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Video: First Plunge of Season for Coney Island Polar Bears

Posted in video, tagged Brooklyn, cold water swimming, Coney Island, Jim McDonnell, Polar Bear Club, winter swimming on November 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It’s Polar Bear Season in Coney Island! After the rides close in October, the beach is home to the exuberant members of the country’s oldest cold-water bathing club. At 1 pm every Sunday from November through April, the Bears and Cubs plunge into the chilly Atlantic. It’s fun to spectate and take photos from the shore.

Photographer Jim McDonnell, who has taken the New Year’s Day Plunge, made this short video of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club’s season opener on November 6th.

The Club’s increasingly popular New Year’s Day fundraiser for Camp Sunshine draws about 1000 who take the plunge and is open to the public. Aspiring members must participate in 12 swims during the season and be approved by the membership. “We have about 140 full-time members in the club,” Polar Bear President Dennis Thomas told ATZ in a previously posted interview. “At our weekly swims we have been averaging 80-90 swimmers.”

Visit the Coney Island Polar Bear Club website for info on joining a swim as a guest or becoming a member.

To attend, show up any Sunday between November and April at the New York Aquarium Education Hall, on the Boardwalk at West 8th Street by 12:30 pm. Bring your bathing suit (duh), a towel and surf boots or an extra pair of sneakers (you really need something to protect and insulate your feet.) and some warm clothes. We also recommend you bring a friend should you need assistance or want your picture taken on the beach. You will be assigned a “buddy” to swim with and must obey all safety precautions prescribed by the Club.

Video: Coney Island Dancing 2011 by Jim McDonnell

Posted in Events, Music Video, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island Dancers, Coney Island Dancing, dance party, dancing, free event, Jim McDonnell on September 6, 2011| 6 Comments »

“Everyone likes to dance at Coney Island,” says photographer and Coney regular Jim McDonnell, who has been shooting Coney Island Dancing 2011 all summer long. We’ve been anticipating the debut of the second vid in what promises to be an annual series. Jim is a professional film editor and self-described “footage guru” who has a knack for distilling a season’s worth of dance moves at the People’s Playground into a short video.

The 2011 vid clocks in at four minutes and 48 seconds–one minute and 19 seconds longer than Coney Island Dancing 2010–so you’ll get to see more dancers this year. In addition, it’s set to music with a less frenetic tempo and a mellow mood: Intodeep’s “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.” Highlights include the Coney Island Dancers, Mermaid Paraders and performers in Luna Park and the Coney Island Talent Show on the Boardwalk. Music at the Polar Express, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park and Coney Island Flicks on the Beach also sets the stage for impromptu boogying.

If you’re not in this video, or on the cutting room floor, chances are you haven’t spent enough time dancing on the boards. There’s always next summer.

Video of the Day: Let Us Now Praise Coney Island’s Zipper

Posted in Amusement ride, video, tagged Amy Nicholson, Coney Island, Jim McDonnell, Nelson Sullivan, Zipper on July 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Remember Coney Island’s Zipper ride? Check out the first three minutes of “Zipper,” Amy Nicholson’s documentary about “Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride,” on the film’s new Facebook page. “In a market-driven world where growth often trumps preservation,” says the film-maker, “Eddie and his Zipper may be just the beginning of what is lost.” The film is set to be released in 2012. In the meantime, here are a couple of vintage vids to show you what old school carnival thrills Coney Island has been missing since the Zipper left Brooklyn for Honduras.

When photographer Jim McDonnell shot the video “Dave Rides the Coney Island Zipper” six years ago, in July 2005, real estate speculator Joe Sitt of Thor Equities had yet to buy up property in Coney Island and decimate the amusement area. The independently owned and operated Zipper reigned on West 12th Street till it was evicted in 2007. Says Jim: “It was one of the few (if not only) operating Chance Zipper rides that allowed single riders, and you definitely got your moneys worth with a super long ride cycle. Dave is the only rider on this cycle – he’s in car #5 but its sometimes a bit hard to follow. Pardon the crude video work and enjoy the flipping!”

The manufacturer’s recommended ride duration is two minutes (two-and-a half tops), but Dave gets to ride for an astounding five-and-a-half minutes, which was typical for the Coney Island Zipper. The ride cost only $4.00, according to a sign on the ticketbooth. Our fave comment on the next vid’s YouTube page was “I remember when Big Louie ran that ride. He left me in there for a half an hour. It felt like I was in a washing machine left in the spin cycle.”

Take a trip back in time to 1987 and watch Larry Tee and Lahoma Van Zandt ride the Coney Island Zipper in this video by Nelson Sullivan, whose work chronicled the downtown New York club scene in the ’80s. You’ll catch a glimpse of a young RuPaul here and in another vid where the group rides a Swinging Car on the Wonder Wheel. The best part of the Zipper vid is the ride operator spinning the car at both the beginning and end of their ride. The worst part is watching the riders look for a spot to throw up. The Zipper, a notorious “puke ride” on the carnival circuit, was invented in 1968 by Chance Rides and is still manufactured today.