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Posts Tagged ‘Queens’

Video of the Day: Century-Old Forest Park Carousel Awhirl After Off-Season Overhaul

Posted in Amusement ride, historic preservation, tagged carousel, Daniel Muller, Dentzel, Forest Park, Forest Park Carousel, NY Carousel, Queens on April 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

First horse back on the Forest Park Carousel after off-season overhaul. Photo via NY Carousel

The century-old landmark carousel in Forest Park, Queens, is awhirl again after an off-season overhaul intended to keep it running for the next hundred years, said David Galst of NY Carousel, which operates the ride for the City’s Parks Department. “We’re taking anything off the ride that rotates,” explains Galst in the video below documenting the carousel’s dismantling and re-assembly. The work started in November and was overseen by restorer Todd Goings of Ohio’s Carousels and Carvings. What makes this carousel unique in today’s world, says Goings, are the outer row of horses carved by Daniel Muller. “They became too valuable and everybody took the carousels down in spite of the horses to collect them. This one survived.”

In 2013, the Forest Park Carousel was designated an official New York City Landmark, the only carousel in the City to have this honor.

Carver Daniel Muller studied sculpting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He found part-time work in the carousel workshops of Charles Looff in Brooklyn and William H. Dentzel in Philadelphia. Dentzel constructed the frame of this carousel in 1890 and the majority of the carved figures are believed to date from 1903 or 1910. It was originally in Dracut, Massachusetts, and opened at Forest Park in 1973 to replace another Dentzel carousel destroyed in a fire. The carousel has 36 jumpers, 13 standing horses and three menagerie animals – a lion, a deer and a tiger.

Queens’ First-Ever Pinball Tournament in LIC on Sunday

Posted in Events, News, tagged Creek and Cave, Francesco La Rocca, IFPA, International Flipper Pinball Association, Jackbar, Long Island City, Modern Pinball, pinball, pinball tournament, Pioneers Bar, Queens, The Creek and The Cave on February 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Pinball Machines at The Creek and The Cave in Long Island City, Queens, which is hosting their first Annual Pinball Tournament on February 16. Photo by Val Cihak

Queens’ first-ever pinball tournament is coming up on Sunday at The Creek and The Cave in Long Island City. The bar, restaurant, lounge and comedy theater has seven pinball machines, including Star Trek Limited Edition, X-Men Pro and the Wizard of Oz. The club’s first annual pinball tournament on February 16th from 12 noon till 8pm was organized by Francesco La Rocca, who pioneered tournaments at New York City bars starting in 2009. For Sunday’s event, Francesco teamed up with Rebecca Trent, the owner of Creek and Cave and the owner/operators of the pinball machines.

The entry fee for the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) sanctioned tournament is $10, with all money plus prizes paid out to the top 4 finishers. “It could be more if we have big turn out,” said Franceso, who told ATZ that 70 players had registered in advance. Of that number, more than half are newcomers to the NYC tournament circuit. The fact that their names are unfamiliar to the longtime New York City league player and tournament organizer points to the resurgence of pinball. From Modern Pinball NYC’s interactive showroom in Manhattan to New York City bars with one to several pinball machines, there are new opportunities for first-timers to become pinball wizards.

Among the local venues with pinball machines where Francesco has helped organize tournaments are Modern Pinball (32 tables), Reciprocal Skateboards and Pinball (11) and Pioneers Bar (4), all in Manhattan, and Jackbar (9) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Current and upcoming events include Modern Pinball’s Pin-Golf tournament on Mondays-Wednesdays through March 11, and Pioneers First Annual Pinball Tournament on March 16.

One of nine pinball machines at Jackbar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Photo via Jackbar

Qualification for Sunday’s Creek and Cave tournament will consist of one game on each machine (you must play with at least two other players), where top score overall will get 100 points, 2nd place 90 points, 3rd place 85 points, 4th place 84, etc. Each individual’s five scores (assuming there will be five machines in play) will be combined to determine their total point score. The top 16 players will go on to the next round and will be split in 4 groups of 4 players by their seeds. Players will then compete in a survival format until only one player is left in each group.

World’s Fair Icons: Parachute Jump Saved, Why Not the NY State Pavilion?

Posted in historic preservation, tagged documentary, Flushing Meadows Park, Matthew Silva, New York State Pavilion, New York World's Fair, Parachute Jump, Parks Department, People for the Pavilion, Queens, World's Fair on February 3, 2014| 4 Comments »

Ruins of the New York State Pavilion from the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Flushing Meadows Park, Queens. Photo by Matthew Silva via Kickstarter

You cannot think of Coney Island without the Parachute Jump, especially now that it is illuminated nightly. Last night, it was bathed in sea green and blue light to celebrate the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl win. But the iconic tower, which was moved to Coney after first thrilling visitors at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair in Queens, stopped operating as a ride after Steeplechase Park closed in 1964. The Jump endured nearly 40 years of neglect and threats of demolition before being rehabbed and lit with LEDs at a cost of $8.5 million during the Bloomberg administration.

Beginning in 2002, the City’s Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz championed the landmark’s costly revamp as part of their plan to revitalize Coney Island. Will the ruins of the New York State Pavilion, an iconic structure from the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Queens’ Flushing Meadows Park, which the Parks Department says would cost $14 million to demolish and $52 million to restore, find a plan and a champion to underwrite the cost of saving it?

“World’s Fair buildings are not designed to be permanent. They’re meant to be taken down again,” says a voice at the beginning of the trailer for Matthew Silva’s documentary Modern Ruin about the Pavilion. “Somehow there’s always something nobody wants to tear down, and in this case the New York State Pavilion was one.”

The voice is that of Frank Sanchis, director of the World Monuments Fund, which included architect Philip Johnson’s pavilion on their 2008 Watch List. The Tent of Tomorrow is in imminent danger of collapse due to the deterioration of the exposed steel structure and the decay of the wood piles that serve as the building’s foundation, according to WMF, which successfully nominated the Pavilion for inclusion in the State Register of Historic Places in 2009.

The interior of the New York State Pavilion, designed by Philip Johnson, at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. Photo: © Ezra Stoller/Esto/Yossi Milo Gallery

Now as the building approaches its 50th anniversary, it’s in the spotlight again after years of neglect. People for the Pavilion, a grassroots group dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the structure, hosted a kickoff event last month which drew over 200 people. Silva, who is one of the organization’s co-founders, launched a Kickstarter for his documentary about the pavilion, and raised more than $11,000 towards his goal of $30,000 in the first week. The Parks Department held two “listening sessions,” where people were invited to share their vision for the future of the Pavilion after listening to a presentation on recent structural studies that were completed on the Tent of Tomorrow and Towers.

“The reasons for its neglect are open to interpretation and kind of complicated,” said Silva, in an interview with ATZ. “But one could argue that it simply came down to money, poor post-fair planning, and the fact that the City almost went into default in the ’70s. When the city was in such bad financial shape, how could anyone justify pumping money into an old building from the World’s Fair? But here we are 50 years later and maybe now we can make the case for its rehabilitation and reuse.”

UPDATE February 4, 2014:

The Parks Department has posted links to their PowerPoint presentation, which was shown at the listening sessions, and a survey “in order to understand your vision for the future of the New York State Pavilion.” The survey will be posted on the webpage of Flushing Meadows Corona Park through March 15.