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Posts Tagged ‘Cyclone’

Photo Album: Looking Back at Coney Island’s Opening Day

Posted in amusement park, Events, Photo Album, Photography, tagged Blessing of the Rides, Bruce Handy, Cyclone, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Luna Park, OPening Day, Wonder Wheel on March 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Taking Souvenir Photos at Astroland on Opening Day of the Season. March 16, 2008. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Coney Island’s traditional Opening Day is Palm Sunday, which also happens to be April 1st this year. We’re celebrating the occasion with a look back at favorite photos of Opening Day beginning with 2008. In that year, Palm Sunday fell early–on March 28th–and State Senator Diane Savino gamely joined the hula-hooping party on West 10th Street.

Senator Diane Savino hula hoops at Astroland's opening day celebration. March 16, 2008. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Opening Day is a time for Coney Island aficionados and friends to take the first souvenir pictures of the season, go for a first spin on Coney’s rides and win the first prize of the year. It’s a day for elected officials who represent the neighborhood to preside over the ceremonial openings of the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel and for local boosters to show their pride.

Boy wins his first prize of the 2009 season at Water Race Game on Jones Walk. April 5, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

This Sunday’s festivities begin at 11 am with the Annual Blessing of the Rides by Pastor Debbie Santiago of Coney Island’s Salt N Sea Mission at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, tradition that began in 1983. Free entertainment by face painters, clowns, stilt walkers and DJ Joe follows the ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by park owners Dennis and Steve Vourderis. Children from the mission receive free rides, lunch and Easter baskets full of toys. The first 100 people on line for the Wonder Wheel get to ride the landmark wheel for half price.

Pastor Debbie Santiago, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Dennis Vourderis and Borough President Marty Markowitz at Blessing of the Rides at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. March 28, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

At 12 noon, the Cyclone Roller Coaster opens for the season with the ceremonial Egg Cream Christening of the first car on the ride’s platform. After dignitaries and guests go for the first ride, the first 100 people on line ride the Cyclone for free. The landmark coaster’s first drop was rebuilt this winter, so it will be interesting to hear what the Cyclone’s fans have to say. Following the ceremony at the Cyclone, the rides at Luna Park and Scream Zone open for the season.

Borough President Marty Markowitz Breaking Bottle of Egg Cream with Miss Cyclone Angie Pontani at Cyclone's Opening Day Ceremony March 28, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

While most of the Boardwalk stores, including Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter, are undergoing renovations and Zamperla’s new go karts and Sky Coaster aren’t slated to open till May, there is one new ride to try on Opening Day. The Astroland bumper cars have returned to Coney Island and their new home is Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park.

Coney’s 61 rides and diverse attractions will be open on April 1st from 12 noon till around 8 pm, weather permitting. On West 12th Street under the Wonder Wheel, the Coney Island History Project’s free exhibit center opens at 12 noon. The Coney Island Polar Bears go for their weekly swim at 1 pm and Coney Island USA’s annual Noisefest gets underway at 2 pm.

Thanks as always to ATZ friend and contributing photographer Bruce Handy for his photos of Coney Island’s Opening Day.

Zoltar Speaks joins Grandma's Predictions Under the Wonder Wheel on Opening Day 2011. March 28, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Amusing the Zillion’s Fave 11 Posts of 2011 – Part 1

Posted in Favorites, Photography, video, tagged cat, Charles Denson, Coney Island, Cyclone, Jim McDonnell, The Whip, William F Mangels on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

ATZ’s “Top 10 Coney Island News Stories of 2011” was based on page views, but our fave posts didn’t make the cut. “Sometimes really great posts fall through the cracks, are too esoteric to be popular, or at least deserve another visit,” writes blogger Visualingual, whose exquisite “Looking Back: Best VL Posts of 2010,” (and 2011) inspired us to put together this round-up of ATZ faves. In Part 1 and 2 (tomorrow), you’ll find videos, photos, and an antique image or two to while away the last hours of 2011…

Target the Cat, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

In February we dropped by the Bowery to visit Target the Coney Island Arcade Cat & His Friend Pretty. When the games are open for business, the gregarious Target is likely to be found sitting on the counter of the Balloon Dart. Even in the winter, he can be seen making his rounds.

Also in February, ATZ paid tribute to a legendary Coney Island ride inventor in “Bring Back the Whip! A Birthday Gift for William F Mangels.” But if you want to ride the Whip, you’ll have to take a trip to Rye Playland, Knoebels, Kennywood, Trimper’s or any one of the other parks or carnivals listed on ATZ’s Whip Census in the post. Coney Island, where this classic was invented in 1914, doesn’t have an operating Whip! In this video by sodadaze, you can see the ride in action at Knoebels set to the tune of Devo’s “Whip It.”

In March, ATZ posted historian and Coney Island History Project director Charles Denson’s latest video “Cyclone Roller Coaster: Four Seasons.” This behind-the-scenes look at Coney Island’s landmark roller coaster lets you walk the tracks – summer and winter – and get up close to the machinery in the motor room.

In March, ATZ learned via twitter that Coney Island’s Inexhaustible Cow, a 19th century attraction which dispensed milk for 5 cents a cup, had apparently survived. A Pennsylvania dealer of Americana was selling the wooden cow (milk not included) for $78,000. In Inexhaustible Cows & Bottomless Cups of Chocolate Milk, we looked into the history of the Coney Island cows –there was more than one–and reminisced about bottomless cups of chocolate milk for a quarter at the Michigan State Fair.

Cow, Coney Island from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. New York Public Library, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs

If you’re adept at reading letters backwards you’ll like this Flickr Slide Show: DNALSI YENOC –> CONEY ISLAND. The letters frame the view from Stillwell Terminal as visitors exit onto Surf Avenue. DNALSI YENOC is also the name of a flickr group started by Coney Island photographer Barry Yanowitz. The collection of photos document the view, which changed irrevocably in 2010 when the Henderson Building and Shore Hotel across the avenue were demolished by Thor Equities. A new building –touted as “The Retail Ride of a Lifetime” by Thor– is now rising on the empty lot.

One of our favorite photos of the summer of 2011 is this Photo of the Day: Umbrellas on Coney Island Beach. On the Fourth of July, photographer Jim McDonnell took this amazing shot of Coney Island’s beach brimming with colorful umbrellas. “The 4th itself started out hazy but turned hot, humid and incredibly crowded!” he said.

Photo of the Day: Across the Street from the Cyclone

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Coney Island, Cyclone, Photography, reflections on August 8, 2011| 4 Comments »

This surreal window display is across the street from the Coney Island Cyclone. Located on the north side of Surf Avenue, where the original Luna Park was in business until 1944, the shop is sandwiched between furniture stores that are forever having going out of business sales. If the days of furniture stores named after amusement parks (Luna Park, Astroland) are numbered, it’s because bars and restaurants are blossoming down the block. The flower shop’s window unexpectedly conjures up memories of set pieces from Coney’s vanished wax museums and historical shows, but it’s unlikely we’ll ever see such amusements again on the north side of Surf.