The Coney Island Mermaid Parade was today. If you missed it, there's a chance for you to still get in on an historic boardwalk event this week. The Cyclone Roller Coaster is celebrating its 80th birthday this Tuesday. WNBC profiles Gerry Menditto, who's been looking after the Cyclone for decades, along with a look at the roller coaster itself. The Cyclone still uses the same 100 horsepower motor it used when it opened in......

Coney Island may be changing a lot after its last summer with Astroland scheduled to close and redevelopment of the area, but the people over at the Coney Island History Project are doing their best to preserve memories of the old Coney Island. This season, the project inaugurates a permanent home, which is fittingly under the Cyclone. The Times reports that the space had many previous forms: a souvenir stand, a hot dog stand,......

Well, it looks like those faithful to Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto franchise will be able to steal cars in New York City in Grand Theft Auto IV. The newest GTA, which won't be released until mid-October is actually a sequel to GTA III, which took place in a "quasi-NYC". It wasn't enough to have Activision's game True Crime, where you could be a rogue street cop (maybe not so far from the truth),......

The three-acre Astroland site on Coney Island was sold to Thor Equities for an unspecified amount of money. Thor, which has ambitious plans to turn Coney Island into a year-round resort, complete with residences, has already bought $100 million worth of properties in the area. Astroland will close after the summer of 2007. Cyclone fans, don't worry: The Cyclone is on city land and will continued to be operated by Astroland owners, the Albert......

Ooh: The Parks Department is looking to rent out the Coney Island icon, The Cyclone. While the current leaseholder for the Cyclone, Astroland, says the city is happy with their performance, with an Astroland spokesman saying Astroland owners, the Albert family, "do an excellent job of keeping it in prime operating condition, despite the extremely hostile environment to both wood and metal." Not to mention the riders themselves. The city is required to bid out......

Oh, Coney Island, there are so many freak things happening there: The Post reports that a woman's wig got caught in the wheels of the Cyclone roller coaster on Sunday afternoon, causing a rolling-and-coasting stoppage for 30 minutes as workers tried to fix the problem. The Cyclone manager said that the wig probably fell off someone's head and landed on the tracks, adding, "This happens sometimes where something flies out and gets stuck. Usually, it's......