Amusing the Zillion

Inexhaustible Cows & Bottomless Cups of Chocolate Milk

March 9, 2011 by Tricia

Cow, Coney Island from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. New York Public Library, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs

When I worked the Crazy Ball at the Michigan State Fair, instead of taking daily draws to eat, I lived on bottomless cups of chocolate milk. It cost only a quarter and if you saved your cup, the workers in the dairy barn would gladly pour unlimited refills from the stainless steel dispenser. I got hoarse yelling “Hey it’s Crazy Ball Fun Time, You Pick the Colors, the Crazy Ball Picks the Winners” and acquired a taste for Michigan’s chocolate milk. When I got back to New York, I looked in vain for a brand that was as delicious.

Inexhaustible Cow at Feltmans. Photo © Charles Denson Archive

Sadly, Michigan’s fair, the oldest state fair in the nation, ended in 2009 due to state budget cuts and its bottomless cup of milk is no more. The 25-cent tradition is now as much a part of history as Coney Island’s Inexhaustible Cow, a 19th century attraction which dispensed milk in its booth in Culver Plaza. I first glimpsed Coney’s cow in a photo in Charles Denson’s book Coney Island Lost and Found: “Pure ice cold milk, 5 cents.” Another photo from the Denson archive shows another milk dispensing cow at Feltman’s Restaurant. The home of the hot dog was also the home of an Inexhaustible Cow!

One of the Coney Island cows has apparently survived and is being offered for sale. Greg Kramer, a Pennsylvania dealer of Americana, is selling the cow (milk not included) for $78,000. It is marked down from its original asking price of $145,000. The cow was brought to our attention when Nashville House & Home Magazine tweeted from last month’s Music Valley Antiques Show “saw a vintage lifesize cow milk dispenser once used at Coney Island. It’s a steal. Very shabby, rustic looking wood. …”

Coney Island Cow attributed to Samuel Robb, New York City. Circa 1881. Photo courtesy of Greg K Kramer & Co. Americana

Kramer told ATZ that he ID’d the cow in an 1881 drawing which appears in Frederick Fried’s book Artists in Wood. Fried attributes the cow to Samuel Robb, a wood carver known for his cigar store Indians and circus carvings. His shop was located at 195 Canal Street. Fried writes, “The cow was a larger than life size wooden cow with a hollow interior into which was placed cans of milk on ice. Spigots fitted into the wooden udder and poured milk for a nickel a glass.” Kramer’s cow still has its spigots as well as “a third coat of paint, restoration to feet and horns, one original eye and normal expected weathering.”

In 1893, an article in the New York Times lamented the loss of Bauer’s Hotel after a fire: “And you also conjure up the days and nights when you used to drink milk at the booth where the big Aldernay cow stood as ‘patiently’ while the pretty milkmaids filled your glass to the brim. There is an absence, too, of the booth where you could get a glass of champagne, of uncertain vintage, but reputed to be from France, at 10 cents a glass.” Other writers slyly suggest that Coney Island’s Inexhaustible Cow would dispense milk to children and lager to adults.

Milk on Draught, Inexhaustible Cow at Coney Island, 1881. Harper's Weekly

March 12: Warriors Longboard Race to Coney Island

March 6, 2011 by Tricia

Next Saturday at 6 pm, longboard skaters will gather outside Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for the 2nd Warriors Race to Coney Island. The 26-mile themed race follows the route of the gang making their way home to Coney in the 1970s cult film “The Warriors.” Last year’s event kicked off with the ceremonial chanting of lines from the movie like “Can you dig it?” and “Come out and playyyy.” The race finishes at the entrance to the Cyclone at Surf Ave and West 10th Street in Coney Island. Can the skaters beat last July’s best time of 2 hours and 3 minutes?

Registered teams include the Lizzies, Riffs, Blades, Coedz, Bopperz, Indie Pushers, Kryptonchronics, and of course the Warriors. ATZ asked Warrior team member Mike Dallas to fill us in on the details of the race and why it’s scheduled so early in the year…

Most teams are returners but 4-5 teams have registered that are new to the event. Not all teams have the same members either – this year the rules are slightly different. The only checkpoint is Union Square and teams may start with more than 3 members. Three skaters must finish per team to qualify for an official time.

Most skaters are local but because of the Longboard Expo at Longboard Loft NYC at 132 Allen St on March 11, we expect a lot more to join. We started the race with 51 last year. 31 finished. Top time was 2 hr 3mins. We will do more than one Warriors Race in 2011. This was planned early because of the Longboard Expo and flood of skaters in NYC that weekend. Hype about the race has made it around the world, this is a chance for skaters outside NYC to get involved in an event while they’re visiting for the Expo and Concrete Wave Reader’s Choice Awards Ceremony.

The world’s first longboard trade show will showcase the products of 32 national and international companies. The free event at Longboard Loft on the Lower East Side is on March 11 from 12 noon till 8 pm.

The first Warriors Race was held on July 23, 2010. Check out Mike Dallas’s great report and photos on Bustin Boards. This video was shot on Surf Avenue after the skaters arrived in Coney Island.

The Lowdown on Sodexo’s Sweet Deal in Coney Island

March 3, 2011 by Tricia

Sodexo Kiosk at Luna Park Coney Island. May 31, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

While Coney Island’s veteran Mom & Pops hammer out a deal for one last summer on the Boardwalk, French food and facilities giant Sodexo has a sweet 10-year sublease with Luna Park operator Central Amusement International. A copy of the confidential sublease agreement between Sodexo and CAI was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the NYCEDC.

Sodexo’s contract with CAI is dated April 26, 2010 and says it had to be approved by the NYCEDC since the sublease is subordinate to the underlying lease between the City and the amusement operator. Here are some of the terms of Sodexo’s sublease:

–Last season, Sodexo paid Luna Park operator CAI a “flat rental fee” of $75,000 to operate food kiosks in the park. Sodexo keeps all cash receipts and pays all operating expenses. What was the City’s cut? According to the Economic Development Corporation’s (NYCEDC) lease with CAI, the City receives 15% of the fixed rent paid by any subtenant. If you do the math, 15% of $75,000 is a paltry $11,250. By comparison, last year the City received 100 per cent of the rent paid by the Boardwalk businesses, which was $100,000 each for Paul’s Daughter, Ruby’s and the other food concessions.

–Sodexo’s initial investment of $1.432 million is considered a “Reimbursable Initial Capital Investment” for the purchase of four kiosks, a concession trailer, beer and liquor license, and equipment necessary for remodeling and operating the restaurant under construction at Surf Avenue and 10th St. The Reimbursable Capital Investment will be owned and depreciated by the amusement operator.

-In 2011, Sodexo will pay CAI a flat rental fee of $225,000, which means the City’s 15% cut will be $33,750. Pocket change! Beginning in 2012, Sodexo will pay a fee based on the prior year’s net sales. For example, if the prior year net sales are $2.7 million, then Sodexo would pay a flat rental fee of $432,000, or 16% of the net sales.

–CAI gets to decide whether Sodexo will have the option of operating “Branded Concepts” in the park. According to the contract, the term refers to “food and beverage systems operated by Sodexo through national and regional third party license agreements or franchise agreements or through Sodexo’s own in-house trademarked brands.” As ATZ reported in January, Sodexo is known for its cafeterias and individually branded restaurants, but nationally branded subtenants are also brought in under franchising or licensing agreements for the appearance of variety. Branded Concepts frequently mentioned in Sodexo’s ads are Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Sub Connections and Panera Bread.

—Luna Park cannot require Sodexo to use products from “non-Sodexo approved vendors” and suppliers. As we reported previously, Sodexo has a completely centralized purchasing system, which requires clients to choose from a list of “Right Products.” Another term used internally by Sodexo is “Compliant.” Vendors who offer rebates are “compliant” while those that do not are “locked out,” according to investigative reporter Lucy Komisar in “Cafeteria Kickbacks: How food-service providers like Sodexo bilk millions from taxpayers and customers.” Last July, then-Attorney General Cuomo issued a press release announcing “a $20 million settlement with food services provider Sodexo for overcharging 21 New York school districts as well as the SUNY system.”

–Sodexo is an independent contractor and has its own employees. The lease contains more than a dozen clauses to insure compliance with non discrimination and affirmative action policies as well as City programs such as Minority and Women Business Owned Enterprises. According to NPR, Sodexo executives say they are trying to create a more diverse workplace after settling an $80 million class action discrimination lawsuit brought by African-American employees in 2006.

–After 3 years, either party is free to terminate the lease. If the agreement is terminated by Sodexo for convenience or by CAI for cause, at the end of the third year CAI would have to reimburse the remaining unamortized value of the Reimbursable Initial Capital Investment ($1.432 million) over a three year period, payable on a monthly basis, with interest accruing at the prime rate in the Wall Street Journal plus 2%.

CAI’s Luna Park and soon-to-open Scream Zone are on City-owned land in Coney Island purchased from Thor Equities for $95 million and leased to the amusement operator for ten years. As the Sodexo sublease makes clear, CAI has a pretty sweet deal too. Their base rent is $100,000 annually plus a small percentage of the gross receipts. For example, ten percent of gross receipts over $7 million.

However, Central Amusements is also investing nearly $30 million in building and operating the park. According to CAI’s contract with the City, Luna Park also received a subsidy of $5.7 million from the City for “among other things, facilitating the purchase of certain equipment necessary for the Tenant to operate the Premises as a first class amusement park.”

Sodexo, which is the 21st largest corporation in the world, has a market value of 7.7 billion euros ($10.59 billion). The French food and facilities management giant has been CAI’s partner for “On Site Service Solutions” since Luna Park opened last May, though the partnership was not announced by the City or CAI. Sodexo’s presence was known only within Coney Island until ATZ first reported the news in November after the Boardwalk businesses received eviction notices on November 1st, the day after the 2010 season ended.