detective Special .38 revolver, which was found taped to her thigh at the time of her death (Est. $150,000 – 200,000), and her cosmetic case (Est. $5,000 – 10,000). “In those days the items were allowed to be kept by the posse members as part of their service in tracking down these outlaws,” says auction house owner Bobby Livingston. Online bidding for the Gangsters Auction opens on September 24.