Last year, we ran a GL Analysis on Sunday, September 9, 2007, which was “Astroland’s Last Day.” Usually, we can’t deal with even reading old posts, let alone reposting something, but we feel this one is worth another look. The issues haven’t changed at all in the last year. Here it is, as we wrote it almost a year ago today:

Astroland in Coney Island opens today at noon, for what may be its last day ever. In an era of theme parks and corporate merchandising of amusements, it is a simple and charming anachronism, a reminder of an era whose time has gone. Astroland is the State Fair Midway and the carnival that set up in the church parking lot that you remember from when you were a kid. We love its cluttered, crowded, noisy Brooklyn charm. It touches something deep inside us to look past the Astroland sign and see the trains rumbling past, to go up in the Astrotower and look down or to watch the faces of the children in those simple little rides.

Our sadness isn’t so much that Astroland is going, but that it may be going long before its replacement comes along. Next year, if developer Joe Sitt uses the land as a bargaining chip to pressure the city or exacts revenge for a rejected plan or evicts the former owners because he couldn’t squeeze an extra $500,000 in rent from site, the vacant land surrounded by a blue wall of plywood will sit as a dagger through the heart of one of the most diverse destinations in all of Brooklyn. While not as vile as Fred Trump’s invitation to guests to throw rocks through the windows of Steeplechase Park in 1964, the premature demise of Astroland is no less a symbolic violation of the very soul of a place for which many Brooklynites care deeply.

“Mr. Sitt, do the right thing.”

[Photo courtesy of Coney Island History Project/flickr]

Back in 1963, Time magazine had this to say about Astroland, which could die today: “Coney Island’s biggest addition for 1963 is Astroland, a $3,000,000 fun-and-games nexus devoted to space exploration. It has the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet—passengers enter the rocket, fasten seat belts, then blast off with engines roaring as filmed special-effects from actual space shots conjure up a journey to the moon. The Colonel Glenn Sky Ride has 16 plastic bubbles orbiting 80 feet above the boardwalk. For downward exploration the Neptune Diving Bell encloses 30 people, drops them 35 feet down to an “ocean floor” where live porpoises play. Further along is the Double Sky Wheel, a king-sized dumbbell with gyratory center beam supporting two independent wheels that can’t decide whether to plunge suicidally earthward or whiz away toward Mars.” Both the link and the image from the Coney Island History Project, which is open today and has an exhibit on Astroland. A photoset of vintage images of Astroland is here on flickr.

Here are some vids from the YouTube of Coney Island in the past, with an emphasis on some great clips and docs of Coney in the 1940s.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

Tropical Storm Hanna may not have delivered quite the blow of deluge + heavy winds to Brooklyn that had been predicted, but it did produce some very impressive downpours. Here’s the scene on the Coney Island, courtesy of Ruby’s Host.

[Photo courtesy of smile_its_erika/flickr]

We weren’t in Coney or Brighton Beach yesterday, but we’re going to say that it’s safe to assume that it might have been slightly more impressive over by the water than it was further inland. At least, there was significant gloom. This is the view (or lack thereof) in Brighton Beach.

We’ve been mourning the end of summer this year especially, with the finale of our treasured free Brooklyn concerts at McCarren Park Pool. What could ever compare to the DIY aesthetic of the Brooklyn music scene on such a large scale, and in such an unlikely place? But then we got our weekly Sound Fix Records newsletter, inviting us to last night’s grassroots fund raiser for Barack Obama. We were reminded that innovation makes for a great show, scale notwithstanding. The cozy little Williamsburg record store/lounge certainly qualifies as unique. Many of musicians that have played at McCarren Pool and at the Siren Festival have also played Sound Fix (N. 11 & Bedford) at some point. As long as we can still go to Sound Fix for Brooklyn-centric bands like La Strada (who played last night!), the sound of Brooklyn in the Fall is actually pretty nice.
—Katie Lee Rush

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack/Matlack Photography]

The actual “last fireworks” of the season took place Friday night in Coney Island, with a night sponsored by the Cyclones. Photo contributor Deborah Matlack, who does some lovely Coney photography for GL, notes, “They didn’t start until 10:30, I guess they were waiting for the Cyclones game to finish. Don’t know what time the game ended, it went into extra innings.” The photo is from the wonderful vantage point of the Coney fishing pier.

Do check it out.

[Photo courtesy of mugsniffer/GL Flickr Pool]

We often have photos of pretty South Brooklyn sunsets, but they’re nice in the north too. This is a Greenpoint rooftop at sunset.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, the wind and rain are gone and the sun is back as Hannah is nothing but a damp memory. Today’s forecast calls for sunny to party cloudy skies with breezy conditions and (thank you) less humidity. The high will be 88. Tonight will be clear with a low of 64. A great day to go to say goodbye to Astroland in Coney Island.–Accuweather

Astroland’s rides are on the market, featured in a “Liquidatioin” Sale from a firm called Rides-4-U, which is based in Sommerville, NJ. On Thursday, Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert announced the venerable little park will close permanently on Sunday and that she needs to start packing up and disposing of things. So, here we are. The rides were also on the market last year and they’re still listed with the same company, ITAL Intl. It’s unclear how hard or easy it is to move used amusement park rides, but many old rides from American parks often end up in carnivals or amusement parks in Latin America and Asia. The prices span a wide range, but Dante’s Inferno is available for $225,000, the Break Dance is $299,000 and the Kiddie Boats are a steal at $15,000. The Astrotower, which didn’t run at all this year because it needed repairs, is priced to move for a mere $99,000.

Here are our Adoptable Brooklyn Cuties for this week, some killer cute kitties from the Empty Cages Collective:

The kitty featured in the vid is Jadzia Dax. She and her friends are available via the Empty Cages Collective, which is a new North Brooklyn Group which has a large supply of gorgeous felines that really need love and homes. If you are interested in Jadzia or giving out some Kitty Love, be in touch with the collective at emptycagescollective@gmail.com. There’s a full photo set of these babies, who were not in good shape when they arrived. Help them out.

Tropical Storm Hannah continues heading our way. This is the 11AM tracking map from the National Hurricane Center, which puts the storm slightly closer to us than the 8AM track as it moves past us. Tropical storm force winds extend outward 200 miles from the center. (The further to the east that it veers the less severe the impact will be on us.) The forecast is still calling for very heavy rain. If the 4-6 inch estimates hold, it could present some major flooding problems in prone areas like Gowanus. If you’re out there or shoot any interesting pics of Hannah’s impact on Brooklyn send them our way at thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com or put them into our Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool. Maps and charts from the National Hurricane Center here. They’re updated every three hours, with new tracks coming at 2PM, 5PM, 8PM, 11PM, etc.

With Astroland ostensibly about to have its “last day” tomorrow, the Save Coney Island group is looking for volunteers to hand out flyers this weekend (pictured above). Here’s the email making the rounds and posted on the Coney Island Message Board:

We Need Volunteers to Pass Out Save Coney Island Flyers This weekend!!! Come one, Come all! Contribute a few sunny hours of your time to SAVE CONEY ISLAND this weekend!! Please pick up stacks of flyers to distribute at: Lola Staar Souvenir Boutique on the Coney Island Board walk between 12th Street and Stilwell Ave. or Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink on the Coney Island Boardwalk at 21st St or Coney Island USA- Sideshow by the Seashore on the corner of Stillwell and 12th Street in Coney Island. Email any questions to Save.Coney@gmail.com. Please pass this request on to ALL Coney Island lovers! ! ! We need people to pass flyers out in Coney Island and throughout the city!

The weather should clear in time for some serious flyer distribution in Coney Island on Sunday.

PortSide New York, which is headquartered on the wonderful retired tanker Mary Whalen, which is docked at the Brooklyn Container Port, is having a Volunteer Day tomorrow (September 7). We got an email from PortSide Director Carolina Salguero asking for volunteers to help with painting and prep work. Here is some of it:

There IS a volunteer day on Sunday. If the storm sticks around making it too wet to paint, we can work “down below” on interior spaces…as to volunteering, if you can’t make Sunday and would like to come another time, please get in touch.
* Sun 9/7 12-6pm. Please put in at least 2 hours.
* Enter Red Hook Marine Terminal at corner of Hamilton Ave and Van Brunt St.
* PHOTO ID REQUIRED to enter the terminal. RSVP. I need to give a list of names to the guard in advance.
* Anyone who would like to volunteer during other hours, please get in touch to discuss. We’ll take help at any hour!

Barbecue afterward. For more information and to RSVP contact carolina (at) portsidenewyork (dot) org. We’ve been aboard the Whalen a number of times, but the most interesting visit was this one, when she was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs in the Winter of 2006-07.

NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth) is having a Town Hall Organizing Meeting in early October, per the group’s great new blog, Neighborhood Watch:

Save October 2 for NAG’s Town Hall Organizing Meetin. Our neighborhood is facing major challenges. The L Train is crowded, the G never comes. We need more open space. We need more affordable housing. We need to keep our neighborhood unique. You can be part of the solution. Join our chorus of old and new neighborhood voices at NAG’s Town Hall Organizing Meeting; Thursday, October 2, 2008, 7:00p; Holy Ghost Hall, 159 N 5th Street (between Bedford and Driggs).

In the meantime, do check in on Neighborhood Watch.

We won’t normally post a TV ad, but this Bank of America ad was shot at Astroland, and given that it’s Astroland Time here at GL, we figured we’d put it up. If you’re not into watching B of A propaganda, just pass it by.

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool]

With Tropical Storm Hanna moving up the coast and Astroland closing tomorrow, we zeroed in on this photo of the end of Labor Day Weekend dropped into our GL Flickr Pool by Rubys Host. Summer memories, yes?

The Quaker Cemetery in the Prospect Park is surrounded by a tall fence topped by barbed wire. “I suppose one has to protect one’s self from our stupid fucking local teen pseudo-thugs. Barbed wire though? Zowee. Don’t be like that, baby. I thought we were Friends. Actually, I’m kidding. I really do have respect for their wishes. If someone doesn’t want you on their property, I think you should stay the fuck out. If the Quakers prefer we not be stomping all over their graves, I think that’s awesome. I mean we do have the nation’s #1 funereal tourist attraction right down the street – Greenwood Land.” Check out the tour of the cemetery from outside the fence.–Snark in the Park

[Photo courtesy of rembklyn/GL Flickr Pool]

Here is the Gowanus Canal reflecting some of its tagged up surroundings in another gorgeous shot submitted to our GL Flickr Pool by rembklyn.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory right now it is doing nothing. But that will change. Tropical Storm Hanna continues to head in our direction, bringing the threat of heavy rains a strong wind gusts. Today’s forecast calls for wind and rain. It will be breezy and humid this morning. “Heavy tropical rainfall will lead to flooding.” The high will be 79. More tropical rainfall and wind tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch effective through Sunday morning. The forecast is still calling for the possibility of up to 6 inches of rain.–Accuweather

[Photo courtesy of Charley Andrisano]

This gorgeous shot comes from frequent GL Photo Contributor Charley Andrisano. He writes: ” I shot this about 8PM on Wednesday evening, as the sun had already set. I wanted that beautiful glow you get, after the sun sets. A time exposure of 20 seconds, with my camera set on a tri-pod, and this is the result.” A nice result it is, too.

We’re inaugurating a new GL Feature today called GL Lost & Found, in which we’ll hope to reunite a lost object and the person who might have found it with the original owner. We’ll be culling our material from multiple sources. While we won’t identify people or print email addresses, except anonymous ones in the case of Craigslist, we’ll be happy to make the hookup when we can. In any case, here’s today’s installment:

Lost — colorful LeSports Sac (diaper bag)
I feel like an idiot posting this but….I lost my diaper bag today on Union Street between 5th and 6th ave. Has anyone seen it?

If you have that diaper bag, be in touch or leave something in the Comments Section. We have noticed that there are many missing diaper bags in the Slope, Carroll Gardens and environs.

We noted this back in August, but it’s worth repeating now that the Summer Torpor is lifting: there will be a Seventh Avenue Restaurant Tour coming up on Thursday, September 18. Here are the details from an email:

The Park Slope Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the first 7th Avenue Restaurant Tour. On Thursday, September 18, from 7pm – 10pm. Please join us for a stroll along 7th Avenue, between 16th and Flatbush where your favorite restaurants (and maybe a few you haven’t yet discovered) will be sampling some of their signature dishes. The samples are free, so bring your friends and your appetite. See you on 7th Avenue !!! For a list of participating restaurants ( and growing fast every day) and more info please contact Buyinbrookyn@gmail.com.

Now, free samples does sound appealing.

Are you a member of our rocking Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool? More than 120 local photographers are and they’ve contributed more than 1,800 photos since Spring. We’d love to see your work and to be able to feature it here. Please join the GL Flickr Pool and/or tag your pics “gowanuslounge.” Also, we do take non-flickr contributions for posting too. Send your photos (or anything else for that matter) to thegowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com.

[Photo courtesy of rembklyn/GL Flickr Pool]

Two guesses as to the body of water in this great shot from frequent GL Flickr Pool Contributor rembklyn. If you said Gowanus Canal, you’re right. And it does look beautiful in this shot.