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Photo Album: Banksy Brings His Robot to Coney Island

Posted in art, Photo Album, Photography, tagged Banksy, BanksyNY, Better Out Than In, Brooklyn, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, Edward Muniz, New York City, street art on October 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today's Banksy is in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photos via banksyny.com

Banksy in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photos via banksyny.com

WOW! Ask and you shall receive. On Friday, ATZ posted “Banksy Does Bumper Car, Has Yet to Do Coney Island” entreating the famed artist to visit Coney during his month-long “Better Out Than In” tour of New York City streets. Today he made it and our wish came true! Thank you so much, #banksyny. Banksy left this endearing robot spray-painting a barcode on a wall at Stillwell and Neptune. If you’re wondering about the significance of the number, it’s a nucleotide sequence for homo sapiens, according to Street Art News.

New Banksy on Neptune Avenue in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photo © Edward Muniz

The artwork is located at 1402 Neptune Avenue on the Stillwell side of a building that once housed a sign shop called Sign-O-Rama–how appropriate! Since Sandy devastated the neighborhood a year ago, it’s a former convenience store. This morning, ATZ messaged building owner Anthony Ruocco, a cousin to the Russo brothers of Gargiulo’s Restaurant, to give him a heads up about his good fortune and ask him to protect it. Since one of Banksy’s murals has sold for over $1 million, New York building owners who become the “accidental owner of a Banksy” have been hiring security guards and installing rolldown gates.

Photographing the photographers taking photos of Banksy in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photo © Edward Muniz

Ruocco had been asked by the NYPD if he wanted to file a complaint against Banksy. Photographer Edward Muniz interviewed the building’s co-owner who said “I’m happy he chose us” and ordered a rolldown gate after his brother almost painted over the mural by mistake. Muniz had bicycled over to Neptune Avenue to take photos of people who had gathered to admire the Banksy. He noted that no one had tagged or defaced the artwork. “I’m so proud of Coney Island today! Everyone is respecting the piece and each other, everyone is getting their shots and having a good time,” he said in a post on a Facebook group. “I talked to people from all five boros, New Jersey, France and London! And after they got their shots they all walked down to the Boardwalk and Nathan’s to enjoy the sun.”

Rolldown Gate Installed to Protect Banksy in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photo © Bruce Handy

By 5PM, when photographer Bruce Handy arrived, the gate had been installed and the Banksy show was about to close for the day. A pregnant woman persuaded a worker to open the gate so she could pose for picture. Who knows, maybe she’ll name her baby Banksy? Jay Dow of WPIX also showed up, so you can see Coney Island’s Banksy on the 10 o’clock news.

We’ll update this post on Tuesday with info about viewing hours. The work, which is two blocks north of Surf Avenue, has the potential to draw tourists north of Stillwell Terminal.

Selfie with Banksy in Coney Island. October 28, 2013. Photo © Bruce Handy

As noted in our previous post, Coney Island has a rich tradition of street art. Os Gemeos, the Brazilian twins whom Banksy collaborated with on 24th Street in Chelsea have a 130-foot mural on Coney’s Stillwell Avenue across from the terminal that dates back to 2005. Work by Steve Powers, whose Dreamland Artists Club in collaboration with Creative Time brought new signage to Coney Island, can be seen on the staircase at Coney Island USA, the facade of West 12th Street’s Miss Coney Island and Skin the Wire, and the Eldorado Bumper Cars on Surf Ave. Sideshow banners by Marie Roberts have emblazoned the facade of Coney Island USA’s headquarters since 1997.

The Banksy artwork in Coney Island is two blocks north of Stillwell Terminal. October 28, 2013. Photo © Edward Muniz

UPDATE October 30, 2013:

The rolldown gate has been closed since it was installed on Monday evening. Pix of the gate and graffiti added to the wall are being posted on social media by people who came out to Coney to see the Banksy and were disappointed. The building owner needs to have a viewing schedule like the one in Williamsburg!

And it looks like someone's not happy about the roll a door addition to Banksy's Coney Island thing #banksyny http://t.co/i0Zyr3PGuS—
jane ferrari (@barossasaint) October 30, 2013

24hours later, Banksy's Coney Island thing is under roll a door lock & key #banksyny pic.twitter.com/w8Eiqrv6v1

— jane ferrari (@barossasaint) October 30, 2013

What are the viewing hours? Rolldown gate on Banksy robot in Coney Island is currently down. Photo album from Monday: http://t.co/oTS79VJUCs

— Amusing the Zillion (@AmusingZillion) October 29, 2013

Photo of the Day: Sunset at Coney Island Pier by Bruce Handy

Posted in Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, LTL Architects, pier, Steeplechase Pier, sunset, Triton Structural on October 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

Steeplechase Pier, Coney Island. October 6, 2013. Photo © Bruce Handy

Last Wednesday, Steeplechase Pier, which was closed for reconstruction after Sandy, reopened nearly a year after the storm. Over the weekend Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy and his friends returned to their gathering spot to take their first photos of sunset from the new pier. “Last August we started taking photos from the pier. I picked out a spot and returned to take the same photo, to watch how the sun moved across the sky from the same spot,” he says. “Sandy changed our plans but did not stop us. The pier is back and so are we.” The one posted here is a beauty!

The redesign for the reconstruction of the pier, including the fabulous wave-shaped lounger seen in the picture, is by LTL Architects and won Special Recognition at the 31st Annual Awards for Excellence in Design by the New York City Design Commission. The wood on all the benches as well as the handrail wood is reclaimed ipe from the old decking that was on the pier. Vibha Agarwala of LTR Architects told ATZ the construction is complete but there will be some final touches, including bait cutting stations. “We have noticed that people have been cutting on benches and railings but bait cutting stations are in the process of being installed,” Agarwala said. The construction was carried out by T.B. Penick & Sons/Triton Structural, which worked on a number of projects to refurbish New York City’s storm-ravaged beaches. Kudos to all!

Photo Album: Preview of Parachute Jump LED Lights

Posted in amusement park, Photo Album, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Central Amusement International, lighting, Luna Park, Parachute Jump, Zamperla on June 21, 2013| 4 Comments »

On Friday night in Coney Island, the landmark Parachute Jump will be lit with 8,000 LED lights. Brooklyn’s Eiffel Tower will have enough bling to be visible from outer space, advance reports claim. The lighting was installed by Zamperla’s Central Amusements International, which operates Luna Park. Last night, the crowd on the Boardwalk was treated to a dazzling preview of the light show and Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy took this series of photos. “Parachute Jump vibrating to the beat of mermaid’s soul vibrations,” he said, in anticipation of Saturday’s Mermaid Parade.

Originally designed by a retired Naval commander to train military paratroopers in the 1930s, parachute towers were soon modified into amusement attractions when civilians clamored to ride. Coney Island’s Parachute Jump first wowed visitors at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair. Afterwards, the ride became the star attraction at Steeplechase, the world-famous amusement park that opened on Coney’s fabled shore in 1897.

Along with the pier, the Jump’s tower is the sole survivor of the park that once billed itself “Coney Island’s Only Funny Place, Where 25,000 People Laugh at One Time.” The city-owned landmark’s proximity to the Brooklyn Cyclones’ stadium gave it a new lease on life when the ballpark opened in 2001.

Summer officially arrives this weekend. Friday night’s lighting ceremony will be followed by Coney Island’s first fireworks show of the 2013 season and Saturday’s 31st Annual Mermaid Parade.