It's been a long fight.
For decades, developers and politicians have lusted to level Coney Island, one way or another. As historian Charles Denson said in the Daily News, "Coney Island has a history of land grabs." Since the end of its heyday, as developers and the city have hacked away at it, Coney's once-sprawling amusement area has gotten smaller and smaller.
Moses over Brooklyn
Robert Moses started chopping up Coney in the 1940s. As Wikipedia writes, "In 1953, Moses had the entire island rezoned for residential use only and announced plans to demolish the amusements to make room for low income housing." The city edited his plan, zoning parts of Coney for "amusement only." Moses still managed to clear away homes, businesses, and amusements, leaving mostly empty lots behind.
In 1966, Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, bought Steeplechase Park from its longtime owner. He wanted to replace it with "a modern Miami Beach high-rise apartment dwelling." But the Lindsay administration wanted the site zoned for recreational use. The city envisioned "a combination Disney and Tivoli Gardens." Writes Jerome Tuccille in Trump, the city planned "a monumental park with indoor swimming pools, restaurants, and concert facilities...a multilevel seafront park development."
Sound familiar?
Steeplechase was demolished. Nothing was built. The site remained an empty lot for more than three decades.
Fred Trump axing Steeplechase
In 1976, when casinos were legalized in New York State, mayor Koch aimed to turn Coney Island into another Atlantic City. In Coney Island Lost & Found, Denson writes about the swarm of speculators that descended--slick guys in limos and silk shirts--to snap up properties. But the Trumps put the kibosh on that plan, protecting their interests in Atlantic City--or maybe it was revenge against the city for squashing their Miami beach high-rise dreams a decade earlier. Property owners bulldozed more of Coney in anticipation of casinos, leaving more empty lots.
In the 1980s, Kansas Fried Chicken king Horace Bullard bought up several properties with plans to build another Disney, only to lose them to the city. In 2000, without warning or permission, Giuliani demolished the Thunderbolt rollercoaster, owned by Bullard. It was a beautiful wreck that bloomed with moonflower vines and bird nests in summertime. A woman named May Timpano lived in the house beneath the coaster, the one featured in Annie Hall.
It is now an empty lot.
Thunderbolt, C.B.'s flickr
Today, after decades of butchering, through bloody wars waged between the city and developers, what remains of Coney's iconic amusement park is small. Now the Bloomberg administration intends to make it even smaller, to continue the carnage of Coney. What will be demolished next? What empty lots, filled with the rubble of our memories, will we have to endure before the next Disney-Condo monstrosity rises?
See Also:
- Save Coney
- Don't Shrink Coney
- Coney Island History Project
- Don't miss watching Lila Place's poignant and subtle documentary about May Timpano and her house under the coaster: Part 1 and Part 2
7 comments:
Great post! I am going to link this up to my Coney Island Examiner page at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-18524-Coney-Island-Examiner
Also a huge fan of the 'under the roller coaster' recordings. I get emotional each and every time I listen to them. What a lovely story of Mae and Fred - Stories like that give credence to the hopeless romantics of the world.
That Denson book is a beauty. I recommend it to anyone who loves and appreciate COney Island and its history.
I look forward to more from Coney Island, Jeremiah.
Of all the topics covered on blogs like this, of all the contentious rezoning and development projects fucking the city and its neighborhoods, this is the one that absolutely sends me into a blind rage.
The PBS documentary is also amazing. Perhaps the shit heads on the City Council that approved Bloomberg's plan last week should've watched it.
There is one small correction I have to make. The place where the Thunderbolt once stood is part of where Keyspan Park is now. Giuliani forced the Thunderbolt be ripped down in order for that stadium to be built.
thanks eva. i was trying to figure that out, but the descriptions i found were not clear. my understanding is that keyspan went into the steeplechase spot, and was supposed to be expanded into the thunderbolt spot, but wasn't. is that not right?
JackS, I am happy you got here before I did because I couldn't have said it better myself. --
Eva, Guiliani did not remove the thunderbolt be/c it was in the way of erecting a structure. Instead, he moved it because it was considered an eyesore. The lot that the Thunderbolt stood on is exactly what JackS said it was: EMPTY and remains completely unkempt.
You know, Mae Timpano wasn't even given the courtesy of pre-notification regarding the demolition? She had to find via a telephone call. Then, she hauled ass down to Coney Island to sit idly by and watch as a lifetime of memories was brought to the ground for absolutely no good reason.
Eva, please do a bit of investigating on the subject. I am confident your opinion of the demolition will change once you learn the real story behind it.
WOW. I thought the house under the coaster had been a bit of faked hyperbole from Mr. Allen. Had no clue it really existed. Thanks for that!
Also, this whole "destruction of Coney" thing makes me want to spit blood, but I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir.
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