We went to Coney Island on Saturday, despite the numbing wind chill, to shoot some footage for another vid we were making. It didn’t dawn on us, until we there that Jan. 31 was the deadline for Carol Hill Albert to vacate the property. A kind former employee Roy Sargeant, let us into the grounds, […]

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Astroland is dead. Developer Joe Sitt took possession of the property on January 31. (If you don’t care about Coney Island you’re going to find a lot of posts on GL today that you won’t like and, frankly, we’re sorry, but we need to do this.) Owner Carol Hill Albert left behind the water flume […]

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Astroland is now truly dead. Carol Hill Albert and her employees vacated the premises on Saturday night at the expiration of their lease. And so ends and enterprise that began in 1962 with that Space Age Optimism. It now belongs to the Age of 2009 Diminished Expectations and Recession. It is in the hands of […]

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We were lucky enough to gain access to the grounds of Astroland yesterday on its very last day, January 31, 2009, when Carol Hill Albert’s crew was vacating the premises forever by 7PM. A kind soul who had his first paid job at Astroland, named Ray Seargant, who is now with the Department of Sanitation, […]

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[Photo courtesy of me-myself-i/GL Flickr Pool] This is Astroland as it looked yesterday. What a heartbreaking sight and what an unneccessary thing. We do not have positive feelings about any of the people who collectively allowed this to happen.

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There was big fun in Coney Island yesterday as everyone from Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber to Planning Director Amanda Burden showed up during the slush storm to accept the donation of the iconic Astroland Rocket. Astroland owner Caroll Hill Albert gave the rocket to the city. It is being exiled to a […]

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Here’sa cool vid of Coney Island in 1973 that includes footage of riding the Thunderbolt several minutes in. We found it courtesy of gottaloveconeyisland.com, which has a feature on the Tornado, which was demolished in 1977 after a series of arson fires.

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Coney Island’s Parachute Jump was originally part of the 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair. Here it is in action at the Fair.

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A little while ago Astroland owner Carol Albert and city officials announced that the iconic Astroland rocket is being donated to the city and will remain in Coney Island. No landing area was announced, but Ms. Albert said it would be displayed in a “prominent location.” It will also bear a plaque dedicating to to […]

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Pablo Jonesy who shot these photos, writes on the Coney Island Message Board: It was a very sad moment, a dramatic moment.  I only had a short window of opportunity to visit Astroland today.  It was a few moments I will remember for the rest of my life.  I could write chapters about the 30 […]

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Nothing like summer love in Coney Island, lost or otherwise.

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[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool] A part of the Coney Island Boardwalk running from W. 12 Street to Stillwell Avenue is finally being repaired so that people no longer face injury by tripping or falling through the rotting, loose boards. This is an interesting view under the boardwalk, as they say, which will […]

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[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack] Saying anything about this would just be stupid.

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Few people probably have the patience for watching this entire vid, but we definitely suggest checking it out and skipping around. It’s one person’s visions for a huge roller coaster in Coney Island. Def worth a glance.

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[Click to enlarge image] If you thought planning and zoning maps were boring, think again. Well, actually, they are boring and confusing. They’re like the law–meant only to be understood by planning and zoning experts so that only they really know what’s going on and the average member of the public, upon seeing the 40-story […]

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[Photo courtesy Barry Yanowitz] Electricia writes of this pic on the Coney Island Message Board: “I love this photo and also like cats! I found out this kitty is one of what I call the “Cyclone cats”— feral cats living in the precincts of the Cyclone. They are used to going back and forth across […]

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Of all the things to end up discussing after the city’s massive Coney Island plan was released, the fate of Nathan’s famous seemed unllikely. We figured we’d be talking about the four high rise hotels the city would allow or the dozens of residential towers. But no. One of the biggest items of mainstream media […]

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There’s a benefit coming up on Thursday for Coney Island USA that is called “Save Coney Island” (which is an entirely different effort) on Thursday (1/22). Per the email that land in our inbox: Starting at 7PM, everyone is invited to come show their support for Coney Island and enjoy: Complimentary wine from George Spirits. […]

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[Photo for GL courtesy Deborah Matack] Back to Brooklyn, from history being made in Washington. We got an email from the Chair of Nathan’s famous, in effect, calling BS on stories that its flagship stores at Surf and Stillwell Avenue could be history. The zoning for the site (allowing a bigger building) has been part […]

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No sooner had embargoed new renderings from City Planning landed in the GL Inbox yesterday afternoon than an email showed up from the Save Coney Island group, urging opponents of the zoning scheme to attend tomorrow’s meeting. (The image above is a download that people were asked to print and bring to the City Planning […]

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This is “a rendering of new Wonder Wheel Way which will provide a direct connection between the Parachute Jump and the Cyclone via the Wonder Wheel.” The seven-month land use review process for the Coney Island rezoning and redevelopment plan starts today. (GL is the only blog to reproduced all the new renderings early this […]

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[Click to enlarge image] Remember how The Future of Coney Island domain which was being used by developer Joe Sitt was allowed to lapse and became a Belgian porno site? Well, the owner of the site has spoken, posting on the Coney Island Message Board and even putting up a message, which is screen capped […]

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It looks like there is a nascent movement starting to block the construction of the $64 million outdoor ampitheater and Jones Beach-like concert facility in Coney Island championed by Borough President Marty Markowitz. The facility would be adjacent to residential towers housing thousands of people and destroy much of Asser-Levy Park. It appears, however, that […]

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[Photo for GL courtesy of Deborah Matlack] This is the Lola Staar Boutique, one of the gems of the Coney Island boardwalk, being cleared out. The photo was captured by our dedicated contributor Deborah Matlack. Ms. Staar (Dianna Carlin) has been an outspoken critic of developer Joe Sitt and was told on Christmas Eve that […]

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The Municipal Art Society held its session to talk about its recommendations for redeveloping Coney Island, which we summarized on Curbed yesterday, and to showcase some of the ideas and renderings that members of the public had submitted. We were unable to attend the meeting due to a previously scheduled personal commitment, but one attendee […]

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