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Coney Island may be getting revitalized, but some standbys are getting hurt. lornagrl posted a photograph of Shoot the Freak damage yesterday. She writes, "They have begun to bulldoze the racetrack park and in the process damaged the Shoot the Freak attraction. It's expected to run another year on the board walk." We bet the STF will be able to get some damages to repair the site, but is it too cynical to think this was deliberate?
Last October, the Post reported that Shoot the Freak will supposedly get the chance to move into Thor Equities' new complex for fun and games. It's unclear, though, whether Thor really will have space for amusements - the developer may just be focusing on condos. There's a debate about how many condos the city will allow.
Photograph by lornagrl on Flickr
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The One half square block / three story brick - Surf Movie Theatre building has been lying unused for DECADES, on the busy corners of Surf and Stillwell - overlooking both Nathan's and the busy Elevated Stillwell train Station.
What is there, besides the boardwalk, that draws people to Coney Island? Nathan's? Surely some visitors want to eat the nostalgia dogs at Nathan's. A few go to Ruby's. A few to the go-karts, the batting cages and the amusement areas. The Cyclone. Sure.
But taking the kids for a day of Coney Island amusement park rides costs more than a day at Disneyland or any other park you can name.
Why should New Yorkers lose out and pay more for less? A new revitalized fun area is what everyone wants even though a few people with connections to the pre-1960s Coney Island claim otherwise.
The chief attraction -- the boardwalk itself -- won't disappear when the area leaps from the 1950s to 2007, 08, or 09. But rebuilding the area will scrape the cheesiness from the area.
As it is today, Coney doesn't bask in seedy charm. It's simply caked with tastelessness and tawdriness.
If seedy charm were part of its character, the Shore Hotel across from Nathan's would enjoy a steady stream of beach-going families spending a night or two near the water. Instead, it's closed and locked down, the way it's been for a very long time.
Most of the shops on Surf Avenue are run-down and desperate for an industrial-strength cleaning followed by a lot of fresh paint. They're not exuding seedy charm. They're dirty and mismanaged.
The old Coney Island is gone. Mainly it's gone because the amusement business changed to satisfy the demands of the crowds. The millions who went to the old Coney died or moved away. A handful of diehards, wishful dreamers and dwellers-in-the-past pray it isn't so. But it is.
On the other hand, human nature hasn't changed. Not a bit. That's why the simplest and most accessible aspects of Coney Island -- the boardwalk and the beach -- will continue to draw crowds.
My only worry about Coney's future arises when I wonder if it will attain such popularity that a Jersey state of mind will arrive, leading to the charging of admission to sit on the sand. Nah. Won't happen.