Superstorm Sandy | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Superstorm Sandy’

Coney Island’s 24-Hour Dunkin Donuts to Reopen in March

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Dunkin Donuts, renovation, Sandy, Stillwell Terminal, Superstorm Sandy on February 27, 2013| 1 Comment »

Rebuilding After Sandy: Mario Tuna, owner of Dunkin Donuts in Stillwell Terminal, Coney Island. February 22, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

On an average weekday in February, nearly 12,000 people swipe their MetroCards at Coney Island’s Stillwell Terminal, the terminus for the D, F, N and Q lines, but there’s no place to stop and get a cup of coffee since Sandy. Unless you count the food truck at the Stillwell Avenue entrance. Four months after flooding and sewage ravaged the terminal during SuperStorm Sandy, the 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts at Surf and Stillwell remains closed. On Friday we talked with Mario Tuna, the location’s franchisee, who happened to be painting the orange trim when we passed by. “We’re having a grand re-opening around March 15,” he told ATZ. The rehab of the store has been underway since January.

Painting in Progress. February 22, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins first opened in the reconstructed subway terminal in 2009. Due to extensive storm damage, the restaurant had to be completely renovated from the floor up and will get all new equipment. The cost of repairs is the responsibility of the franchisee, Tuna said. After Sandy, the stores that have managed to reopen in Stillwell Terminal are Subway, which is open 24 hours, and the newsstand. Neither of them sell coffee. The Bank of America’s ATMs have also been replaced.

Seasonal shops such as Lola Star Boutique, Brooklyn Beach Shop and two other gift shops in Stillwell Terminal also suffered damage and remain closed. Coney Island Gourmet Shop/Magic Gyro has not been been touched and essentially looks like it did in the days after the storm. McDonald’s on Stillwell and Mermaid Avenues, which was also open 24 hours, remains boarded up and closed but the majority of stores on Mermaid have reopened.

Dunkin Donuts Renovation: New floors, walls. January 30, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Photo Album: Post-Sandy MERCY Graffiti in Coney Island

Posted in Photo Album, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Coney Island, graffiiti, Hurricane Sandy, MERCY, street art, Superstorm Sandy on February 16, 2013| 16 Comments »

MERCY. February 9, 2012, Photo © Bruce Handy via Coney Island Photo Diary

After Sandy, we began noticing the word “MERCY” stenciled on lamp posts and empty signboards in Coney Island. It felt like a call for compassion from a neighborhood devastated by the storm. During last week’s snowstorm, Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy came across three of these graffiti messages. The one above was on a white wall at Paul’s Daughter on the Boardwalk.

POƧT –ИO–MERCY February 7, 2012, Photo © Bruce Handy via Coney Island Photo Diary

On Stillwell Avenue, the “Post No Bills” message on the plywood covering Thor Equities vacant new building was replaced by graffiti saying “POƧT — ИO — MERCY.” Person(s) unknown also pasted MERCY bumper stickers on poles in the amusement area. Have you seen any others? Scroll down for readers’ comments and theories about the graffiti and additional photos. Bruce Handy’s flickr set can be viewed here.

Last Chance to See Coney Island’s 15th Street Sand Dunes

Posted in Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged beach, Coney Island, Hurricane Sandy, sand, sand dunes, Superstorm Sandy, US Army Corps of Engineers, West 15th Street on February 1, 2013| 1 Comment »

On Wednesday afternoon in Coney Island, the Parachute Jump was barely visible through the fog and there wasn’t a soul on West 15th Street. There were only the footprints on the temporary sand dunes, which will not be staying around as a tourist attraction. The sand, which was blown off the beach by Superstorm Sandy, is being cleaned by the Extec screener in the photo below and returned to the beach. As ATZ reported in November, the Army Corps of Engineers established a “temporary storage site,” or TSS, at West 15th Street after moving an estimated 32,000 cubic yards of sand, the equivalent of roughly 12 Olympic-size swimming pools, out of Coney Island neighborhoods to nearby Jacob Riis Park.