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Photos of the Day: Sandbagging for Sandy in Coney Island

Posted in amusement park, News, Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel, hurricane, Lola Star, sandbags, Sandy, storm preparations on October 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Boutique Owner Lola Star Filling Pink Sandbags as the Storm Blows in. Photo © @Lola_Star_ via twitter

Sandbagging was a popular Sunday pastime on the Coney Island beach and boardwalk in advance of the arrival of mega-storm Sandy. Lola Star boutique owner Dianna Carlin, whose famously fave color is pink, spent the day filling pink sandbags with the help of friends and customers. “Both shops successfully secured with pink sandbags! Now to secure my production/ design studio by the water,” she tweeted. Her neighbors on the Boardwalk, Brooklyn Beach Shop and Tom’s Coney Island, opted for basic black. A double row of white sandbags were placed across the front of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Skee-Ball Arcade.

Sandy Prep: Steve Miller Sandbagging at Brooklyn Beach Shop, Coney Island Boardwalk. Photo © Charles Denson via Coney Island History Project

Lola Star’s adorable pink sandbags and cheerful tweets were a welcome contrast to today’s anxiety-inducing news. This morning, Mayor Bloomberg issued a mandatory evacuation order for Zone A, which includes all of Coney Island, from Sea Gate to Brighton Beach, and other low-lying parts of the City. A significant storm surge is expected on Monday and Tuesday along with possible power outages. Watch the Coney Island Cam to keep an eye on Coney’s beloved Cyclone, Wonder Wheel and Parachute Jump during the storm.

Coney Island’s amusement parks–Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Luna Park and Scream Zone–had to end the season one day early to prep for Sandy. Park workers removed Halloween props as well as tables, chairs, garbage cans and canvas. Some of the rides like Luna Park’s Brooklyn Flyer and Deno’s carousel were partially dismantled. Other rides were folded up or secured.

Sandy Prep: Sandbags at Skee-Ball Arcade in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. October 27, 2012. Photo by Deno’s Wonder Wheel via flickr

Last Chance to Ride But Coney Island Is Open Year Round

Posted in amusement park, Events, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Halloween, last weekend, winter, year round on October 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

Sunset over Coney Carnival, Luna Park. October 12, 2012. Photo © Luna Park Coney Island via flickr

October sunsets in Coney Island have been intense, a last burst of light and color before the Boardwalk amusement parks shutter for the season. This weekend is your last chance to go for a spin on Coney’s rides until next year’s Palm Sunday opener on March 24, 2013! On Saturday ~~and Sunday~~, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Luna Park and Scream Zone open at 12 noon. For kids, there’s Saturday’s Halloween Parade, the New York Aquarium’s Ascarium, Spook-A-Rama at Deno’s and Game World’s Haunted Arcade.

Coney’s Halloween haunts start at 6pm with Nights of Horror featuring two mazes and unlimited rides at Luna Park (October 26 thru 28 27). Dick Zigun’s play “Dirty Work at the Wax Works” runs hourly at CreepShow at the Freak Show (October 25 thru 31 27, October 31 TBD). Beginning at 9pm on Friday night, it’ll be “Bump Bump Bump Your Ass Off” for the last time in 2012 and possibly forever– though we hope not– at Coney Island’s Eldorado Disco Palace of Bumper Cars. The last ride weekend party continues on Saturday night and into Sunday morning with go go dancers, a Skeeball Contest, unlimited Bumper car rides and a raffle of Eldorado tricks and treats.

Eldorado Auto Skooter, Coney Island. September 3, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Does this mean Coney Island’s beach and boardwalk close after Halloween? Not at all. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club goes for their first Sunday swim of the season beginning in November. The high point of the Polar Bear season is the New Year’s Day Plunge, which attracted a record 3,000 swimmers this year and an even bigger crowd of onlookers.

Owners of a few of the new and the newly renovated Boardwalk businesses including Tom’s Coney Island, Ruby’s Bar, Brooklyn Beach Shop and Lola Star Boutique tell ATZ they hope to stay open year-round. “Already our shelves are filling up with tons of new holiday gift items and there’s lots more on the way. We are in it for the long haul,” says Lola Star’s Dianna Carlin. “We are installing a glass storefront and we’ll be open, weather permitting, all winter long!” Michael and Melody Sarrel of Ruby’s Bar have also ordered a glass front – it’s removable in the summertime — to keep out the wintry wind while preserving the famous view of the boardwalk.

October View from Ruby’s Bar, Coney Island Boardwalk. October 13, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Playland Arcade Demolition Under Way in Coney Island

Posted in Real Estate, Redevelopment, tagged arcade, Coney Island, demolition, Horace Bullard, Playland, Stan Fox on October 23, 2012| 9 Comments »

Demolition began today of the long vacant Playland Arcade, which has been closed since 1981. The interior walls were gutted by a demo crew using a small bulldozer. Asbestos removal is slated for Thursday with the exterior walls expected to come down soon afterwards.

ATZ asked former arcade operator and Coney Island regular Stan Fox, who operated Playland with his brother from 1957 until 1971, how he felt seeing the last of the arcade. “As I would walk by the empty arcade thousands of times over the years, in my mind’s eye I would see the ghosts of people who worked in Playland,” said Fox. “I would hear the sound of Skee-Ball going up and down the alleys, the ka-chunk of the plates rolling over, the ding-ding of the pinball machines and the jingling of coins being emptied into change bags.”

Owned by Horace Bullard, the Playland building was posted with a City-issued demolition order in September. Bullard is also the owner of the adjacent Thunderbolt lot, which has been vacant since the City tore down the roller coaster in 2000. In recent days, City workers cleared weeds from the lot. Bullard also owns the landmarked Shore Theater, which is for sale for $13.5 million.

An arcade operated in the Playland building from the 1930s until 1981, according to Stan Fox, who grew up working in his brother’s penny arcades in Coney Island. He says the arcades were operated by four sets of brothers over a 50-year period: the Silver brothers (Silver’s Penny Arcade), the Katz brothers (Star Penny Arcade), Alex Elowitz and Stan Fox (Playland Arcade), and the Getlan brothers, who kept the Playland name.

Alex Elowitz got his start in the arcade business working as a 12-year old change boy for the Silver brothers, says Fox. After a stint in the Army, Alex returned to Coney Island and in 1949 opened his first Playland Arcade on 20th Street and the Boardwalk in the Washington Baths building. Playlands at 15th Street and the Boardwalk and 12th Street and the Boardwalk (where Nathan’s is now) followed.

In 1957, Alex and Stan opened their fourth Playland Arcade in the building currently under demolition. They bought the business from the surviving Katz brother for $50,000 and leased the building from Klein and Moran, who also owned the Thunderbolt. “Rent for the whole season was $15,000 in 1957,” says Fox. “In those days 10th Avenue between 42nd and 49th Streets was Coin Machine Row. We ordered a ton of new equipment and renovated the place.” The brothers operated the arcade until 1977, when they sold the business to the Getlan brothers. In 1981 the arcade machines were auctioned and the business closed, leaving Playland vacant for the past thirty years.

UPDATE February 14, 2013:

The demolition of Coney Island’s Playland Arcade, which got underway in October, was interrupted by SuperStorm Sandy. The job was finished today. It’s gone! Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project managed to save the remaining letters on the facade– L, N and D– and several of the murals. An exhibit is scheduled for this summer.