Good evening and welcome to this gathering where we can post whatever is making us happy and share those little pleasures of life with each other.
My story tonight is a bit longer and much more informative than than usual. It is even political and of course I took some pictures for you to see. It is long but there is the occasional Easter egg.
Tonight my story is both a public service message and a happy story of time well spent.
The public service message, the last great amusement park in New York City, Astroland is getting very close to the final day when New Yorkers can enjoy a day of family fun.
This amusement park is just a shadow of its former glory and can hardly compete with my childhood memories of Coney Island but after Labor Day it will be closed on weekdays and after September it may never open again. So get there if you can.
And my happy story is that three weeks ago I did go and had the time of my life.
My earliest memory of Coney Island was both bad and good. The extremely long subway ride and my mom making us stay on the hot sand because she thought we would drown in the ocean turned both my brother and me into early beach haters. A hot dog and crinkle cut fires before getting back on the D Train from the first to the last stop was one of my fondest memories of childhood. At five years old I had my first Nathan's Hot Dog!
Three weeks ago I met up with my old friend that I haven't seen in years and went back to the source. While you can get the same exact hot dog almost anywhere now, there is nothing like the Original Nathan's Famous;
Also the home of the Famous Mustard Yellow Belt that signifies what many Broklynites once called a gavone;
New York, NY, July 4, 2008 - Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., today won the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating Takeru Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan in a five-dog overtime after both ate 59 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in the 10-minute regulation match.
The two competitors were tied at 59 hot dogs and buns at the end of the 10-minute contest. To settle the contest, Major League Eating officials contest organizers held an overtime round. Chestnut and Kobayashi were each given a plate of five hot dogs and buns. The first one to finish their plate won the contest. Chestnut finished his plate in 50 seconds, seven seconds before Kobayashi.
Or maybe Nathan's does taste better at the original source. Perhaps that salty air is an ingredient that can't be duplicated in most shopping malls and roadside stops. The old stand sure is popular on a warm sunny day;
Neither of us are as familiar with Coney Island as the many Amusement parks from our area that are all gone now. We had both been there plenty of times but we were both Riockaway babies. Coming from an Irish neighborhood in the Bronx, Coney Island was never our premier amusement park but at least it is still there. So we went to walk around the only game left in town, enjoying a day in the sun talking about the defunct amusement parks we remember so well.
My old friend moved to the Rockaways a few years back. There was once Playland at Rockaway Beach that we used to call the Irish Rivera. That one lasted into the days of the Ramones and my old pal spent all of his summers there. I was a frequent visitor joined it the fun full time as an early adult by chipping in to rent a summer bungalows there myself in the 1970's.
We talked about those days that were handball court mornings followed by beach afternoons and after a little summer barbecue, drinking at the bars that wrapped around Playland. We rented bungalows there the year the Concord was introduced and the sound of the supersonic transport became a lunchtime alarm clock for us. Playland had an extensive arcade for those rainy days and it was where I moved from Skee-Ball to Pinball. I fondly remember that right outside that arcade, the first time Mary Anne Fennel heard Jungleland she was sitting barefoot on on hood om my Dodge, sipping warm beer in the soft summer rain.
There isn't even a plaque anywhere to be found in Rockaway to remember those days of fun. It is just a quiet residential neighborhood that sees a great deal of transient foot traffic on warm summer days from the A Train to the beach.
Since Coney Island seems to be going the way of Playland we didn't see as much family amusements as we would have liked. The southern tip of Brooklyn is no longer as George Tilyou once said, "Coney Island, between June and September, is the world."
Coney Island has a tourist tradition that goes back far longer than the Rockaways and the whole area deserves preservation. Ever since travel became available to the middle class, tourist from Middle America who had never seen an ocean have been flocking to Coney Island when they visited New York for shopping and Vaudeville. Besides George Tilyou beginning construction in 1897 on what may have been the greatest seaside attraction of all time Steeplechase Park there was Luna Park that began in 1903 and lasted until 1946.
Luna Park has a playground named after it and there is a fascinating structure left over from Steeplechase, The Fun Place so they both did better than Rockaway Playland but the rest of Coney Island is in big trouble.
I had a letter to the editors that was printed in the Daily News a few weeks prior and it was burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted to speak with the man who wrote that letter but being friends since around eight years old we had other things to discuss and seeing how that friendship is forty-five years old now we needed plenty of time to digest those hot dogs before listening to any aggravating news. Besides there was also a roller coaster in that direction, so we walked along the boardwalk and out on the old Coney Island pier to see what evidence we could find of the heyday of Brooklyn and talk with the local fishermen;
Then we went to see the man who wrote that letter and get the real story, as opposed to what most New Yorkers are hearing "Mayor Bloomberg saved Coney Island." The writer of that informative little letter is no politician. He is the sort of person you can trust. Dick Zigun owns a Freak Show:
As the self appointed mayor of Coney Island wrote in his letter of resignation, Coney Island surf should remain working people's turf;
Coney Island has been smothered by good intentions emanating from City Hall, perhaps never more dramatically than in the 1960s when the city tore down most of the dilapidated structures along Surf and Mermaid Aves. but never quite got around to the rebuilding part. There have been so many plans for Coney Island's future that the paper they were printed on would reach higher than the horses atop Steeplechase Park - if Steeplechase had not been torn down as part of one of those plans.
But when Mayor Bloomberg turned his eyes to Coney Island's future and assigned the CIDC to develop a master plan, I thought that this time things would get better. I was wrong.
Thor Equities, led by a shopping mall magnate with no experience in amusements, had bought most of the property currently zoned for amusements, including Astroland Park. Thor proposed high-rise hotels, apartments and commercial establishments for land where rides now sit. Since that would have gutted the amusement area's future, outrage echoed from Coney Island to City Hall, and Thor was forced to back off.
Then the NYC government did what it always does;
Then suddenly, the city presented a new plan with no hearings, no public input and not even an opportunity for directors of the CIDC to discuss it. The new plan, the focus of the June 24 hearing at 6 p.m. at Lincoln High School, would allow four hotel towers south of Surf Ave. in the amusement area, including one that would block the view of the landmarked Wonder Wheel from the subway.
Since the founder and director of Coney Island USA wrote his letter back in June the future of Astroland has become even more uncertain. What I learned from Dick Zigun is that Bloomberg saved absolutely nothing and the only parts of Coney Island that will remain are the few attractions that have received landmark status. The "hero mayor" has re-zoned the entire amusement and arcade area for high rise apartments.
There are famous small legacy businesses along the street one block from the ocean but the personality of Surf Avenue is breathing its last breath. Two blocks from the ocean on Mermaid Avenue is a real neighborhood of low income housing facing gentrification but the city can raise the tax base. Bloomberg wants to transform Coney Island into a Brooklyn version of Trump City.
Endangered by the actions of a greedy government is the seventy-five year tradition of tasty treats at at Williams Candy, the joy of the Eldorado Bumber Cars, the fun of Fascination and the warm friendly faces to go with the custard at Denny's Delight. But once all of that personality is gone and the good government of this blue city has transformed the commercial space to a big business void, they won't have to worry about embarrassments like The Waterboard Thrill Ride;
We walked around Astroland and the surrounding amusements and instead of hearing what most New Yorkers believe, what we heard from the many concession owners is that their leases will not be renewed in 2009 and the Coney Island traditions will be killed by the people who promised to preserve it.
So much for landmark preservation, the last amusement park in New York City will disappear without a sound;
What we saw instead of family amusements was 34 vacant acres and a cross in the dirt;
The view from some spots on the boardwalk was rather pleasant. This was also once an amusement park;
One of the attractions that will remain is the Wonder Wheel that began construction ninety years ago is still there and even Mayor Bloomberg can't get over on the Landmark Preservation Commission that was founded when New York knocked down Pennsylvania Station. Bloomberg tried to transform it into a relic but at least the tradition of Deno's Wonder Wheel will continue. Soon the view will be of tall buildings on three sides but at least the ocean view is safe for now;
Another attraction that we could see from the wasteland that was once Amusement Park and now waits to become shopping malls or a hotel is the most famous Coney Island landmark. Another structure that they can't take away. Something that has already become a relic;
This landmark, the only portion of Steeplechase Park still standing today that was moved from Queens to Brooklyn in 1941 is also a remnant of the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows Park.
Even though the Parachute drop ceased operations in 1968, I do recall seeing when this ride functioned but never actually had the pleasure of descending on the the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn."
The ride was based on functional parachutes which were held open by metal rings throughout the ascent and decent. Twelve cantilevered steel arms sprout from the top of the tower, each of which supported a parachute attached to a lift rope and a set of surrounding guide cables. Riders were belted into a two-person canvas seat hanging below the closed chute, then hoisted to the top, where a release mechanism would drop them, the descent slowed only by the parachute. Shock absorbers at the bottom, consisting of pole-mounted springs, cushioned the landing.
That landmark drums up many memories for World War II veterans. Back when New York was the last American port before going off to war in Europe and the first port for those that did return, the reasonable prices at Steeplechase Park was a must for soldiers and sailors seeking entertainment.
At 262 feet tall, for many returning from the war, that landmark was the first sign of America seen on their voyage home. I remember once talking with a man who fought in Europe and he said "That Parachute Drop represented V-E Day for me as much as the famous Eisenstadt Times Square photo represented V-J Day."
Now the skeletal remains of what was once a Freedom Tower in New York is all that is left of "Steeplechase the Fun Place" and that historic landmark from an era when freedom actually meant something in America now serves as the gateway to the home of a minor league baseball team that was named after Cony Island's remaining roller coaster. Just a boardwalk landmark with a historical significance that is forgotten by so many;
Both of us being native New Yorkers in our early fifties, walking around an amusement park, the conversation eventually got around to the most memorable amusement park. Just across the river, the five roller coasters of Palisades Amusement Park is something many New Yorkers can talk about for ages. This park that sort of like the Jim Morrison of amusement parks has been closed since 1971 has never really died.
That Cliffside Park-Fort Lee, New Jersey dynasty may just be the most famous amusement park of all time. There is actually a Palisades Amusement Park Historical Society and commemorative tee shirts are not a rare sighting in New York.
Every Baby Boomer from the Tri-State area fondly remembers the Come on Over commercials.
Palisades has the rides, Palisades has the fun,
Come on over.
Shows and dancing are free, so’s the parking so cheap,
Come on over.
Palisades from coast to coast, where a dime buys the most,
Palisades Amusement Park, swings all day and after dark.
Ride the coaster, get cool in the waves in the pool,
You’ll have fun so, Come on over.
Even Chuck Barris played a role in the romancing of Palisades Park when he wrote a song and the rest of the nation was enticed by Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon singing Palisades Park.
Last night I took a walk after dark
A swingin' place called Palisades Park
To have some fun and see what I could see
That's where the girls are
I took a ride on a shoot-the-chute
That girl I sat beside was awful cute
And after while she was holdin' hands with me
My heart was flyin' up like a rocket ship
Down like a roller coaster
Back like a loop-the-loop
And around like a merry-go-round
We ate and ate at a hot dog stand
We danced around to a rockin' band
And when I could, I gave that girl a hug
In the tunnel of love
You'll never know how great a kiss can feel
When you stop at the top of a Ferris wheel
When I fell in love down at Palisades Park
In the New York area Palisades Amusement Park lives on in so many memories. For many it was seeing some upcoming band that made it big at the free stage shows that were put on by the "WMCA Good Guys." I actually saw Chubby Checker there and did the twist with Chubby. For some it was, like in the Freddy Cannon song, meeting that first love.
One of the great stories from Palisades Amusement Park was the legend of the broken fence, where New York area teenagers thought they were getting over, unaware of the fact that the owners broke the fence themselves because they knew those kids who "sneaked in" would spend every penny anyway.
Both Rockaway and Coney Island had a little something in common with the broken fence at Palisades Amusement Park but it didn't benefit the owners. Back then the city of New York felt that the strap hangers who commuted from the far off Rockaways and the Briton Beach area should have to pay twice. At these stations you had to pay to get off the subway.
Now sneaking onto a well guarded subway isn't easy because you can only go so far but sneaking off is a different story. In an era when parents let their children out of their sight most kids went to the ocean side amusement parks with the double fare in their pockets but no self respecting New York City street kid was paying to get off the train.
Those big cops weighed down by all of their police gear never had a chance against us fleet footed kids. The planning an execution of getting off the train was exciting. The thrill of turnstile jump followed by the sudden stop before the big cop was worth the risk. A fake to the right staircase and when the cop committed in that direction, a run down the left stairs, sometimes taunting them with the song Officer Crumpky.
The city greatly resented a few thousand kids in their early teens getting over so sometimes there would be a blue wall at the Coney Island or Playland stations so we would go one more stop and walk back. Sometimes it worked out better and either the cops were busy chasing the kids from the last train or taking a break and then we could just calmly go under the turnstiles.
The best part of this good clean fun was in the going home. Going home we had to actually talk to the cops on the night shift. We needed to beg for a free ride because we spent all of our money on the rides in the amusement park. Unlike Palisades Amusement Park neither Coney Island nor Rockaway Playland charged an admission but there were still plenty of ways to spend all the money.
I remember the big slide at Palisades so fondly and the saltwater pool with artificial waves was so cool. My strongest memory of the amusement park was the view from the West Side Highway. The park really dominated the Palisades from just south of the George Washington Bridge. The other memory was how Palisades made me want to grow up so I could meet the roller coaster height requirement. Just like those teenagers who thought they were getting over, I once also thought it was thrilling to buy my ticket standing on my tippy toes.
Three weeks ago we did make the height requirement for the Cyclone;
And the eighty-one year old ride was just as thrilling as it was on my first time, forty years ago;
But I almost lost my camera on this one;
The Cyclone is also a landmark and safe from the wrecker's ball. It probably won't be the same surrounded by condominiums instead of an amusement park. Who know's? Maybe looking in people's windows on the big drop will be fun.
Coney Island has so much personality but I fear it is all about to end;
I do have one memory of Luna Park. It was closed long before I was born but it was a light show and I remember my mother walking into a room with too many lights burning saying "It looks like Luna Park in here!" Maybe my mom was also bring up Coney Island every time I asked for money because she said I was in another Coney Island attraction from before my time "Dreamland." Since Steeplechase Park lasted until 1964 I do have some memories. I clearly remember the Fun House, looking into the rolling barrel and wanting to try a walk through without falling but that is about all.
I do remember seeing the house under what was once the Steeplechase Park roller coaster. The famous house that shimmied and shook from the Thunderbolt Roller coaster that wrapped around it in the movie Annie Hall. That setting that was once a sort of Fun House for Alvy Singer has been gone since 1991.
I do remember another New York Amusement Parks that closed the same year as Steeplechase Park. Some of my fondest memories were of the very short lived Freedomland U.S.A. It was a Bronx amusement park that had an historical theme. I remember riding a Stagecoach through the Old West and taking a Riverboat cruise through American History I was just the right age for this history lesson that opened in 1960 and remember it so well but in 1964 Freedomland could not compete with The New York Worlds Fair. That park is now Co-Op City.
As a child I was a very huge fan of second coming of The New York World's Fair but looking at it in that perspective, big business coming to town to present how they were going to exploit the natural resources of the world representing the death of both Steeplechase Park and Freedomland wasn't such a good thing. Even if I did get to see the Pietà one thousand times from a moving sidewalk, there was going to be a Disneyland competitor in the Bronx that was a history lesson in the Bronx. There were two World's Fair promises that never came true, new sources of energy and the electric car.
The next generation of New Yorkers may grow up with no amusement park memories unless their parents can afford to take them to Disneyland. Thanks Mayor Bloomberg.
This is how Dick Zigun ended his little letter to the people;
One way to illustrate the changes is the proposed fate of the 48 acres in the current amusement core, including 34 acres which now sit vacant. The original CIDC plan would have expanded amusements by an acre, and allowed hotel and entertainment retail on another 35. The new plan cuts 5 acres out of outdoor amusements, and sets aside 6 more for hotels and entertainment retail.
Neighborhood leaders have embraced making Coney Island a year-round destination to draw visitors in the winter months. But shopping and hotels are not amusements and will not be a draw. I may be a phony politician, but even real politicians ought to be able to figure out that the lure of Coney Island will never be NikeTown and a 30-story hotel.
If the city gets its way, it won't be Coney Island anymore. And if we lose Coney Island now, it will be gone forever. That is why I oppose this plan.
That very enjoyable day with an old friend was far from over when we left Coney Island. We drove back to the Rockaways and walked around the site where Playland once stood. We drove to Fort Hamilton and visited with another friend at the Rockaway Beach Alliance. We took sunset photos from Riis Landing. My buddy inspired this one;
After a dinner at Breezy Point we went back to his neighborhood and paid our respects at the two Memorials that now stand in Rockaway. First we visited The Flight 587 Memorial at the Oceanside of Beach 116th St. and the Belle Harbor Firefighters Memorial on the Bayside of Beach 116th St.
It was a sad way to end one of the best days of my summer but it was a very good day.
That’s my Happy Story and I’m sticking to it. What about you? Do you have a Happy Story?