Results tagged “astroland”

As Coney Island continues to be reshaped under the mighty hammer of Thor, a familiar relic from its old theme park arrived in our nation's capital yesterday. The Astroland Star made its way down to Washington DC in preparation for the display it will have at The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum inside the Udvar-Hazy Center come 2011. DCist got an early look yesterday at Curator Margaret Weitekamp and Exhibit Designer Rebekah Brokway measuring it right out of the box.

The new, third retail spot for the Red Hook Ball Field Vendors—hinted by executive director Cesar Fuentes to be a “historic Brooklyn location that will soon promise to be one of the most talked about events in NYC” —is looking more and more to be Dreamland on Coney Island, a two-dozen rides strong amusement park hoisted on the burial grounds of former Astroland site. Dreamland, named for a Tammany-era Coney Island attraction that burned down in 1911, will also feature wide variety of food stalls. UPDATE: A press release from Thor Equities confirms that some Red Hook Ball Field Vendors will be part of a large "Foodie Tent" (cringe) at Dreamland this summer. Per the release: "Hundreds of vendors from across the City and State, ranging from some of the City’s best artisans and designers...will be setting up shop," as part of a summer-long "Festival by the Sea."

The Astroland Rocket is as good a mascot as any for the disintegrating state of Coney Island. After questions about where it would be housed once Astroland was dismantled, it has finally found a new home. From our inbox:

In a ceremony at noon today, Carol Hill Albert, co-owner of Astroland, donated Astroland’s most famous icon, the 71 foot Astroland Rocket to the City of New York. Robert Lieber accepted the rocket on behalf of the City Economic Development Corp.

Continue reading "Astroland Rocket Gets Donated to City"

              

An auction was held yesterday afternoon to liquidate the contents of Gregory & Paul's restaurant, one of the last remaining components that made up Astroland's three-acre space. Gregory & Paul's occupied the corner lot opposite the Cyclone, at Surf Avenue and West 10th Street, and owner Paul Georgoulakos oversaw more than 40 years of warp speed summer seasons catering to hungry beachgoers, selling everything from half-shell clams to cotton candy, funnel cakes to sausages.

Well this gives a whole new meaning to those amusement park height requirement signs! Last night we received a flurry of tips about how the Future of Coney Island website, launched in 2007 by Thor Equities, has become a porn website. Not only that, one tipster wrote in: "when clicked on, a warning message came up from Norton saying an attempt to hijack my computer had just been blocked. The risk name was Malicious Toolkit Variant and the risk level was High." The site is registered under GoDaddy and lists a contact as "Davina Cukier," whose Google results aren't very G-rated.

Last month Coney Island ended a tumultuous year with news that the Astroland Rocket needed a home, and fast. Well, today it was carefully moved (video of the rocketship in flight after the jump), but no one seems to know what will happen next. A look at the Coney Island message board, and here's what we find out: the rocket weighs 14,000 lbs! Other than that, there's a hopeful comment amongst the photos and sentiments: "The fact that they took it down in one piece could be a good sign....Does anyone know if someone has taken it? Is it being sent off somewhere also in one piece?"

With a deal to sell some of his prime Coney Island boardwalk real estate to the city stalled, developer Joe Sitt is moving to snatch up more land in an attempt to build a controversial entertainment-amusement-hotel complex. Kansas Fried Chicken king Horace Bullard tells the Post that he's "leaning toward" selling the former Thunderbolt roller coaster site to Sitt for $91 million. Those three acres would tighten Sitt's grip on most of the land stretching from Keyspan Park to the Cyclone.

, "I'm playing the long shot."

The Save Coney Island community is worried that the Astroland Rocket will be sold as scrap if the rocket remains homeless (Astroland is being dismantled). An email from the Save Coney Island Group, via Curbed: "Help us Save The Astroland Rocket!! We have to find a new location for the Astroland Rocket soon or it will be sold for scrap metal!! Astroland will pay to relocate the rocket if we find a space for it!! It has to be somewhere secure, where people can't vandalize it. Any ideas??" The city was reportedly in negotiations with developer Thor Equities about taking over the property, but it's unclear where those talks are.

The Coney Island message board is lit up with colorful photos and words about the take-down of Astroland. No word on when the dismantling of the park began, but the process generated a lot of sad imagery over the weekend. Curbed notes the "rumors that the rides may be sold to an amusement park in Australia," and that they "are being put in shipping containers." Rides will be a part of the area again, however...though it make look more like this. Until that day, one poster on the message boards reminds: "For your information Coney Island is not just rides. Try walking on the Boardwalk, walk on the pier, go to a Cyclone's game. Walk down Mermaid Ave and see the REAL Coney Island!!!!!!!! Believe it or not it will still be here AFTER Astroland is gone!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!" Who can argue with that many exclamation points?

In defending the city against a lawsuit brought by the family of a San Francisco musician who died after riding the Cyclone last year, a city attorney is insisting that the roller coaster's potentially fatal dangers are "obvious." While riding the Cyclone on his birthday in July 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa fractured three neck vertebrae and died four days later after complications from surgery. In the lawsuit, his family contends that the Parks Department is at fault for not regularly inspecting the landmark ride. But city attorney Cynthia Goldman argues that "any and all risks, hazards, defects and dangers to the extent alleged are of an open, obvious, apparent and inherent nature known and should have been known to [Shirasawa]," according to court papers obtained by the Daily News. Shirasawa family attorneys blame the injury on a malfunction that made the Cyclone drop too fast, and an "antiquated" single position lap bar.

The Post reports that the "Bloomberg administration is in serious negotiations to buy 10.5 acres of real estate in Coney Island that once appeared unobtainable - a move that would save both Astroland Park and the mayor's plans to revive the slumping seaside amusement district." Apparently Thor Equities developer Joe Sitt is "ready to give up his controversial plan to build a $1.5 billion Vegas-style entertainment complex." The Post also points out reasons why Sitt might give up the dream of putting a Las Vegas-like resort in Brooklyn (the city acquired some land necessary for his plans, Bloomberg might be around for another four years), and City Councilman Domenic Recchia seems optimistic, "God willing, we will get this done soon." And if the city gets the land, will Astroland reopen?

On July 31st, 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa celebrated his birthday by riding the Coney Island Cyclone. Five days later he was dead. The San Fransisco musician fractured three neck vertebrae during the Cyclone's first 85-foot drop and later died after complications from surgery. His family has now filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that the Parks Department is at fault for not inspecting the Landmark ride regularly. (The Parks Department contracts a private company to inspect and repair the ride; the contractor is also named as a defendant.) Lawyers for the Cyclone say the accident was caused by a malfunction that made the Cyclone drop too fast, and that's been fixed. In 2007 at least seven people were injured on the 81-year-old wooden roller coaster.

Could it be that Reverend Billy prematurely administered last rites to Astroland, that highly romanticized jumble of third-rate county fair rides? After yesterday's report that unnamed officials were trying to broker a deal between Astroland owner Carol Albert and developer Joe Sitt (to whom she sold her 3 acres of property for $30 million in 2006), Mayor Bloomberg has now publicly entered the fray. Hizzoner told reporters yesterday that it "would be a shame if we lost" the Astroland rides, which are now up for sale. "What we're trying to do is to get Astroland to have another one-year extension of their lease so that we can get the rezoning done and then hopefully come to an agreement with Thor." Albert has not commented on the resuscitation efforts since closing Astroland for good on Sunday; a spokesman for Sitt insists there are no negotiations under way with the city or Albert.

Well, forget about getting any closure; less than 48 hours after Coney Island amusement park Astroland supposedly shut down forever, city officials are working behind the scenes to try and keep it alive. The Daily News hears buzz from an unnamed official that if property owner Joe Sitt can be convinced to temporarily extend Astroland's lease, the city will agree to lease land to Astroland owner Carol Albert if and when a controversial plan for a new amusement area gets approved. But there are a lot of ifs at play here, and Albert has already moved to sell off the rides. Another catch is that both sides say no one from the city has contacted them. Albert's spokesman struck a bitter note: "Talk is cheap. It's just too much of an upstream swim at this point."

Astroland closed its doors yesterday, and its owner, Carol Albert, says it's for good. She told the Daily News, "I want to make it clear that despite rumors to the contrary, there are absolutely no negotiations going on."

Today will be the last ride for Coney Island's Astroland. That will leave park owner Carol Albert with two dozen rides and 16 trailers worth of items accumulated over 46 years to clear out by next January in order to avoid fines from land owners Thor Equities. In order to clear out ASAP, Albert has already put several of the rides up for sale online from a firm called "Rides-4-U." Rides such as Dante's Inferno and Top Spin can be bought for prices ranging from $200k-$500k.

Carol Albert, owner of the Astroland amusement park on Coney Island, announced today that she has given up trying to negotiate a new lease with developer Joe Sitt, to whom she sold her property in 2006 for $30 million. Albert had promised to shut down permanently if Sitt did not offer her a lease for two years at the same rate by 1 p.m. today. Sitt spokesman Stefan Friedman tells the Post the developer won't negotiate "through the media or with a gun held to his head."

Astroland, the Coney Island amusement park that seems constantly on the brink of extinction in recent years, appears to be shutting down Astro-fast and will close down for good this Thursday. Owner Carol Albert, in a letter published by today's NY Daily News, wrote that property owner Thor Management "has left Astroland no choice but to notify its employees that the amusement park will be closing permanently at the end of the season."

It's that time of year again, when, with a regularity that rivals the swallows' return to Capistrano, the operator of the Astroland amusement area on Coney Island stares into her future and beholds a murky void. The tradition, which dates all the way back to 2007, is deeply troubling for Carol Albert, who has no idea whether developer Joe Sitt will renew her lease on the land that Astroland has occupied for 46 years. Sitt's company Thor Equities bought the property two years ago.

Last summer was a rough one for some riders of the 81-year-old Coney Island Cyclone; the Post reports that at least seven people were injured throughout the season while riding the roller coaster. According to Astroland operator Carole Albert’s website, the ride “has the highest safety standards in the outdoor amusement industry,” and in order to maintain that perception, Albert’s been trying to quietly settle the ensuing lawsuits out of court.

Get ready to ride the Cyclone again - Astroland is opening up for the 2008 season this Sunday! There were worries, due to ambitious plans to redevelop Coney Island, that 2007 was Astroland's last season, but Astroland owners, the Albert family, and Thor Equities were able to come to an agreement last October.

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere....