Boardwalk | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Boardwalk’

Lola Star Boutique Signs 8-Year Lease for Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in News, Real Estate, Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, fashion, local, Lola Star, shopping on December 9, 2011| 2 Comments »

Dianna Carlin aka Lola Star with Shimmer in Lola Star Boutique, Coney Island Boardwalk, April 2, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Congratulations to Dianna Carlin, the first of the Boardwalk veterans to announce that she has a done deal with Zamperla’s Central Amusements International, which holds the lease on the City-owned property. Last night, the owner of the Lola Star Boutique on Coney Island’s Boardwalk tweeted, “So, I have some really incredible news…after much negotiating…Tonight I signed my lease to rent my boardwalk shop for the next 8 years!!” The boutique was one of only two Boardwalk businesses invited back by CAI last November, but lease negotiations went on for months.

Carlin is an entrepreneurial spirit whose successful projects include the Dreamland Roller Rink, a shop in Stillwell Terminal, a pop-up shop in SoHo and the new Star Pet Boutique. This afternoon, she announced a “2 TEES FOR $30 SALE” at her Boardwalk Shop this weekend “in celebration of the fact that we will be radiating our hot pink aura of fabulousness in Coney for the next 8 years!” The shop will be open Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon-5pm.

Hopefully more good news is on the way today or in the next few days. Will Boardwalk favorites Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter sign the leases which they were offered after a Miami restaurateur and Sodexo retreated from deals to take over their spaces? Negotiations have been going on since October over various clauses in the leases, leading to intense speculation about whether or not the beloved Mom and Pops will be back. As one of Ruby’s Facebook fans put it: “Arrgh! The suspense is killing me!”

UPDATE December 12, 2011…Zamperla’s Boardwalk line-up for 2012 is now set. As we posted on Friday, Paul’s Daughter signed an 8-year lease, as did Ruby’s Bar. Tom’s of Prospect Heights will open a second restaurant on the Coney Island Boardwalk, at the corner of Stillwell where Nathan’s and Cha Cha’s were located. See “Coney Island 2012: What’s New on the Boardwalk” (ATZ, November 15, 2011) for details and renderings of the new stores, including Nathan’s, Ruby’s, Paul’s Daughter and Lola Star as well as the new Sky Coaster and other rides.

Mannequins at Lola Star Boutique, Coney Island Boardwalk. April 4, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Alan Jackson Video Shoot on Coney Island Boardwalk!

Posted in Music, News, Photography, tagged Alan Jackson, Boardwalk, Coney Island, country, Eric Kowalsky, Paul's Daughter, So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore, video shoot on December 3, 2011| 1 Comment »

Coney Island remains a popular spot for video and film shoots, even after the amusement parks have closed for the season. On Friday, Nashville came to Coney when country music singer-songwriter Alan Jackson strummed his guitar on the Boardwalk in front of Paul’s Daughter. Thanks to Coney Island photographer Eric Kowalsky for being on the scene and getting these great photos of the video shoot.

The name of the song Jackson was singing is privileged info, but we guess it’s from his upcoming album set for release in the Spring of 2012. The backdrop of the shuttered store and closed-down rides made us wonder if the tune is about the end of summer or perhaps the end of a love affair, as country songs often are. Jackson’s last video “Long Way to Go,” released this summer, is up for Great American Country’s Top 50 Videos of 2011. You can watch it on his YouTube channel.

If the video crew had come a month ago, before Paul’s Daughter’s signage was removed to make way for the new “vision” for the Boardwalk, they could have used a masterpiece of Americana as a backdrop, not just the few signs left behind. The restaurant formerly known as Gregory & Paul’s and its frequently photographed signage were featured in the 1999 music video “Summer Girls” by LFO. It’s sad to see Coney’s hand-painted signage, which has a quirky character and an authentic patina, being forced out by the powers that be. Will the Coney Island Boardwalk remain a magnet for video and film shoots when it’s mostly shiny and new and neon?

UPDATE January 14, 2012…

The video for Alan Jackson’s new single was released yesterday and it’s a beauty! Music Video: Alan Jackson’s So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore

Coney Island Souvenir Closes Shop After 25 Years

Posted in amusement park, Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, business closing, Coney Island, Mayor Bloomberg, Mom and Pop, small business on November 21, 2011| 5 Comments »

CLOSED: Coney Island Souvenir Shop, 1987-2011. Its signs were put in the dumpster. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

One of Coney Island’s oldest Mom & Pops quietly went out of business after losing their lease due to Zamperla USA’s redevelopment of the City-owned Boardwalk. Coney Island Souvenir Shop, located next to Ruby’s Bar on the Boardwalk, was started 25 years ago by Tommy Suh. After he died last year, his wife Sue and their son Rob carried on the family business.

Last week in Coney Island, work crews were busy cleaning out whatever had been left behind by the evicted Boardwalk shops. It was sad to see the familiar red-and-white sign from the Souvenir Shop about to be rolled into a dumpster. A second sign was already inside, its yellow lettering peering over the top. For as long as we’ve been coming to Coney Island, the Suh family has been rolling these signs in and out of the shop at the beginning and end of the business day.

Mrs. Suh in her family's souvenir shop on the Boardwalk. Photo © Tricia Vita//me-myself-i via flickr

Mrs. Suh in her family's souvenir shop on the Boardwalk in happier days. April 1, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita//me-myself-i via flickr

Compared to Ruby’s or Paul’s Daughter, the closing of Coney Island Souvenir and the other small businesses on the Boardwalk attracted very little media attention. In Bloomberg’s New York City, seeing a shuttered store where a longtime business was yesterday is so common that it’s not newsworthy unless the place is a local legend or the last of its kind. Even the blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, which has paid tribute to hundreds of vanished places since 2007 couldn’t possibly cover them all. After looking up VNY’s first year-end tally— “Combined, we’ve seen close to 1,000 years of New York history vanish in 2007”– we didn’t have the fortitude to continue the count.

Last November, when the Boardwalk Mom and Pops were fighting their eviction, we first came across this 2009 article on the web: “New York Closes Shop” by small business advocate Stephen Null. It contains some stunning statistics on the number of small businesses that have closed during the Bloomberg administration:

A reliable way to evaluate the stability of New York City’s small business community is to examine the number of Commercial Warrants for Eviction. The majority of these warrants are issued to “holdover commercial tenants” whose leases have expired, and who can’t afford to pay the new, higher rent. The consensus of business organizations is that these warrants represent about one third of small businesses; the ones that stay and fight in court. The other two-thirds walk away without a fight.During what many consider the reign of terror for small businesses — 1986-1989, the last 4 years of Koch’s term — 17,433 warrants were issued to evict small businesses, out of approximately 53,000 total small business failures. During the last full four years under Bloomberg, 2005-2008, 27,809 warrants were issued to evict, with about 83,000 small businesses forced to close. Since the successful businessman Bloomberg took office, around 152,964 small businesses have been forced to go out of business.

Keep in mind Null’s article was published in August 2009 and the stats do not cover the last three years of the Bloomberg administration. Is anyone still keeping track? To these statistics, we add six of the original Coney Island 8: Coney Island Souvenir Shop, Steve’s Grill House, Beer Island, Shoot the Freak, Cha Cha’s and Gyro Corner Clam Bar.

Zamperla’s policy of squeezing out Boardwalk businesses through evictions and offering ridiculously expensive lease deals is counter to the Coney Island Development Corporation’s mission of encouraging the development and retention of existing businesses. If the Coney Island 8 hadn’t fought in court and won a one-year reprieve, it’s very likely we’d have a shuttered Boardwalk and a Miami restaurateur would be bankrupt. The CI8 did the City and Zamperla a favor.

Now let’s see if Ruby’s and Paul’s Daughter can afford to sign those leases that they were offered more than one month ago by CAI, operator of Zamperla’s Luna Park. Sources tell ATZ that negotiations were extended another two weeks. Nobody wants to see the last of the Boardwalk Mom & Pops join the sad statistics of small businesses forced to close during the Bloomberg administration.