R.I.P. Coney Island Date of Death 9-7-08

I remember the halcyon days of my youth when seven or eight times every summer my father and I would head out to Coney Island.

Why?

Well, my grandmother lived there and we would visit her every week.

But that didn't mean we couldn't have fun.

And one of those things that we did to have fun was go to Astroland.

Astroland.

The very name of it makes me shiver with joy. Anchored by the parachute jump on the West and the inimitable Cyclone rollercoaster on the right, Astroland was a space themed amusement park with bumper cars, a fun house and a bunch of other rides that were just the absolutely cheesiest, yet the most fun a kid could have without going to jail.

The Pirate Ship, The Spinning Tea Cups (who didn't puke spinning on those!!!!!!) the Tilt A Whirl, the Amazing Ferris Wheel and the Carousel were all of my favorites as a kid. Let's not forget the "Games of Skill and Chance" that were hawked by carnies and while I was too young to play them Dad was one of the suckers that took a chance that he could hit down three lead milk bottles with a whiffle ball (for the record, it CANNOT be done).

And now it's all coming to an end.

Sure, The New York Mets have their Class-A Baseball team, The Brooklyn Cyclones, playing in nearby Keyspan Park right near the now defunct Parachute Jump (or as my friend Joe calls it, "The Water Tower").(pic: The Water Tower)

Sure, the New York Aquarium - the best I have been to - remains.

Sure, Nathan's Famous is there (and that is a hoot of a place to be when the Hot Dog Eating Contest is held on July 4th).

But Coney Island died for me this past Sunday, September 7, 2008.

Astroland shut its doors for the last time.

The daughter of the founder decided to close when real estate developer missed a deadline on a deal for negotiating a new lease. Carol Albert said she wanted a two year lease to protect her 300 employees through the summer of 2010.

A Thor spokesman weakly said the Company is:

"extremely disappointed that Carol Albert has decided to give up on the future of Coney Island when her current lease isn't even up for a number of months."

Seems like a weak excuse since Thor is building a $1,500,000,000 complex. The mission statement of Thor is:

“Thor Equities is invigorated by the pulse and vibrancy of major urban environments. We match this tenacity by pairing the right properties and the right investors to maximize results with solid planning and execution.” – Joseph J. Sitt, Chairman and CEO

One thing Coney Island was never short of was pulse and vibrancy. It also had grime, but with the way Rudy Guiliani cleaned up the rest of New York City, Coney Island was like a museum, a throwback to the sixties and seventies. I brought my kids here many, many times over the years and they enjoyed it as much as I did. We had lots of fun.

And now it's all gone.