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Posts Tagged ‘Astroland’

The Sad Anniversary of Coney Island’s Astroland Going Dark

Posted in amusement park, tagged anniversary, Astro Tower, Astroland, Astroland Shrine, Coney Island, memorial, photograph, Thor Equities on September 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The Original Astroland Shrine, December 26, 2008. Photo © Bruce Handy (Pablo57) via flickr

Photographer and Coney Island resident Bruce Handy aka pablo57 has created a set of images on flickr to memorialize the first anniversary of the closing of Astroland. Titled “Astroland Shrine,” the photos and videos have an elegiac beauty and are certain to break your heart all over again. Seeing the removal of the demon from Dante’s Inferno and listening to the wail of the Astro Tower amid the teardown enveloped me in sadness. From Bruce’s intro:

Once upon a time, in the southern part of Brooklyn, in the land of rabbits, named Coney Island, there stood a timeless amusement park named Astroland. Astroland went dark on September 7, 2008 and this is the tale of the boardwalk shrine sprung from our sorrow and grief.

The original shrine was created on December 26, 2008. Four items, a bouquet of flowers, the shrine iconic collage, a hand written note saying to add more items, and a large ink drawing of a ballerina holding an umbrella.

The photo is taken from the point of view of mermaids looking at the shrine from the slats in the boardwalk.

The images in Bruce’s flickr set date from the day after Christmas in 2008, when the Astroland Shrine was created, to March 2009. “I just feel like it’s the right time to post the photos, all in one spot. It’s the gates, again locked,” Bruce says, referring to the locked gates of Dreamland Park. Following a dispute with Dreamland’s manager, property owner Thor Equities abruptly shut down the temporary amusement area on the former Astroland site. “I guess that has brought this on and the anniversary of Astroland going dark coming up. It is very emotional, I don’t know why I’m torturing myself doing it. I will be finished on Sept 7th.”

The Associated Press released a list of highlights in history for Sept 7 that includes “Astroland, New York City’s world famous amusement park at Coney Island, closed after 46 years.” Do you have any special plans to commemorate the anniversary? “Bring MORE flowers. People are afraid to destroy flowers,” says Bruce. ATZ plans to bring a bouquet to the Coney Island History Project’s Astroland Archives Photography Exhibit

The New York Times article from September 8, 2008, “Astroland Closes, This Time, It Appears, for Good,” is worth rereading for the graf about Thor Equities:

Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for Thor Equities, said in a statement that the developer had been in touch with “numerous amusement operators” to discuss setting up “permanent year-round development.” The city and Joseph J. Sitt, the chairman of Thor Equities, which is now the largest landowner in the area, have yet to reach an agreement on how to redevelop Coney Island, though locals worry that the neighborhood will become awash in generic chain stores, condominiums and hotels.

One year later, Sitt has shut down the handful of mom-and-pop amusement operators brought to “Dreamland Park” this season to replace the evicted Astroland. Although the real estate speculator promised “more than 25 fun-filled rides” back in April to match Astroland’s ride count, only about a dozen rides came to Thor Equities’ Dreamland. The Coney rezoning passed in City Council at the end of the July, yet a deal to acquire Sitt’s property, including the former Astroland site, has yet to be announced. “Fundamentally, the deal with him is done,” Mayor Bloomberg recently told the Brooklyn Paper.

ATZ will be in Coney Island on Labor Day, September 7, to enjoy everything Coney Island has to offer in 2009: the 43 rides, the beach, the bars and the world-class people watching on the Boardwalk.

Full disclosure: I’m the Astro fan who created the Astroland collage which was stolen from the park’s gate. As I scrawled in the note begging for the icon’s return, which appears in one of Bruce’s photos: “Please put it back! It took me several hours to make it. I am not an artist, just made it to memorialize Astroland!” Put back Astroland, too! The park’s rides remain in storage.

This anonymous note disappeared within a day: Astroland R.I.P -- I Will Miss You 4-Ever. Photo © Bruce Handy (Pablo57) via flickr

Coney Island Has 56 Rides and 33 More Days of Summer!

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Astroland, Coney Island, Cyclone, Kiddie Park, McCullough, rides, Wonder Wheel on August 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Deno's Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

photo via Barry Yanowitz, flickr

This post was written in 2009. Please see most recent ride census from April 2011: “Coney Island Has 64 Rides and 30 Weekends of Summer!”

“Coney Island Rides” and “What rides are in Coney Island?” continue to be the #1 search term used to arrive at Amusing the Zillion. Two months ago, ATZ did “Coney Island Ride Count: Veteran Ride Ops 40, Joe Sitt 10!” We broke the news about California’s Butler Amusements sending rides to Coney, including one from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Jacko’s Dragon Wagon is still in Coney Island, but a few other rides have come or gone. It’s time for an update.

On August 5, 2009, with 33 days left in the season, Coney Island has a grand total of 56 rides, plus a variety of sideshows, games and food stands. If you thought all of Coney Island closed when Astroland closed last year, you’ve been misinformed and missing out. Hope to see you on the Cyclone line before the end of the summer!

“What rides are open at Coney Island?”

The iconic Cyclone Roller Coaster is a New York City landmark operated by the Albert family, the former owners of Astroland Park (Surf Avenue at 10th St). Opened in 1927, the Cyclone remains a favorite of roller coaster fans as well as photographers from all over the world. On flickr, ATZ found more than 3,000 photos of the Cyclone!

photo via Coney Island Cyclone, flickr

Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park has 22 rides and is owned and operated by the Vourderis family. In addition to the Wonder Wheel, which is an official New York City landmark, and the legendary Spook-A-Rama dark ride, adult rides include the Thunderbolt, Bumper Cars and Tilt-A-Whirl. The Kiddie rides are the Carousel, Herschell Boats, Dizzy Dragons, Pony Carts, Jumping Motorcycles, Sea Serpent Roller Coaster, Mini Enterprise, Free Fall, Red Baron Airplanes, Willie the Whale, Fire Engines, Jets, Flying Elephants, Pirate’s Pond, Big Foot Trucks and Rio Grande Train.

Thunderbolt at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. Photo © Pablo57 via flickr

photo via pablo57, flickr

McCullough’s is a family owned park with 12 kiddie rides on the Bowery at 12th Street. The rides are the Bumblebeez, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Swings, Motorcycles, Yellow Submarine, Dizzy Dragons, Himalaya, Ladybug, Frog Hopper, Circus Train and Tug Boat.

McCulloughs Kiddie Park in Coney Island has a dozen rides. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Coney Island’s disco palace of bumper cars, the Eldorado Skooters, is a family owned business at Surf Ave between Stillwell and 12th St.

Coney Island's Eldorado Bumper Cars. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

photo via Barry Yanowitz, flickr

The Guerrero family’s 12th Street Amusements has 5 adult rides including the Polar Express, Bumper Cars, Saturn 6, Ghost Hole and Virtual Reality. There’s a second Virtual Reality simulator on Jones Walk.

Ghost Hole Dark Ride on 12th St in Coney Island. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

photo via Barry Yanowitz, flickr

Thor Equities “Dreamland Park” (a temporary amusement area on the former Astroland property) currently has 13 rides brought in by Geren Rides and Butler Amusements. Adult rides are the Ring of Fire, Scrambler, Trabant and Star Dancer. Eight kiddie rides include a Carousel, Dragon Wagon from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, Kid Zone, Drive In, Kiddie Ferris Wheel and Banana Boats. There’s also a pony ride. Geren Rides’ Wisdom Himalaya and Spin Out recently left Coney Island for fairs in Tennessee and Georgia. Ride owner Glen Geren told ATZ he expects to have a Tilt-A-Whirl, Bumper Cars and a Reverchon Himalaya up and running within a couple of weeks. Ride #56 on our list is the Himalaya, which is on site in Dreamland, where it’s being sanded and painted in preparation for set up.

UPDATE 8/29 CONEY ISLAND IS OPEN, ONLY DREAMLAND HAS CLOSED Although Thor Equities closed “Dreamland Park,” Coney Island still has 43 rides including the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel open for business. There’s also the Ringling Bros. Boom A Ring Circus, Coney Island USA’s Circus Sideshow and Burlesque, Dreamland Roller Rink, the Coney Island History Project, games, arcades, and much more to enjoy.

Rabbit figure on Butler Amusements Carousel currently at Dreamland, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Astroland Star from Coney Island’s Space-Age Theme Park Donated to the Smithsonian

Posted in Artifacts, tagged Astroland, Coney Island, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian, star on May 29, 2009| 3 Comments »

Astrolands Bright and Shining Gate On Surf Avenue, September 7, 2008. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

After Astroland closed last year, the iconic front gate with its two spinning stars was dismantled and put in storage along with the park’s rides. Next week one lucky star will travel to its new home, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The museum announced today that Carol Hill Albert and Jerome Albert, owners of the former Astroland Park and current operators of Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster, have donated an eight-foot-high lighted star from the Astroland entrance gate to the Smithsonian Institution.

The Star will be displayed along with other science fiction icons such as the Star Trek Starship Enterprise in the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center after construction of Phase Two of the Center is completed in ~~2011~~ 2013. According to Margaret A. Weitekamp, curator in the Museum’s Division of Space History, “The National Air and Space Museum is delighted to receive this important popular culture artifact into the national collection. Astroland embodied the widespread excitement about early human spaceflight in the early 1960s. Having a Star from the Astroland gateway, where thousands of people passed to enjoy this entertaining vision of the space age, is a wonderful example of that space craze.”

The Star, one of two from Astroland Park’s entrance on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, served as an iconic representation of Astroland’s space-age theme. The spinning stars were installed in 1963, at the height of the space race, and welcomed visitors for nearly half a century to the world renowned Astroland amusement park founded by Jerome Albert’s father, Dewey Albert.

Astroland Star on the Park's Surf Avenue Gate. Photo © Charles Denson/Courtesy of the Coney Island History Project

photo via Coney Island History Project, flickr

Carol Hill Albert said, “The Astroland Star was chosen by my late father in law Dewey Albert as part of his new ‘space age’ themed amusement park because of its sense, quite literally of a bright and shining future ahead. Also, the star emitted light, and so much of the amusement business’ magic depends on the design and impact of its lighting, which he was of course, very familiar with. I see it as a tribute to my father in law’s astonishing sense of magic and mystery, and his visionary approach to the amusement business and its future. My husband and I are thrilled to know that this original star will become part of the Smithsonian’s distinguished collection.”

The Star section of the gate is made of steel, weighs approximately 200 pounds, and measures 6.5 feet in diameter. Each star is illuminated by 300 flashing lightbulbs (that includes both sides of the star). Astroland’s two stars were installed on a steel riser post that had a motor, which enabled the Stars to revolve.

Historian Charles Denson, the author of Coney Island: Lost and Found said, “The stars were an exciting and historic piece of Coney’s glimmering skyline and could be seen by millions of visitors arriving by subway. The sparkling star defined Astroland’s image, much as the crescent moon theme did at Luna Park, or the funny face logo did at Steeplechase Park.”

”In late 1961 Dewey Albert and his son Jerry Albert began transforming the Feltmans property into a space age theme park they called Feltmans Astro Park,” Denson says. “By the time it opened to the public in the summer of 1962 it had become ‘Astroland Park.’ After the closure of Steeplechase Park in 1964, the Albert family’s Astroland provided the anchor that held Coney Island together during the next four turbulent decades.”

A Time Magazine article from July 1963 described Coney Island’s then-new Astroland Park as “a $3,000,000 fun-and-games nexus devoted to space exploration. It has the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet—passengers enter the rocket, fasten seat belts, then blast off with engines roaring as filmed special-effects from actual space shots conjure up a journey to the moon. The Colonel Glenn Sky Ride has 16 plastic bubbles orbiting 80 feet above the boardwalk. For downward exploration the Neptune Diving Bell encloses 30 people, drops them 35 feet down to an ‘ocean floor’ where live porpoises play.”

After Astroland Park closed in September 2008, the Astroland Rocket was donated to the City of New York to become part of the “new” Coney Island. The rest of “Astroland,” including the gate and the second Star, remains in storage, says owner Carol Hill Albert, “in suspended animation,” pending Coney Island’s future.