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Astroland Star, Signage, Dante’s Inferno & Bonanza Shooting Gallery Up for Sale

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Astroland, Astroland Park, Bonanza Shooting Gallery, Coney Island, Dante's Inferno, dark ride, shooting gallery, signage, signs on December 9, 2015| 1 Comment »

Astroland's Bright and Shining Gate On Surf Avenue, September 7, 2008. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita

One of the eight-foot by seven-and-a-half-foot lighted stars from Astroland’s Surf Avenue gate is in the National Air and Space Museum among other space-age icons, but the second one could be yours for Christmas. Along with pieces of Dante’s Inferno dark ride, the Bonanza shooting gallery, and a variety of signage, the star is among the last vestiges of the Coney Island amusement park being offered for sale. Mark Blumenthal, Astroland’s longtime operations manager, has overseen the sale of the rides since the park closed and was dismantled at the end of 2008. If you’re interested in acquiring an Astro artifact, you can email Blumenthal at astrolandmark[at]aol[dot]com.

Dante’s Inferno demon on crane, Astroland Park in Coney Island- Photo © Tricia Vita. December 26, 2008.

“We’d like to sell the ride as a whole,” Blumenthal said of Dante’s, which consists of the giant demon’s head and torso from the façade, props, track and cars in storage trailers. “But if someone has a home for the pieces, we’d entertain the idea of selling them.” Dante’s Inferno was made by the Italian manufacturer Soli and brought to Astroland in 1971, according to a tribute on Laff in the Dark’s website. More than a dozen stunts created by Lou Nasti’s Brooklyn-based Mechanical Displays in the 1990s are also for sale.

At the Brooklyn Museum, the Cyclops head from Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park’s Spook-A-Rama dark ride, which is going into its 66th year of operation in Coney, is on display as part of the exhibit Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland. Can Dante’s demon make a similar transition from the amusement park midway to the art world? Or what about bringing it home to Coney and exercising a little creative reuse?

Also being offered for sale is the old-timey Bonanza shooting gallery, where you could shoot the piano player. You may recall it was located on the Surf Avenue side of the park next to Gregory & Paul’s. Manufactured by Taylor Engineering, Bonanza shooting galleries first debuted in 1958 and this one was brought to Coney Island by Gregory in the mid-’70s.

“It was redone a couple of years before we closed,” says Blumenthal. “It’s the old technology,” referring to the fact that vintage Bonanza galleries used photocell sensors activated by a bright light source, usually from the rifles. That’s why there were multiple signs saying “No Photography” and why we have no photos. You can catch a glimpse of it in the following video. Refurbished galleries such as “The World’s Largest Bonanza Gallery.” currently on the fair circuit, use an infrared beam of light instead of flashing light.

As we noted in a post in 2013, Astroland’s rides have found homes in Costa Rica, South America, Australia, New Jersey and Brooklyn. Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park brought back the Barbieri Bumper Cars and Scrambler, and together with the Coney Island History Project, the 1960’s Astroland Rocket, which once perched on Gregory & Paul’s rooftop as an advertisement.

Signage from Astroland’s Surf and Boardwalk entrances to the park, as well as the arcade are also for sale.”I miss it, but a lot of us miss it,” Blumenthal says of Astroland. “Now it’s part of history.”

Astroland arcade sign. Photo © Tricia Vita. July 25, 2008

Coney Island Openings & Closings: Power Surge, Arcade, Rainbow Shops, Vintage Shooting Gallery

Posted in Amusement Game, amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged arcade, Astroland, closing, Coney Island USA, opening, Power Surge, shooting gallery, Zamperla on May 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Power Surge returns to Coney Island opened for business on Memorial Day Weekend. May 23, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

Zamperla’s Power Surge, one of the ride manufacturer’s signature rides, opened at Coney Island’s Luna Park over Memorial Day Weekend. The big surprise is that we’re told it’s the very same ride that debuted in Astroland in 2001! As ATZ previously reported, when the Power Surge first came to Coney’s Astroland in time for Fourth of July in 2001, its photo was featured on the cover of Time Out New York. The ride remained in Astroland until 2006 when it was sold to Australia. Zamperla bought it back and refurbished it.

Located in Luna Park’s Scream Zone against the back wall of the Boardwalk Nathan’s, the scream machine was awhirl for most of the weekend. The Power Surge is not the only Astroland ride to come home to Coney Island. Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park brought back and refurbished Astroland’s Scrambler and Barbieri Bumper Cars, and together with the Coney Island History Project, the historic 1962 Astroland Rocket.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Arcade Replaces Rainbow Shop in Thor Equities Building. May 23, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

On Friday we were delighted to find out that Coney Island has one less chain store and one more arcade. Rainbow Shops, a retail chain featuring discount clothing and shoes, will NOT be returning for a third season to Thor Equities retail building in Coney. Gordon Lee of Eldorado Arcade has moved arcade machines into the 2,500 square foot space, which still has the word Rainbow over its door.

It’s surprising news because until last July, Thor’s retail building flaunted two ARCADE signs but no arcades, despite the fact that 15% of amusement frontage was required by zoning regulations to obtain the Certificate of Occupancy from the City. For a long time, it was one of our pet peeves. ATZ wrote about this sham here and again here. Now the two mini-arcades, the minimum required by Bloomberg’s rezoning of Coney Island for this building, have an actual arcade to keep them company.

One of two mini arcades installed in July 2014 at Thor Equities retail building at Surf and Stillwell. May 27, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

We’re sad to report that Coney Island USA’s 1940s Shooting Gallery at 1214 Surf Avenue has been closed. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the nonprofit arts organization is offering the 3,500 square foot Shooting Gallery Arts Annex building for lease at $50 square foot or approximately $175,000 per year. “When a lease is signed we will return it to Deno’s,” Coney Island USA’s Dick Zigun told ATZ. “Until then it might reopen if we can afford machine gun maintenance.”

Made in Coney Island by William F. Mangels, the vintage shooting gallery is the only publicly operating one of its kind that we’re aware of. The gallery restored by Coney Island USA in 2013 is on loan from Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, where it had operated for decades next to Spook-A-Rama and was uncovered during post-Sandy renovations.

1940s Mangels Shooting Gallery, Coney Island USA. August 3, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Intact Mangels shooting galleries are exceptionally rare since most were long ago sold for scrap metal or broken up by antique dealers who sell the targets individually. It brought an authentic, old-timey ambiance to Surf Avenue that will be missed.

CIUSA bought Denny’s ice cream shop and building next door to their headquarters in 2012 for $1.3 million. Unfortunately, Denny’s was one of the first casualties of Superstorm Sandy in Coney Island’s amusement area. The building had to be gutted and at first there was talk of replacing the ruined ice cream machines with a paintball game, mini-golf or a roller rink. What will it house next?

When Coney Island USA bought the building, Dick Zigun told ATZ: “Some day we can transfer air rights from the landmark Childs Building, match the two-story front of Childs then do a setback with an additional five to seven story tower on top of the base,” Zigun noted. The renderings that he showed at a Coney Island presentation at the AIA included a whimsical homage to the Elephant Hotel.

Shooting Gallery building at 1214 Surf Avenue. May 26, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

Photo Album: Four Transformations, One Year After Sandy

Posted in amusement park, News, tagged Brooklyn Public Library, Coney Island, Coney Island USA, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Grandma's Predictions, Sandy, shooting gallery, Steeplechase Pier, Superstorm Sandy on October 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Coney Island

Steeplechase Pier, Coney Island. October 30, 2012. Photo © Jim McDonnell

It’s still painful to look at photos taken in the days after Sandy. On the one year anniversary, from the many photos posted on ATZ over the past year, we’re highlighting four public amenities and amusement park icons in Coney Island which were ravaged by the storm. The four were not only rebuilt but have also undergone a dramatic transformation from the way they looked before Sandy. On October 30, 2012, photographer Jim McDonnell took the first photos that we saw of damage in Coney’s amusement area, including the heartbreaking photograph above of Steeplechase Pier. The 1,040-foot-pier, a popular spot for strolling, sunbathing, fishing and watching the fireworks, finally reopened on October 2nd after several months of reconstruction by T.B. Penick and Triton Structural.

Coney Island’s Reconstructed Steeplechase Pier. October 2, 2013. Photo © Charles Denson, Coney Island History Project via flickr

The sleek new pier, as photographed by Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project, is light years ahead of the pier that preceded it. Originally built by George Tilyou in 1904 as part of his Steeplechase Park, the pier was later acquired by the City of New York City and had to be rebuilt in the late 1950s after a fire.

A waved-shaped communal lounger and benches made from reclaimed ipe from the pier’s old decking are among the new amenities. There’s also a shade structure with letters spelling out CONEY ISLAND that cast an elegant shadow. LTL Architects redesign for the reconstruction of the pier won Special Recognition at the 31st Annual Awards for Excellence in Design by the New York City Design Commission.

Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Mermaid Avenue. February 22, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Nearly a year after being wrecked by Sandy, the Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library reopened on October 23rd after a $2.5 million rebuilding effort. The interior has been completely transformed by Beatty Harvey Coco Architects, a firm which specializes in libraries. Huge photos of Coney Island’s landmark Wonder Wheel, Cyclone and Parachute Jump decorate the walls. Photos of the redesigned library, including new furniture, computer stations and meeting rooms can be seen in “Photo Album: Coney Island Library’s Comeback from Sandy,” (ATZ, October 24, 2013)

The venerable, circa 1923 “Grandma’s Predictions” has been telling fortunes under Coney Island’s 1920 Wonder Wheel all her life. Her inner workings were destroyed by floodwater from Sandy. Grandma, an irreplaceable antique as well as a good luck charm for the Vourderis family who own Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, was taken to arcade restorer Bob Yorburg’s studio in Putnam County for some TLC.

Grandma’s Predictions after Sandy, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island. November 10, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

The rare fortunetelling machine got eye surgery as well as a new wig, dress and wax hands cast from the original mold. A fine new cabinet was hand-crafted based on the design of one from the 1920s. Her motto “What does Grandma Say?”was hand-lettered in gold leaf. Grandma returned to her spot under the Wonder Wheel on Mother’s Day. Get your fortune told — only 50 cents!

Grandma’s Predictions, newly restored 90-year-old fortunetelling machine under the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. May 12, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

One of the casualties of Sandy in Coney Island’s amusement area was Denny’s Ice Cream, established in 1978 and owned by Coney Island USA. The nonprofit arts organization bought Dennis Corines’ building next door to CIUSA’s headquarters in 2011 for $1.3 million with the idea of eventually expanding their arts space. In the meantime, they kept the beloved ice cream shop open, serving banana pistachio cones and other popular treats until the store fixtures were destroyed by Sandy. Since the building had to be gutted, the future renovations had to happen in time for the 2013 season. What to do?

Coney Island Post-Sandy: Interior Demolition of Storm-Ravaged Denny’s Ice Cream, Surf Avenue. November 17, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr. November 17, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

The idea of installing and restoring this 1940s Mangels shooting gallery on loan from Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park came up when it had to be moved during the park’s renovations after the storm. The gallery was manufactured in Coney Island by William F. Mangels, the inventor of such early 20th century thrill rides as the Whip and the Tickler, and the builder of the mechanism for the B & B Carousell. Intact Mangels shooting galleries are exceptionally rare since most were long ago sold for scrap metal or broken up by antique dealers who sell the targets individually to collectors. The Shooting Gallery’s Arts Annex hosts sideshow performances and this year’s Creep Show at the Freak Show, which continues through October 31.