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John Strong Sideshow Makes Coney Island Comeback at Cha Cha’s

Posted in sideshow, tagged Cha-Cha's, Coney Island, John Strong, sideshow, Strange Girls on May 22, 2011| 7 Comments »

John Strong's Strange Girls Sideshow at Cha Cha's of Coney Island. May 21, 2011 Photo © Diana Taft Shumate

Cha Cha’s Club on the Coney Island Boardwalk is already a sideshow and we mean that as a compliment. On Saturday, the longtime home of wild women and wise guys welcomed John Strong’s sideshow aka the “Strangest Show on Earth.” Starting this weekend, Cha Cha’s will feature a troupe of Strange Girls, including a totally tattooed leopard woman.

Around 5:30 on Saturday, John Strong and his crew were seen raising a couple of gorgeous banners on the rooftop of the club, which is adjacent to Scream Zone’s Boardwalk entrance. The banners tout a beautiful girl with the body of a snake, a double-bodied girl and other female freaks. As old-pro sideshow banner painter G.M.Caldwell famously proclaimed: “It’s the front of the show that gets the dough.”

Once the banners were flying, a girl with a Burmese albino python draped round her neck stood on John Strong’s ticketbox while the showman brought out another snake. The bally began. Cha Cha’s has hosted the Squidling Brothers and other sideshows as late night entertainment, but as far we know this is the first time they’ve had a bally out front, which is a time-honored way for sideshows to gather potential customers. Patrons paid $2.00, the price of a child’s ticket, to see the show.

John Strong's Strange Girls Sideshow at Cha Cha's of Coney Island. May 21, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy/Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

The Strange Girls and Giantess banners were last flown in Coney Island in “Dreamland,” a temporary assemblage of amusements brought by Thor Equities to the former Astroland site in 2009. But Joe Sitt shut down the amusements and John Strong, whose Texas- based sideshow tours the carnival and fair circuit, has been trying to make a Coney Island comeback ever since.

Strong’s “World’s Finest Shows” with its 150-foot “world’s largest bannerline,” is currently playing Kings County Fair with Reithoffer’s carnival. The fair is at Aviator Sports in Marine Park through May 30. Strong is also eyeing two additional locations in Coney Island for his museum and freak animal show: 1109 Surf Ave near Jones Walk and another spot on 12th St. and the Bowery. The 12th Street location is the former site of the Coney Island Arcade, which was destroyed by a fire and is currently being demolished. We’ve heard of at least two other parties hoping to rent the site for rides and/or games, so Strong may have to make do with two locations in Coney island.

Last May, Strong’s on-again, off-again deal to lease the Grashorn Building, Coney’s oldest, from Joe Sitt fell through and he made a deal to set up on the north side of Surf Avenue across from the Cyclone. ATZ contemplated the possibility of Coney Island hosting a trio of rival sideshows in 2010, but it was not to be. Will Coney Island host a multiplicity of sideshows this season? The more the merrier school of thought is that a concentration of sideshow talent is good publicity for Coney Island.

Update, May 31…

Cha Cha’s stint as a sideshow with a Boardwalk bally was officially over on Saturday night. John Strong’s sideshow can now be found at the 1109 Surf Avenue location near Jones Walk. From the F train on Sunday afternoon, I could see he’d already gathered a crowd. Having the sideshow bally and ticketbox out front at Cha Cha’s drew onlookers, but Cha Cha’s bar lost business. People didn’t realize you could walk past the talker and just have a drink at the bar. Or they’d buy a ticket for the show, but not a drink. Now if you go to Cha Cha’s, there’s live music with a $5 cover which includes one drink.

Update, June 5th…

John Strong’s freak animal show, including live as well as mummified and pickled specimens, is set up at the corner of West 12th and Bowery, on the site of the now-demolished Coney Island Arcade. Both shows left Coney Island on June 12th and are on the state and county fair circuit.

John Strong's Strange Girls Sideshow at Cha Cha's of Coney Island. May 21, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy/Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

Will Coney Island Host a Trio of Rival Sideshows in 2010?

Posted in sideshow, tagged Coney Island USA, freak show, John Strong, Luna Park, Todd Robbins on May 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

John Strong Worlds Finest Shows Banner © John Strong

The on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again saga of John Strong’s Freak Show returning to Coney Island for a second season is on again! Or so we’re told…

After losing his bid to rent Thor Equities’ Grashorn Building and Stillwell lots, Strong says he’s now made a deal to set up on the north side of Surf Avenue across from the Cyclone. The lot, which is not owned by Thor, is next to the West 8th Street subway exit and was cleared at the beginning of the 2010 season for parking cars. Having met John last summer and covered this story since January, we can’t say we’re surprised by his unstoppable efforts to make a Coney Island comeback. It’s telling that the logo of his show is Atlas carrying the globe on his shoulders. It’s quite a burden since Strong will have to travel all the way from Bossier City, Louisiana, where he is playing the fair at Harrah’s Lousiana Downs.

If the deal is indeed a go, the surprising thing is that Strong’s show would be the first amusement business on the north side of Surf since the B & B Carousell closed in 2004. The north side has long been considered the wrong side of Surf to make money since it gets very little foot traffic. People who’ve come for carnival fun aren’t about to cross the street for furniture stores galore. But John Strong intends to prove them wrong. Here is an excerpt from an email that he sent us yesterday…

It is with pride and pleasure to announce that the John Strong World’s Finest Shows will return to Coney Island and open across the street from the Cyclone on May 28th. Todd Robbins will warm them up and I’m going to take their money home. We have a giant 200 x 100 lot across Surf from the Cyclone. The bannerline will be the largest and the most beautiful in the world stretching from the Cyclone to Little Russia… 200 feet. I don’t give up too easily. I’m one of the very few in all of showbiz that has enough experience, flash and knowhow to get the people to cross in the crosswalk at the corner of Surf and 10th to our ticket box a mere 25 ft away on a lot that nobody else could utilize except me.

We may put a bellydancing snake charmer on the bally. We may put a live two headed cow on the bally or the six legged cow on display for free photos. We may have six live human oddities on display. We may have the Chupacabra breaking out of a crate….

Since I’m at a casino, I will be taking bets on how many people we can get to cross the street this summer. My show will turn heads and turn the tip into the greatest freakshow on earth.

Sincerely,
John Strong World’s Finest Shows
World’s Greatest Sideshow Showman
Savior of Coney Island
Director of the Coney Island Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center
Proud Producer of the Greatest Sideshows on Earth

Todd Robbins Banner by Johnny Meah via http://www.toddrobbins.com

If Strong’s sideshow returns, Coney Island will boast a trio of sideshow operators come summer. Coney Island USA’s world-famous circus sideshow starring Donny Vomit, Heather Holliday, and Serpentina will be operating 7 days a week with the addition of a new girlie freak show. Tickets cost $7.50 for adults, $5.00 for kids, and are well worth the price. New kid on the block Luna Park will feature two free sideshow performances on Friday and Saturday nights starring sideshow luminaries like Erik “The Lizardman” Sprague and Natasha Veruschka, the world’s only sword swallowing belly-dancer. The Lizardman, who performed at CIUSA as a guest artist last August told ATZ, “I’m just happy that reports of Coney Island’s death continue to be greatly exaggerated and I am looking forward to working there again this summer, both at Luna and Sideshows by the Seashore.”

The Luna Park shows are produced by Todd “Coney Island Wonder Worker” Robbins, former president of the board of CIUSA and current “Post-Modern Master of the Sideshow.” When Strong writes, “Todd Robbins will warm them up and I’ll take their money home,” he is referring to Robbins’s show in Luna Park. But we think a free sideshow is more likely to cut into the receipts of ticketed attractions than send them customers. Mom to kids: “But honey, we already saw the sword swallower!”

When Strong came to Coney last year, the media played up the Battle of the Sideshows angle, just as they did years ago when Strong’s stepfather Bobby Reynolds had his show in the bank building on 12th Street and the tabloids wrote about “dueling sideshows.”

The more the merrier school of thought is that a concentration of sideshow talent is good publicity for Coney Island. The new Luna Park is expected to draw bigger crowds to the amusement area, too. It will be fascinating to see how this friendly rivalry plays out on the bally platforms and at the cash registers this summer.

New sideshow banners by Marie Roberts on Coney Island USA’s Building advertise this summer’s special guest freaks. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

Sideshow banners by Marie Roberts on Coney Island USA’s Building advertise last summer’s special guest freaks. June 9, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

Scoop: Deal to Rent Thor’s Coney Island Lots a No-Go for Fair Producer

Posted in Coney Island Redevelopment, Real Estate, tagged Coney Island, Joe Sitt, John Strong, Mark Lovell, Stillwell Avenue, Thor Equities, Universal Fairs on May 13, 2010| 4 Comments »

Will Thor’s lots be devoid of amusements again in 2010? Thor Equities lot at Bowery & Stillwell in Coney Island. August 22, 2008. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Will Thor’s lots be devoid of amusements again in 2010? Thor Equities lot at Bowery & Stillwell behind the Henderson Building in Coney Island. August 22, 2008. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Mark Lovell of Tennessee-based Universal Fairs flew to New York on Monday to sign a lease for Thor Equities’ lot on Stillwell behind the Henderson Building in Coney Island. But the deal turned out to be a no-go, just as it had for the parade of carnival and park operators who’d preceded him. The deal breaker was the fact that he was offered only a one-year lease, according to Lovell. Since it’s so late in the season, Lovell needed two years to recoup the $150K rent plus the $250K investment.

“I passed on the deal,” Lovell told ATZ in an interview. “The reason no one is renting is a termination clause without cause. If Thor thinks it’s too sunny, if they think the operator has bad breath. They don’t need a reason. They can kick you out. They said if someone comes in and wants to buy our property we don’t want to have our hands tied. We want to have total control of our property.”

It’s a loss for Coney Island and New York City because Universal Fairs is a successful promoter and producer of a variety of shows and expos across the country. Among their events are the Delta Fair and Music Festival, Austin Fair and Music Festival, Arizona’s Chandler Ostrich Festival and Louisiana’s Bossier City State Fair. The company whose motto is “World Class Fairs, World Class Results” was ready to invest $250K in capital improvements for sewers, restrooms, electrical, stadium lighting, and a go-kart track. Carnival rides, a petting zoo and John Strong’s sideshow and freak museum were also part of Universal Fairs’ proposal for Coney Island 2010.

Giantess Banner Painted for John Strongs Sideshow in Dreamland Park, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Giantess Banner Painted for John Strong's Sideshow in Dreamland Park, Coney Island. July 25, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

This piece of news means that the on-again, off-again, on-again saga of John Strong’s Five-Legged Puppy, Tripod the Three legged Duck and his dozens of other freaks returning to Coney Island in 2010 is off again. The deal-in-progress had been a rumor on various message boards for the past few weeks. Whether you’re a fan or foe of Strong’s freak show, the sorry fact is Thor’s Stillwell lots are looking to be dark and deserted come Memorial Day weekend.

John Strong, who lost his much publicized bid to lease Thor’s Grashorn Building, which is now slated for demolition, was resigned to the fact that his second try at a Coney Island comeback had fallen through. “I have a deal with Rob Zombie with my show for a month or more. I’m very excited with it, but we will miss you and Coney Island,” he wrote in an email.

Lovell told ATZ that with only two weeks left till Memorial Day Weekend, his discussions with Thor’s agent Sam Sabin at first centered on whether it would be possible to get all the permits in time. City officials said it wouldn’t due to the very tight time frame. Thor’s people introduced him to a permit expediter but “the guy didn’t know how to get a permit,” said Lovell. “Then I said, before we go any further, are you gonna give me a long term lease? No. Well give me a multi-year lease. Thor won’t give multi-year leases.”

Thor Equities ad in February's Funworld Magazine

The fact that it would cost $10K to take down the framework of Thor’s tents from last year’s failed flea market was seen as yet another obstacle by the promoter. Although the sidewall and tops have been taken down since we wrote about the tattered tents, the framework remains standing. “They won’t take it down. It costs 10 grand to take it down,” Lovell said. “I don’t understand why they have signs up and advertise the property for rent, then they put obstacles in the way of renting it for $150,000—that’s chump change to them.”

Despite all that, Lovell says he would like to come next year and that the people he met in New York City and in Coney Island were super nice. Mark Lovell struck us as a nice guy, too. Hey, come back anytime! Preferably after Joe Sitt flips the property to the City. As ATZ reported last month, with the grand opening of Luna Park and the return of Ringling Brothers Circus, Coney Island’s stakeholders are busy planning an exciting summer season. Thor Equities has yet to announce any tenants or plans for Sitt’s remaining Stillwell parcels, though plans to demolish four historic buildings were released to the media. What kind of game is Joe Sitt playing in his Coney Island sandbox this season? We’ve been mulling it over, so stay tuned. Or if you have a clue, please let us know!