Amusing the Zillion

Coney Island 8 Eviction Hearing Adjourned Till Jan 10, 2011

December 10, 2010 by Tricia

Outside Ruby's Bar on New Year's Day 2010 in Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The judge adjourned this morning’s 10 a.m. court hearing for CAI Luna Park’s eviction of the “Coney Island Eight” till January 10, 2011. The postponement was at the request of the CI 8’s attorney Marc Aronson. ATZ was told that a postponement is common at the beginning of a case. We’re not reading anything into it. Not yet.

Does this mean Ruby’s will be open for the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim? We hope so. Otherwise it could be a BYOF (flask AND food) situation. Take a look at our Photo Album: Coney Island Boardwalk, New Year’s Day 2010. It just won’t be a “Happy New Year!” on the Coney Island Boardwalk if Ruby’s is closed on the first day of 2011.

The eight businesses being booted from the Boardwalk are Ruby’s, Cha Cha’s, Paul’s Daughter, Grill House, Gyro Corner, Shoot the Freak, Beer Island and Coney Island Souvenir Shop. Only two of eleven existing Boardwalk businesses –Lola Star Boutique and Nathan’s — were invited back by CAI Luna Park for the 2011 season.

UPDATE… December 13, 2010

Forget Last Call! We hear RUBY’S IS OPENING NEW YEARS DAY 10:30 am till 6 pm to toast in 2011with the Coney Island Polar Bears and you!

UPDATE… December 23, 2010

The Coney Island 8 launched a new website to tell their story. The url is www.coneyisland8.com.

Photo of the Day: Demolition of Coney Island’s Shore Hotel

December 10, 2010 by Tricia

Shore Hotel Demolition. December 9, 2010. Photo © Lindsay Wengler/Single Linds Reflex via flickr

This week Thor Equities’ demo crew continued to wreak havoc on historic Surf Avenue. By Thursday afternoon, they had knocked off the top story of Coney Island’s approximately 107-year-old Shore Hotel. Photographer Lindsay Wengler also got some apocalyptic shots of the rubble that once was the Bank of Coney Island and a bulldozer poised to attack on Henderson Walk. War is hell. Oh wait, we mean Coney Island redevelopment is hell.

For photos and stories of the Shore Hotel in its glory days as well as its seedy days, see Vanishing New York’s post from August 2009. Thor’s ownership destroyed the building. As VNY wrote: “Plywood went into the windows in the summer of 2007, as Thor and the city aimed to blight Coney in preparation for its demolition. When the City’s Plan goes through, a massive high-rise will stand here.” The City’s rezoning of Coney Island, passed by the City Council in 2009, allows four high rise hotels of up to 27 stories along the south side of Surf Avenue.

In the other out-with-the-old in Coney news story of the week, this morning’s 10 a.m. court date for the eviction of the “Coney Island Eight” was adjourned till January 10, 2011.

Posted in Photo of the Day, Redevelopment | Tagged Coney Island, demolition, Lindsay Wengler, Shore Hotel, Thor Equties | 4 Comments »

Children’s Book Tells Coney Island Carousel Carver’s Story

December 8, 2010 by Tricia

During the golden age of the carousel, Coney Island had as many as 12 or 15 hand-carved carousels spinning at the same time and many of them were manufactured here in Brooklyn. Master carousel builders and carvers included Charles Looff on Bedford Avenue, M.C. Illions and Sons Carousell Works on Ocean Parkway, and Stein & Goldstein and William F. Mangels in Coney Island.

Feivel’s Flying Horses, written by Heidi Smith Hyde with illustrations by Johanna van der Sterre, is a work of historical fiction that pays homage to Jewish immigrant woodcarvers like Marcus Illions, Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein and Charles Carmel. The picture book takes its inspiration from the American Folk Art Museum exhibition “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel,” which explored the previously unexamined association between Jewish immigrant woodcarvers and the American carousel industry.

The hero of Feivel’s Flying Horses journeys to America with five dollars in his pocket in search of a better life. Having made his living in the old country carving the reading desks that held the Torah scrolls and other ornate objects, he finds work as a furniture maker on the Lower East Side and then as a carousel carver in Coney Island. Memories of the family he left behind fire his imagination. Feivel dedicates a carousel horse to his wife and goes on to create horses for each of his four children. He carves their names into the saddles. By the time the carousel is finished, Feivel has earned enough money to send for his family. It’s touching how he declines to go for a first spin until his wife and children arrive in America and can join him for a celebratory ride on their Coney Island carousel.

Carousels remain the classic children’s ride and are a delightful subject for a children’s picture book. Feivel’s Flying Horses adds ethnic and cultural interest by telling the story of the making of a carousel through the immigrant experience. The folk art-inspired illustrations are warm and nostalgic. At the same time, the details convey the resplendence of the Coney Island style carousel. Author and illustrator previously teamed up on Mendel’s Accordion, the winner of the 2008 Sugarman Family Award for Best Jewish Children’s Book. The publisher specializes in books with Jewish themes, including other works of historical fiction such as Annie Shapiro and the Clothing Workers Strike and Zishe, the Strongman, based on the life of circus strong man.

Feivel’s Flying Horses by Heidi Smith Hyde with illustrations by Johanna van der Sterre. Ages 5-9, Grades K-3. 32 pages. Published by Kar-Ben Publishing, 2010. Hardcover, $17.95. Paperback, $7.95.