Astrotower | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Astrotower’

Video of the Day: The Astotower as Aeolian Harp

Posted in video, tagged Aeolian Harp, Astro Tower, Astrotower, environmental sound, Philip Blackburn, wind harp on February 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Hearing the Astrotower sing on a cold and windy day is one of the lost pleasures of a Coney Island winter. When the former amusement ride was demolished on July Fourth Weekend in 2013, we not only lost a Coney icon but also one of the world’s most unusual musical instruments.

In this video by Jay Singer, shot in March 2013, the mystical tower sings like an Aeolian harp. Commenters say “Magical. Ethereal.” and “Best soundtrack for a horror movie EVER.” Designed to be played by the wind, an Aeolian harp vibrates and produces an eerie sound.

A search on Youtube turns up a slew of videos of Aeolian instruments including composer Philip Blackburn‘s Wind Harps and Wind Flutes in St. Paul, Minnesota. The quirky environmental sound piece was funded by a $10,000 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. St. Paul is coincidentally one of the few places that still has an operating Von Roll Tower. The Minnesota State Fair’s Space Tower was installed in 1965, the year after Coney Island’s Astrotower.

Sunday Matinee: Super 8 Movie of Coney Island in 1970

Posted in video, tagged 1970, Astroland, Astrotower, Coney Island, Playland Arcade, Super 8, Wonder Wheel on February 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

In 1970, a German tourist on his first trip to New York shot this Super 8 film in Coney Island. It offers a tantalizing glimpse of the Bowery’s original arcade architecture, since destroyed by fires, and the Playland Arcade on the Boardwalk, where Nathan’s is now. You’ll also see Astroland’s Skyride and Astrotower as well as Ward’s Fairyland Park-now Deno’s Kiddie Park. Only the Wonder Wheel, which is emblazoned with a banner saying “Our 50th Year,” and the Cyclone roller coaster, look the same today. Just wish the film was longer!

Astrotower Stump Is Centerpiece of Creepy Coney Graveyard

Posted in amusement park, tagged Astro Tower, Astroland, Astrotower, Coney Island, Halloween, Luna Park on October 7, 2013| 8 Comments »

The AstroStump, all that remains of the Astrotower, decorated for Halloween at Coney Island’s Luna Park. October 5, 2013

ATZ’s award for the creepiest, most inappropriate Halloween decoration goes to Luna Park for a bizarre attempt at paying homage to the demolished Astrotower. Formerly wrapped in a tarp, the AstroStump is all that remains of the tower, which is now bedecked with skeleton props as the centerpiece of a faux graveyard for the park’s Halloween celebration. Seeing the blackened, blow-torched edges of the chopped down icon for the first time was very unsettling. It’s like seeing the tortured corpse of a dear departed friend who would have been 50 years old next year. They got the date wrong on the tombstone–the tower debuted in 1964, not 1962.

What were they thinking? Well, the original All Hallows’ Eve provided one last chance for humans to propitiate the restless dead and for the dead to gain vengeance before moving to the next world. Not sure if dead landmarks have restless spirits, but the Astrotower was practically human since it used to sing. It’s been three months since the genuinely horrific July 4th Week when the 275-foot tower was cut apart with blowtorches in a marathon demolition following hysterical claims that it was swaying more than usual had closed most of Coney Island. The tower’s cut-down sections were carted off to the Cropsey Avenue junkyard while the stump was hidden from view by a tarp and fenced off like it had the plague.

Considering that not a trace remains of Astroland at the site of the former Astroland except this stump, it would have been more appropriate for Luna Park to put up a real plaque after the demolition. It’s distressing that a recollection of a tragic episode in Coney Island history, especially one that happened just three months ago, is reduced to a fake graveyard for Halloween.

However, not everyone agrees that this Halloween decoration is in bad taste. One Coney Island fan tweeted that the idea was “extremely clever.” Also in the faux graveyard are tombstones of long dead Coney luminaries such as Tilyou, Feltman, Handwerker and Mangels as well as a gravestone for Astroland Park. What do you think?

@LunaParkNYC Extremely clever idea to make the ruins of the AstroTower into a special Coney Graveyard! That was my favorite part of the day

— AnthonyMark (@anthony0358) October 6, 2013