Results tagged “coneyisland”

When news broke two weeks ago that Andrew Lloyd Webber had set his hotly-dreaded Phantom of the Opera sequel in Coney Island circa 1919, the AP quoted Webber saying, "[Coney Island] was the eighth wonder of the world. Think of Vegas and then triple it." But the wire service left out the best and most controversial part of that quote, and some Coney Island locals have been insulted a little bit.

Like awaiting the results of a biopsy, we've been dreading the release of further details about Andrew Lloyd Webber's plans to write a sequel to classy Broadway blockbuster The Phantom of the Opera. Webber announced his diabolical plan back in 2007, but suffered a setback when his new kitten destroyed all the music he'd written! But not even the selfless heroism of, um, cats can stop this maestro, and now he's announced quite the surprise.

Yesterday the Dreamland Bell was received at a welcoming ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall; after spending a few weeks at the Coney Island History Project, it will now be temporarily on display inside the Joralemon entrance for two weeks. The NY Times reports that "there are plans being discussed for a tour of other city buildings, including City Hall and the New York Aquarium."

A young Brooklyn woman is in critical condition after being slammed into by a van driven by a drunk driver while she was walking out of work Thursday night. 22-year-old Ukranian immigrant Olga Skibina suffered severe brain, facial and lung injuries after being struck by the van while walking from the medical office she works as a receptionist at in Sheepshead Bay, walking along Avenue Z to her home in Gerritsen Beach.

       

Just two days after diver Gene Ritter recovered it from the ocean floor, the Dreamland bell that sunk during the iron pier fire of 1911, was being rung again. Temporarily displayed at the Coney Island History Project, where it will remain through September 13th, you can pay $1 to give it a ring yourself—and it still sounds good after nearly a century underwater! They explain that "a hose system was set up to keep the bell constantly wet since it has been underwater for 98 years." Also on display are old images of the bell as well as other artifacts Ritter has recovered, including bottles, china and lamps. See more images here.

The old 500-lb brass bell that was lost in the ocean during a massive Dreamland Park fire in 1911, just got a new lease on life. As previously mentioned, the bell was discovered underwater by diver Gene Ritter, who brought it back to land yesterday. The NY Post reports that "the divers used netting and inflatable 'lift bags' to lift the bell, which was later towed about four miles east to the Gateway Marina on Flatbush Avenue, where it was lifted ashore by a massive forklift as a crowd of about 100 people gathering to watch the historic moment cheered on." (ABC News has video.) The bell still sounds good, according to Ritter; it used to be rung when passengers would arrive by steamboat to the iron pier, and it will now be temporarily on display at the Coney Island History Project museum before finding a permanent home in the neighborhood. Ritter added, "We could easily put this on eBay and make $100,000, but our goal is to preserve history."

Very recently Thor Equities' Joe Sitt shut down Dreamland, Coney Island’s biggest amusement park, after a rent dispute with the park’s operator Anthony Raffaelle. Sure, half a million dollars is nothing to scoff at, but the summering masses want their amusements! So Councilman Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. has stepped in, and his intervening has gotten the padlocks taken off the site. In a statement we received this afternoon, he says, “Dreamland provided jobs to the community and was a big attraction for visitors. After discussing the issue with Thor, they agreed to reopen for the Labor Day weekend. I would like to thank Thor recognizing the importance of Dreamland in Coney Island. Thor and the site’s operator have agreed to work out their rent issues in the coming weeks." Upon the closure, Raffaelle had told NY1, "First of all they came down here, they quadrupled everybody's rent in Coney Island. Nobody in Coney Island can pay their rent now."

Back on May 27, 1911 Coney Island was doing worse off than it is today, with Dreamland Park in flames for a full 18 hours, burning to the ground and never again being rebuilt as it was. But a piece of the glory days was just found underwater; the NY Post reports that local divers are bringing up a piece of the past: a massive 500-lb bell that sunk to the ocean floor with the rest of the pier. Diver Gene Ritter told the paper, "I knew the bell existed, but I never dreamed I would find it. I thought it would be buried in mud. I was stunned, especially over the incredible shape the bell is in."

Hurricane Bill washed out one of the last weekends of the summer for most beachgoers after state parks officials closed down most beaches due to the dangerous conditions brought on by effects of the storm. But when surfers got wind of the fact that sea was foaming like a bottle of beer, they simply told the State Parks Department, "The waves are comin', but we ain't got no fear." Officials said that 2,000 surfers, some from as far as California, showed up at Montauk—the most ever counted out there. And one Long Beach manager told Newsday, "You're supposed to have a pass. The surfers refuse to come out of the water when they're waved in to check their beach passes."

If Thor Equities was hoping to win over public opinion, we're not sure this is the way to go: The developer which owns the land where Dreamland Amusement Park sits (the former Astroland site) has shut down the amusement, claiming non-payment of rent. Thor spokesman Stefan Friedman tells the Post that Dreamland has only paid $30,000—and owes $600,000, "We are hopeful that Dreamland will soon pay its rent, so it can quickly reopen the rides." But Dreamland president Anthony Raffaele told NY1 he has been paying rent, "First of all they came down here, they quadrupled everybody's rent in Coney Island. Nobody in Coney Island can pay their rent now. And now they come down here and cut all the locks. Why'd they wait till now, if I haven't been paying the rent, it's two weeks away from the end of the season." City Councilman Domenic Recchia criticized Thor owner Joseph Sitt as "a heartless person who only cares about money."

Now that Ringling Bros. have been caught in the act beating their animals, the Coney Island sideshows are on the PETA agenda. The NY Post reports that the organization is concerned about a capybara, the world's largest rodent, being "victim of a daily assault of noise, cramped conditions and inhumane treatment."

Move over, Canada geese. The New York Post has a new public enemy in its sights—the city's 1300 lifeguards. This weekend the paper caught a shot of one of the Parks Department employees in Coney Island off his chair (but seemingly on-duty) coming down to the sand and "canoodling with a lovely." The picture captures his floatation device going unused as his flirtation device works its magic. The most recent indiscretion comes on the heels of a week in which the Post caught lifeguards with iPods on and drinking beer in their tower after hours. Catching the young employees acting so irresponsibly on the job is not just raising the tabloid's ire; they also talk to Chris Bewster, president of the US Lifesaving Association. He says, "It's indicative of very poor management of these beaches...What is extraordinary about the pictures that are coming out of New York is that they do it in front of everybody else. It suggests they don't fear that, if they're observed, they will be disciplined." The rate of swimmers to die on NYC lifeguards' watch hovers around 3x greater than the national average.

Did you hear the one about the Coney Island Globe Tower? Today the Library of Congress posted a bunch of old New York Tribune covers in their Flickr pool, one displaying the ambitious tower, where the plans for it were announced in May 1906. Inside, investors were offered "a ground floor chance to share profits in the largest steel structure ever erected...the greatest amusement enterprise in the whole world...the best real estate venture." The Globe Tower would cost around $1,500,000 to erect, and the man behind it, Samuel Friede, was looking for the means to make it happen.

The lease held by Nathan's Famous at Stillwell and Surf avenues on Coney Island doesn't run out for 18 years, and CEO Eric Gatoff insists, "We expect to be in that building forever." But some Coney Island lovers are still freaking out over Mayor Bloomberg's rezoning plan, which was recently approved by the City Council. They worry it leaves the hot dog icon vulnerable, because there's nothing in the plan to stop a developer from buying the property (owned by the Handwerker family, which founded the original Nathan's) and building a nice 20-story hotel tower. An application for landmark status was submitted by Coney Island USA to The Landmarks Preservation Commission years ago, but no verdict has yet been issued. Now over 130 people have signed an online petition in the past few days demanding landmarking, and Coney Island USA founder Dick Zigun tells the Daily News, "To not have Nathan's would be insane... You don't want the new Coney Island to be indistinguishable from a suburbanized, homogenized, standardized amusement park off the New Jersey Turnpike." Speak for yourself, Zigun—the Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags makes the Cyclone seem like a kiddie Teacup ride.

Coney Island sideshow operator John Strong is still battling to get the former 5-legged-dog back from the nice lady who saved her from a life in freakshow hell. The dog underwent a bit of a rush operation when Strong announced he planned on taking a legal route to get her back; later he expressed his desire to reattach the leg. It doesn't get much freakier than this guy! And now the Daily News reports that the showdown will be aired on Fox, of course.

No fancy-schmancy tally counters here: many of the supervisors don't even use pen and paper to take census; they just "estimate" mentally and log the numbers later. As Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh explains, "Crowd estimates are notoriously difficult to do well or accurately...Beaches in particular pose a challenge because beaches are pretty dynamic places. People are flowing in and out all the time."

An elderly woman taking a walk outside her building was killed by a stray bullet yesterday afternoon in Brooklyn. Witnesses tell WCBS 2 that they saw 87-year-old Anna Surman "feeding cats in the courtyard at Surfside Gardens, where two of the buildings house seniors." The Daily News reports that Surman was hit around 4:50 p.m: "'Me shot, me shot. Someone shot me,' Surman screamed, recalled Neyla Andreyeva, 71, a neighbor. Bleeding heavily from a wound to her neck, Surman collapsed on the concrete and was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where she died a short time later." Residents are upset with the growing violence, with one telling the NY1, "Another day out here I guess. There's been several shootings happening for the past week, three days out of the week. It's happened like almost everyday," while a community activist told WCBS 2, "We don't understand all the nonsense that is going on with the guns, but it really needs to come to a close." The police, who will be reviewing surveillance footage, seek two gunmen who were spotted fleeing the area.

After years of discussion, the City Council voted 44-2-1 in favor of rezoning Coney Island per the Bloomberg administration's plan for the 27-acre area, which includes hotels, retail shops, and a new roller coaster. And it looks like the city is working out a deal with Thor Equites' Joe Sitt, the developer who bought much of the land at Coney Island in hopes of his own ambitious hotel-amusement park plans.

Stop it, John Strong. Just. Stop. It. The Coney Island freakshow proprietor is hell bent on getting his 5-legged puppy, even now that it has undergone a procedure to remove the extra limb. He declared, “I’m going to get it back on the dog. I don’t like people cutting off my puppy’s leg. When it became personal, and she’s (Siegel) being made out as a hero, and I’m being out as a bad guy, that’s not fair to me … (I’m) not going to be portrayed that way, at least not without a fight.” Mr. Strong, sometimes bad press is bad press. And that is certainly all it will be if you re-attach a 5th leg to a cute little innocent puppy. The HSUS's Patrick Kwan told us, "I think what's important for the dog is a loving, caring, permanent home and no animal deserves to be made into a spectacle. I doubt anyone would consider a Coney Island freak show to be the best home for an animal, especially considering Coney Island's future is often up in the air." Indeed. But at least he's no longer showing his two-headed baby (or maybe he is, photos aren't allowed inside his show).

In case you missed the update, the 5-legged puppy that was saved from a life in a freakshow was brought under the knife ahead of schedule to have her extra leg amputated yesterday. Coney Island's John Strong had been threatening legal action to attain the pup, since he had put a down payment on the canine before the current owner Allyson Siegel stepped in. CNN has video of the dog prior to her operation:

Congratulations John Strong, you are giving Ringling some competition in the cold-hearted, animal-hating, soulless human being contest. The Coney Island freakshow proprietor, who recently relocated here from California, is trying to get custody of the 5-legged pup that a North Carolina woman saved from a lifetime in sideshow hell. Strong had handed over a $1,000 down payment when Allyson Siegel convinced the seller (who was told by Strong that the dog would be going to an "amazing animal farm") to sell it to her instead. Her story touched so many that a Manhattan vet even offered to amputate the extra leg at no cost, an operation scheduled for next week. However, now Strong says he's the rightful owner of the dog, and is hinting that he'll take the case to court ("I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!"). Our Hero, Siegel, declared: "over my dead body." UPDATE: The amputation was done early! This morning the pup went under the knife in part because of this threat by Strong.

Despite objections from Save Coney Island and others, the City Council's land-use committee approved the city's controversial rezoning of Coney Island, putting the plan on track for full Council approval on July 29th. Some opponents were hoping the committee would send the plan back to the drawing board so that the proposed open-air amusement park be expanded and four high-rise hotel towers planned for the south side of Surf Avenue could be relocated. According to City Room, Councilman Dominic Recchia Jr. hinted that the city may expand the amusement area, but that will only happen if the Bloomberg administration can finalize a long-stalled deal to buy 10.5 acres of land from developer Joe Sitt before the full council votes. Sitt, who could probably best Bruce Ratner in a douchiest developer contest, told the Post yesterday, "I'm the guy who controls this—it's my sandbox." He added that he's willing "to share my sandbox with my friend Mayor Mike," but Mike wants to buy the land outright, and hasn't ruled out seizing the sandbox through eminent domain.

If you've ever queued up for a spin on Coney Island's landmark Wonder Wheel, you may have noticed that one of the cars is really going to the dogs. Well, one dog, at least: Sunny, a 12-year-old Rottweiler who guards the property by night and rides in car number four by day. Amos Crowley, who has worked at Deno's Wonder Wheel for the past 10 years, tells the Daily News, "Some people think it's funny, some people think it's cruel, but the dog thinks otherwise. We don't do it to be funny; we do it because she likes it. It's tradition. It's been going on for years and years."

There's one thing certain about the future of Coney Island: there will be no 5-legged dog in John Strong's freakshow. A North Carolina woman named Allyson Siegel changed the pup's fate when she outbid Strong and paid $4,000 for the animal.

Coney Island already has Michael Jackson’s Dragon Wagon Kiddie Coaster (albeit only temporarily), but now they want another piece of the King of Pop! Don't stop til you get enough, etc. ATZ reports there's an opportunity to snag a Neverland ride on a permanent basis, as the bumper cars designed for and by Michael Jackson are up on the auction block at eBay. The man behind the auction is carnival owner Earl “Butch” Butler, who brought the aforementioned Dragon Wagon to town. The bidding is currently at $46,100.00 (and has not met the reserve price), and the Coney folks are suggesting Mayor Bloomberg buy it as a gift for the City of New York. Should Coney Island consider a new design plan: Neverland II?

      

Joey Chestnut is now well on his way to a Kobayashi-like dynasty after winning his third consecutive Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. Chestnut jumped out to an early lead on his archrival Takeru Kobayashi and never looked back on his way to a new record of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Kobayashi did everything he could to hold pace with Joey Jaws, setting his own personal record with 64 1/2 dogs—both men eclipsing the mark of 59 they both hit to send them into overtime a year ago. Chestnut even broke the 2007 record of 66 dogs that he set back when the old rules gave competitors an extra two minutes in regulation.

     

In the warmup to today's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, yesterday there was the pachyderm vs. homosapien showdown over eating Nathan's Hot Dog Buns. And perhaps to no one's surprise, Ringling Bros. Circus elephants Bunny, Susie and Minnie ate 505 buns in six minutes—while Juliet Lee, Gravy Brown and Eric "Badlands" Booker could only chow down 143. Circus production manager Jason Gibson told the Daily News he was confident, "Our girls train every day. They eat 150 to 200 pounds of food a day. I knew they'd do fine," said Jason Gibson, circus production manager.

       

Yesterday the top dogs of competitive eating faced off at the scales. Reigning champ Joey Chestnut and six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi were weighed in prior to their annual July 4th Nathan't Hot Dog showdown tomorrow. Chestnut, 25, came in at 218 lbs, to his 31-year-old competitor's 132 lbs. The two have faced off four times, with each taking home the belt twice, so this year will be a tie-breaker. Chestnut currently holds the world record, with his 2007 performance of eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes

During an all-day public hearing to review the city's rezoning proposal for Coney Island, the City Council seemed poised to veto the plan, which would designate part of the area as parkland to create a new 27-acre indoor-outdoor amusement district and encourage the development of towers up to 27 stories tall, expanded retail spaces, and 4,500 new housing units (800 of which would be built to be affordable units). Zoning Subcommittee Chair Tony Avella essentially recommended sending the plans back to the drawing board, which would be a victory for developer Joe Sitt, who's at a stalemate with the city over 10 acres of land he's bought up and refused to sell for city's offered price. But when pressed by council members yesterday, Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky admitted that the city is prepared to do whatever it takes to obtain Sitt's property: "I'm not saying we will use eminent domain, but in fairness to your question, I'm not saying we won't." If the plan moves forward to the full council, a vote must be held by July 29th, or by July 13th, if it wishes to modify the plan and send it back to the Planning Commission.

You can ride on a piece of Michael Jackson history right on Coney Island! That sounds weird, but it's true. The Dragon Wagon Kiddie Coaster is the very same one that used to reside in Michael Jackson’s private amusement park at Neverland Ranch. Reportedly Earl “Butch” Butler, CEO of California-based Butler Amusements purchased the ride last year. Butler is old pals with recent Coney addition John Strong "whose sideshow has been operating in Sitt’s would-be Dreamland since April. Strong kept calling him and said they were having trouble getting rides. Butler agreed to fly out and see the situation. His impression: 'Coney Island needs upgrading.'" And that's how a piece of Neverland ended up in Brooklyn. [via Amusing the Zillion]