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A slick Coney Island? Gothamist cannot compute! The city showed off a new plan for the development of New York's own boardwalk retreat that, as the Daily News describes it, is "a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland," turning the "the fading honky-tonk amusement area into a flashy year-round entertainment destination." City officials are behind the effort to bring more business (spas! restaurants! movie theatres! arcades!) to the area, but some worry that the worn-out, almost weary charm of Coney Island will be lost. The Daily News notes that officials are hoping for a Times Square-like revival, but Gothamist doubts there will be throngs of suburban high schoolers trying to find their way to Beefsteak Charlie's before their French Club's outing to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic. A final plan will be presented in the summer. All Gothamist can say is go to Coney Island now to get your old Coney pictures.
The Coney Island Development Corp. is the city organization charged with the new plan. Here's a UCLA site about the old Coney Island. And our recent post on some current Coney tenants being quietly edged out.
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I have an odd relationship with Coney Island. It's really not that fun. The parks themselves are so-so, the beach is dirty, the pier is frequently covered with gobs of rotting meat thrown there by crab fishermen (men fishing for crabs, not crabs going fishing). the local stores are dingy and boring. And yet I can't stop going, and I don't think I'd ever want it any other way. Well, maybe the way it was in the 1920s, with lots of guy sin suits and ladies with parisols being whipped around on that floor covered with rotating discs, but that's about it.
-Keith
Keith, I grew up in the area and you're absolutely right on all counts. It is dirty and run-down in many respects. But at the same time I think I finally figured out what the ultimate allure of Coney Island is.
It's basically still a small town in many ways. All of the rides and attractions are locally owned; something quite rare nowadays. And despite the natural cut-throat nature of the carnival environment, locals do stick together to a degree. And age-wise, old and young mix without an issue.
The place definitely needs some life/money injected into it. But the fear is that the small guy will be pushed out. And in the case of Coney Island, the small guy is the person who kept the place going through good and bad times.
The only good thing about is that Child's Restaurant, on the boadwalk west of the amusement area, would be reopened in some way. The other stuff looks like pure Disneyfication, which besides being a bad idea, will go to waste since despite the spiffing up of the Stillwell Ave terminal, train service out there is still pretty abominable and not enough people will visit to justify it. Coney's OK as it is.
You can see Child's, which is pretty amazing, on
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/Coney2/coney2.html
Here's a petition meant to express opposition to this development.
http://www.petitiononline.com/saveci/petition.html
Kevin, 'Coney's OK as it is.'? C'mon. Let's get real. Even the local there want development. But they want development that keeps the area zoned for amusements (this plan does) and does not push out the small owners (not too clear).
Vacant lots filled with dog crap, used condoms and overgrown with weeds and rats is not 'OK as it is.' in my book.
Clean it up, but don't push people out.
And where do you get the idea that only Child's being revived is just a good idea? How is reviving and renovating the long closed Shore Theatre a bad idea? Or reviving B&B Carousell on Surf Avenue a bad idea?
Also the plan spans from W. 5th to W. 37th Streets. That is a big difference between past plans that only focused on the streets below 15th Street. This is not a plan to destroy the past, but really revive the WHOLE area.
Before people really get all upset at this being another example of gentrification and such, do some research. Much of the area proposed for development is really beyond decrepit at this point.
I can't see the charm in romanticizing empty lots that crack addicts crap in.
>>>Vacant lots filled with dog crap, used condoms and overgrown with weeds and rats is not 'OK as it is.' in my book.
Well, certainly not. I meant let's leave Ruby's, Nathan's, Playland where they are and not bring in a lot of overdevelopment, Starbucks, Subway, etc on the b'walk. You're right, the Surf Avenue area definitely needs a change.
Is B&B closed? It was when I was there last week. Hope not.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Thanks for the clarification. I think we're in complete agreement with that. It personally horrifies me that Starbucks has managed to open shop in nearby Brighton Beach.
B&B Carousell is not exactly closed. But not exactly open. When Mike Saltzstein (owner & everything) for the Carousell died, the place was still opened. But not with the same passion Mike had. He'd be out there all the time--even in the dead of winter--haning out with friends in front of the place and giving rides when he could. So if you've been spoiled by seeing it open at all times in the past, that's just not going to happen anymore.
Nowadays, it's more of a business. It's open when there are crowds. Closed otherwise. And in all honesty, while I like the 'hidden gem' aspect of it being in a storefront next to furniture stores and such, it's really a bad location for it.
Whatever is done for the Carousell, my vote is to move it onto the boardwalk. Riding around and around in circles in a storefront is one thing. Riding the same ride with the sea and sand as a view. Now THAT'S something to get excited about.
If we lose the greenpoint waterfront and coney island all in one year, my heart will break. The development of Coney Island should be in the direction of things like the Cyclones stadium, which are for local use, and the huge majority of Coney Island visitors are from the 5 boroughs, and will probably remain so. I love weedy waterfront, and seedy boardwalk, and somehow hope somehow part of it can stay with us.
"I love weedy waterfront, and seedy boardwalk..."
Ugggh. I grew up in the neighborhood. And saw it and lived through it when it was beyond anything you'd consider seedy nowadays.
You haven't truly lived until you have almost gotten stuck by discarded needles in the sand. Fun city!
Ever go out at night as a kid to get your dad the Sunday Daily News on Sturday night and have to dodge shady characters, beaten up transvestites, drunks, puke, crap and general squalor?
Would probably make a lovely chapter in an urban decay lovers voyeuristic dream-book, but for those of us who had to deal with it face-to-face, the romanticization of it is just slumming. People 'love' squalor and decay when they are a tourist; living in it sucks to say the least.
I know there is a contingent of recently transplanted non-New Yorkers who are entranced by urban decay and squallor, but enough is enough. Ever have to deal ith sewer rats and roaches and weeds on a daily basis? And the crap that it attracts?
Boardwalk fires are depressing. Seeing drug addicts and whores go at it under the boardwalk was sickening (thankfully that area is filled in by sand).
Perhaps the new Coney Island development could integrate a classic 'dark ride' ala the 'Spook-A-Rama' where people can ride through the squalor of Coney Island past.
And for those bemoaning this, remember folks. The owners of Astoland, Deno's Wonderwheel and the Coney Island LCD are all for development and revitalization.
well, if a first wave of gentrifiers can protest a second wave of gentrifiers, then people can love squalor.
it don't have to make sense. it does, however, raise the question of how absolutely fucking sterile the rest of america must be. (or their imaginations?)
I guess the question isn't "should Coney Island undergo some rehabilitation" (at the end of the day, I guess I would like to see it become ncer, safer, and more fun), but is the proposed revitalization going in the right direction?
That said, I do like the spook rides. Anything where they still think a gorilla is as terrifying today as it was when it chased Bela Lugosi and the Bowery Boys around town...
There is nothing you can do with all those projects. There is robbery year round with occasional shooting... I don't think the city can install 10 cops on every intersection 24x7.