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Posts Tagged ‘Coney Island’

Photo of the Day: Easter Bunnies in Coney Island

Posted in Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Bunny headgear, Coney Island, Easter, Easter Sunday on April 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Easter Sunday on the Boardwalk. April 4, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Coney Island’s Palm Sunday opener is a warm-up for Easter Sunday, among the busiest days of the season for the amusement rides and games if the sun shines. And it is! Today’s weather tweeted by NY1: “Lots of sunshine on this Easter morning. Expect temps around 53 by noon and reaching 62 as an overall high!”

Never mind the Easter bonnet, bunny headgear is hot in Coney Island aka Rabbit Island. According to dictionary.com’s “What’s the difference between a bunny, a rabbit, and a hare? (What does it have to do with Coney Island?),” until the 18th century rabbits were called coneys and Coney Island is one of the only references that is still used in North America. Hope we don’t miss you in the throng!

Photo of the Day: Granville T. Woods Memorial Trolley Pole

Posted in history, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island Hall of Fame, Granville T Woods, Stillwell Avenue, trolley, trolley pole on April 4, 2012| 5 Comments »

Trolley Pole from the 86th Street Line on Stillwell Ave at Mermaid Ave. March 23, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Outside McDonald’s in Coney Island is Stillwell Avenue’s last remaining trolley pole, a vestige of the 86th Street trolley line which went from Bay Ridge to Coney’s Stillwell Terminal and ended in 1948. Located at the corner of Stillwell and Mermaid Avenues, the trolley pole is now used by Mickey D’s to advertise lunch specials, but we’re naming it the Granville T. Woods Memorial Trolley Pole because this street corner happens to be Granville T. Woods Way. It appears to be the last trolley pole on Stillwell Avenue.

Granville T. Woods invented the overhead conducting system which made the trolley possible. He held more than a dozen patents for electric railway technology including a power distribution system first tested and demonstrated to the public at Coney Island in 1892. In 2008, the African American inventor was honored with the street naming and was inducted into the Coney Island Hall of Fame.

As far as we know, Coney Island has forty-four surviving trolley utility poles. In February, ATZ wrote about the loss of two century-old poles on Surf Avenue and the 43 that remain on Surf (“Thor Destroys 119-Year-Old Relics of Coney Trolley History,” ATZ, February 21, 2012). When trolley service on the Surf Avenue-Seagate line ended on December 1, 1946, the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce requested that the poles on both sides of Surf Avenue be left in place in the amusement area to be used for holiday decorations.

Stan Fox, the former owner of Playland Arcade, told ATZ that about ten years ago, Charlie Tesoro of the Chamber asked him to count the poles on Surf Avenue. “There were sixty-four,” says Fox. “Since then some have fallen down. Others were removed.” The ones in front of MCU Park were removed when the stadium was constructed, he says. Fox updated his trolley pole census and said there are currently 43 poles on Surf Avenue as well as this solitary pole on Stillwell Avenue.

Brooklyn & Queens Transit Trolley 2585 on 86th Street line in front of Stillwell Avenue Terminal, between Mermaid & Surf Avenues. August 11, 1944. North Jersey NHRS Collection via Coney Island Island History Project

BK Festival’s 1st Amusement Rides Arrive in Coney Island

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged BK Festival, Coney Island, flat rides, Steeplechase Park, Thor Equities on April 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

First rides for BK Festival's amusement park have arrived in Coney Island. April 1, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Over the weekend, Coney Island’s amusement parks, which have a total of 60 rides including the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel, celebrated opening day with fanfare. The Eldorado Bumper Cars–the 61st ride–are expected to open for one last season. Meanwhile, the first rides for the BK Festival’s new Steeplechase Amusement Park arrived and were parked on Thor Equities lot on the west side of Stillwell Avenue. ATZ snapped these photos yesterday afternoon.

BK Festival event director Will McCarthy tells ATZ that the first rides include a Himalaya, Scrambler, Bumper Cars, Giant Slide and Fun House. Castle Rock Amusements of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and NJ Party Works of South Amboy, New Jersey are the ride suppliers. The rides are projected to open for Easter on the BK Festival’s Stillwell lot behind Nathan’s. “This is a soft opening with the grand opening coming for Memorial Day Weekend,” McCarthy said.

The flea market vendors along with food stands and trailers are expected to continue on the east side of Thor’s Stillwell lots until the new Steeplechase Amusement Park’s full complement of rides and attractions debuts on Memorial Day Weekend.

Last month, McCarthy told ATZ the flea market didn’t mesh with the Coney Island location and this season the BK Festival will bring in rides and amusements in addition to a smaller number of vendors. As a critic of flea markets on land that historically has been used for amusements, we are thrilled with this new direction for the BK Festival and Thor Equities and wish them success. We’re looking forward to the return of popular flat rides like the Scrambler and the Trabant. With the newly arrived rides, Coney’s ride count is once again going up and is likely to be over 70 by Memorial Day Weekend.

The new park will be the third Steeplechase. In 1967, Norman Kaufman leased part of the Tilyou’s Steeplechase site from Fred Trump and called his park Steeplechase Park, according to Charles Denson’s Coney Island: Lost and Found. The Jumbo Jet, Cortina, Bumper Cars, Go Karts, Batting Cages and a Miniature Golf Course were among Kaufman’s attractions over the years. Kaufman’s Batting Range and Go Kart City was on this piece of land until he was evicted by Thor Equities in 2007.

UPDATE April 22, 2012:

The rides opened last weekend on Stillwell West and have since been moved to the Stillwell Avenue East lot, where permits are in process for a “temporary fair.” According to Will McCarthy of the BK Festival all of the rides will open on Memorial Day Weekend when the Festival brings in additional rides and attractions and debuts as “Steeplechase Park.” In the meantime, the merchandise vendors, food stands and Coney Island Dancers will continue to operate on the Stillwell West lot.