I don't live over there on the right coast, but I find it sad that you are leveling this place. Always wanted to see it, now I guess I missed my chance.
Hey it's not being leveled man... they're just re-building astroland, the theme park... yeah it's a historic landmark but man, they dont treat it as such right now, place is a dump. I slept on the beach there one weekend. I'm kinda glad they're fixing it up back to it's former glory.
The new landlord is evicting Astroland by boosting the rent from $180K per annum to $1.3 Mil. Funny thing, Astroland used to own thier own property but sold it to the very same new landlord a few years ago. There is a brandy new minor leauge baseball park nearby. The Parachute ride is an original from the 1939 N.Y. Worlds Fair, hope they save that. People want to visit six flags and bush gardens and such now, they are way too jaded for an amusement park with roots in the depression and immigrant boom of the 1930's Shame. Has a great countercultural community with a campy mermaid perade each year. hot dog eating contests. Coney Island was America's answer to Regency-age Brighton, UK with some of the same architecture and motiefs. Poor people without ownership of a car could subway it out to Coney Island, visit the boardwalk, the Aquariam, a nice day trip. Jersey lost the Palisades Park of do-whop song fame and it seems that victorian Asbury Park, NJ. will be transformed forever. Victorian Atlantic City, NJ was toppled by gambling casinos. The Catskills are no longer a vacation destinantion. People want to fly to Disneyland or Cancun Mexico.
Goodbye People and the film A Thousand Clowns were two of my favorites growing up. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091141/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059798/ Not to mention Big. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/ I have the vhs for Big, but the other two, I never bothered to buy. I'll bet their price goes up on Ebay now.
Don't forget The Little Fugitive. Great little film. From Wiki: I've always wanted to visit there too.
You're welcome. I just did an eBay search...loads of them for "buy it now" if you do the eBay thang. http://dvd.search.ebay.com/little-fugitive_DVDs-Movies_W0QQfromZR41QQsacatZ11232
This is hardly a new thing, I'm sad to say. Coney Island is one of the more recent examples, and is classic Americana and therefore high-profile. However we have been losing these old amusement parks for years and years. In Maryland we had places like Gwynn Oak, the Enchanted Forest, and others, now all gone or mostly so. Face it, we've all but rejected our local history and identity in favor of standardized memories of nationwide chains. Who cares about local parks and restaurants, when we can go to Six Flags or McDonalds - and if you live on the other side of the country, you can too! (Okay, rant over. Commence beating.)
