By Chloë Ashby 4:42pm

Sodom by the Sea

The Thunderbolt in 1995.

Hold the Applause: Coney Island Calls for Entertainment Encore on Old Thunderbolt Site

Called “the People’s Playground,” Coney Island is perhaps the most popular piece of New York City’s entertainment puzzle, Times Square and the Bowery having been thoroughly scrubbed of any excitement the past few decades. Chic and refined it’s not—at least not yet—but in terms of crowds, ice cream cones, corn dogs and cheap(ish) amusements, this corner of the city is the one calling.

The season may be over, but the enthusiams persists.

Today, the city’s Economic Development Corporation announced an RFP seeking the development and operation of new amusement rides, game booths and other entertainment attractions at a vacant site at the heart of the Coney’s amusement hub. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/20/11 12:09am

Sodom by the Sea

Big Kid's Coney Island Breaks Ground

Last summer saw
an April opening with the first coasters Coney has seen in eight decades.

“We are proud of the historic success of Luna Park and look forward to further contributing to a resurgent Coney Island with Scream Zone,” Valerio Ferrari, president of Zamperla subsidiary Central Amusement International, said in a statement. “With Read More

By Staff 8/04/06 2:15pm

Coney Island, R.I.P.

Call us curmudgeons, but we never really liked it anyway. Too damn hot and trash-strewn in the summer; and winters, with the stiff cold air off of the Atlantic and the desolation, made it feel like we were lost in the Kessel off the Volga waiting for Stalin’s minions to come and finish us Read More

By Staff 4/20/06 12:34pm

No Concession on Concessions

State Assembly member Sylvia Friedman, speaking before Community Board 6 last night, said that she would fight any attempt by the Parks Department to open a cafe in Stuyvesant Square, between 15th and 17th streets on Second Avenue.

Ms. Friedman has unique power to stop the Parks Department in its plans, as the Assembly must Read More

By Staff 2/10/06 12:58pm

Union Square Redesign


The new design.

Last night, Community Board 5 overwhelmingly approved the Parks Department’s redesign for the northern end of Union Square Park. The redesign will triple the size of the current playground–adding a “Tot Lot” for the wee buggers, a “Toy Box” for ambulatory children and “the Mountain” for older kids (and Observer staffers Read More