My
Coney Island memories of former New Yorker Jennifer Howze
Nathan's
has served a mean hot dog for nearly 100 years. For New York, the sausage is
surprisingly small but with a strong aftertaste, accompanied by sauteed
onions in a soft bap. Served with a regular beer and thick, crinkle cut
chips, the bill comes to under a fiver.
Just off the waterfront
at Coney Island, the snack sets you up nicely for the 3.2 miles from one
end of the boardwalk to the other, often walking over crumbling slats and
past a century of arcades and amusement rides. You'll pass Shoot the Freak,
the cold clam and hot shrimp stalls, the wooden rollercoaster and the
aquarium.
You'll see jugglers on the beach, skaters on the boardwalk, Deno's Wonder
Wheel and tired souvenir shops. And you should grab a hotdog and walk the
boardwalk this summer, because Coney Island will probably never be the same
again.
One of the two remaining amusement parks, Astroland, will close at the end of
the season in September, taking with it a slew of arcades, rides and stalls.
The park, one of the prime sites on the waterfront will be boarded up, as
the future direction of Coney Island remains clouded in uncertainty.
Coney Island is just a 40-minute Metro ride from Grand Central Station, a
journey New Yorkers have done for a hundred years.The first carousel was
built in 1876 and the area had its heyday in the 1930s, since when Coney
Island has been in decline. But the future isn't totally bleak.
One protected landmark, the Parachute Jump - "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower"
- was overhauled last year and is now illuminated until 11pm year-round, and
midnight at weekends during the season - although it closed as a ride in
1968.
Two other working rides are also protected landmarks and will continue
operating outside of Astroland: the Cyclone rollercoaster (80 years old last
month and still shockingly terrifying) and Deno's Wonder Wheel, built in
1920, which has rocking chairs that slide down a track. But the uncertainty
is palpable.
Steve, one of two brothers that owns Deno's
Wonder Wheel Amusement Park - the remaining park - has had enough. "I
want to sell up but my brother doesn't. The next four years when they close
the park and board up around us - that could hurt us."
The person causing the uncertainty is businessman Joe Sitt and his company,
Thor, which has spent $100m over the past decade buying up large swathes of
Coney Island, including Astroland from the Albert family last November. Sitt
says he has grandiose plans to build an entertainment, hotel and residential
complex on the front and hopes to start development later this year.
It's a vision that many have no wish to share. Charlie Denson, a Coney Island
resident and author of a 2002 book, A
Coney Island Roller Coaster Family, says: “He (Sitt) wants to build
condominiums but the city won't let him do it. The development isn’t going
to get zoning change.
"A lot of older amusement owners were feeling left out so he was able to
buy up important parcels of land - the city made mistakes as well. But
Sitt's track record isn’t very good. He is trying to push the project down
the city's throat - but you can't have condos and an amusement park
together. It would be a terrible loss.
I have to say that I wouldn't recommend Coney Island as a tourist destination; it's really run down... really... did I say really?!
During the summertime, if you want a true BEACH experience, I suggest taking the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station in Manhattan to Long Beach and walk about 1/4 mile to the Atlantic Ocean. Great beach, nice boardwalk, ok area.
OR, take the LIRR to Freeport and take the bus to Jones Beach State Park, probably the largest and most beautiful beach "for the masses" in the country. It has five miles of boardwalk, plenty of eateries, services and activities, two pools with lockers, family friendly and radio-free zones, even an unofficial gay and nude beach area, and six miles of clean, white sand Altantic Ocean. Get there early on hot summer weekends!
Robert, Brooklyn, NY, USA