Over the weekend, New York said goodbye to Astroland - the last amusement park in Coney Island. And yes, I said "in" and not "on" because Coney "Island" is not really an island - it is simply the name of a beach-side neighborhood.
A big developer has come in and bought much of Coney Island's prime property - including Astroland Park. They will undoubtedly build luxury condos.
Some of the Astroland rides are already listed for sale. However, the Cyclone (the old wooden roller-coaster) and the huge Wonder Wheel are city landmarks and won't be affected by the sale. Read the full story here.
The end of another era in New York!I guess we'll have to ride the papis now!
ReplyDeleteAh, such a shame. Why must we remove the 'old' landmarks in order to make way for rich people to have luxury condos?
ReplyDeleteMark :-)
Love sharing "old NYC" with you David.I had one trip by subway( Could it be a longer ride than Amtrak across country?) from Manhattan. In my late twenties I had heard about this all my life of course and my buddy decided to take me.
ReplyDeleteI was in shock with disappointment. We brought our beach stuff and were horrified by the beach itself. Not a square inch was free of trash and debris. Finding a 3 ft clear space to sit was impossible.Shoulder to shoulder people. Even in the 70s they were talking about "the last year".
Did it ever improve? In spite of it all, I'm glad I could say I was there, stomach churning hot dog and all.
Wow. I went to Astroland a very long time ago, when I lived in Brooklyn. It was great fun, and the Comet was fantastic! So sad to hear it is all closing.
ReplyDeletethank you! thank you for addressing the prepositional confusion levied by these "islands" which are not islands! i grew up on cape cod (sadly not in p-town) and whenever people say they that they grew up "in the cape" we know their daddy probably just had a summer place there. peninsulas and islands use "on" while neighborhoods and towns/areas usually use "in", right? So you could say, I'm in Brooklyn, on Long Island. Thanks DD! Now back to the mens
ReplyDeleteCharlie - When I moved to NYC in the early 90's, Coney Island had been cleaned up. In fact, I used to take the F train there on my days off and lay on the beach and do some Papi-watching.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that Coney Island was an island. Who knew?
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