Boardwalk | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Boardwalk’

Coney Island Has a New Lighthouse: It’s a Beach Bar

Posted in Food & Drink, Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Place to Beach, PTB Bar, Zamperla on August 29, 2012| 1 Comment »

Lighthouse at Place To Beach Bar, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Coney Island Lighthouse in the gated community of Sea Gate on the Island’s west end isn’t open to the public, but a cute new mini-lighthouse has popped up on the Boardwalk. It’s the beacon atop Zamperla’s PTB bar currently under construction on the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue. According to the inscription on the weathervane, “Every Wind Leads to PTB Bar.” Word on the street is that PTB – short for Place to Beach— will serve Tex-Mex food and open next year instead of sometime in the next few weeks. Will it be ready in time to ring in the New Year with the Polar Bear Swim? Who will be the lighthouse keeper?

Located on the former site of Steve’s Grill House and Beer Island, the new addition to Coney’s skyline is adjacent to Scream Zone’s Skycoaster and Go Karts. As we wrote in “Opening Soon? Zipline, Tom’s Coney Island, Place to Beach Bar” (ATZ, August 15, 2012), three Coney Island businesses originally scheduled to open this summer were hoping to get in what’s left of the season. The long-awaited Zipline is completed but still not open due to permitting issues. Tom’s and PTB are still “under construction.” After Labor Day, most of the amusement rides remain open weekends through the end of October. Nathan’s on Surf Avenue, the New York Aquarium and Coney Island Beach Shop are open daily year-round. Among the new or refurbished stores on the Boardwalk, Tom’s Coney Island, Ruby’s Bar and Brooklyn Beach Shop expect to stay open nine months of the year for now, ATZ has learned from the owners.

PTB Lighthouse Joins the Parachute Jump and Skycoaster on the Coney Island Skyline. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Music Video: Somebody by Jukebox the Ghost

Posted in Music Video, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Jukebox the Ghost, Somebody on August 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

The Coney Island Boardwalk is a magnet for music video shoots and whenever a new one debuts, we feel compelled to check it out. Brooklyn-based indie rockers Jukebox the Ghost’s exuberant yet wistful “Somebody” is a nice match for the location. People have been meeting their true loves in Coney Island since it was first called the People’s Playground. “I want it, I need it, I want somebody…” Ben Thornewill sings as he and his band make their way down the Boardwalk. A cadre of energetic dancers bobbing and circling around them. The video was shot in one long take with the landmark Parachute Jump and the gleaming new B&B Carousell pavilion and curious onlookers in the background. Yes, we “liked” it!

Coney Island in New Travel Channel Series on Boardwalks

Posted in Travel, video, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Travel Channel, TV Series on July 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Crew shooting at the Coney Island Cyclone for an upcoming Travel Channel series on Boardwalks. July 21, 2012. Photo © Jim McDonnell

Last weekend a crew from Indigo Films was in Coney Island on a two-day shoot for an upcoming Travel Channel series. The new show is tentatively titled “Amazing Boardwalk Empires.” They filmed Coney Island’s 22nd Annual Sand Sculpting Contest and some of the features of the boardwalk as well as Luna Park and Scream Zone, the Cyclone, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, the Coney Island History Project, the Coney Island Sideshow and Lola Star Boutique. Coney Island was selected for the show because the Riegelmann Boardwalk is among the top beach boardwalks in the country on lists as various as National Geographic, Travel & Leisure and USA Today.

In the photo above, one of the extras is being mounted with a GoPro helmet cam to ride Zamperla’s Air Race, according to photographer Jim McDonnell. The HD camera is used a lot in shooting sports and POV videos. In the photo below, taken inside the Coney Island History Project exhibit center, Amanda Deutch is being interviewed about the history of Coney’s Boardwalk, where she leads walking tours for the History Project.

Indigo Films is an award-winning independent television production company that has produced such Travel Channel shows as Insane Coaster Wars and America’s Most Haunted Places. The Travel Channel series on Boardwalks is expected to air in September.