A New Roller Coaster For Coney On A Famous Film Site

Construction began this week on a brand new $10M roller coaster on the boardwalk in Coney Island. The Thunderbolt is the name of this all steel ride part of the new Luna Park which features inversions, loops and twists making it the first coaster to flip patrons at the seaside park since 1910. Built by the famed Italian firm Zamperla, the ride will rise 115 feet and then plunge cars at speeds of 80mph through the twists and turns of this new thriller.  

What's notable about the ride, though, is also its location. It's on the site of a kinder, gentler wooden coaster that was also called the Thunderbolt. That ride dated from Coney's early midcentury heyday and was shutdown in the 1970s but remained standing until Mayor Giuliani illegally knocked it down in the middle of the night. That Thunderbolt was famously featured in Woody Allen's classic ANNIE HALL as the childhood home of Alvy Singer, who family fictionally lived in the odd house that jammed under the corner of the ride. 

I was always fascinated by that house on my trips to Coney when I first arrived in NYC. The TIMES article says it was destroyed by fire but just the interior--from the outside it did look like a house someone could live in. Surely, once the ride shut down for the evening, you could get some shuteye but I imagine hanging out there during the day would have been close to the famous scene in Allen's film.  

Coney Island Takes A Hit From Sandy

One of my favorite places in New York took a hit from Superstorm Sandy last week. Coney Island suffered a lot of damage from the wind and the waves that pummeled the shore Monday into Tuesday. The first thing one sees when getting off the subway at Stillwell Ave is the Shore hotel sign and, as you can see, it was torn apart. There are some other pictures and details of the damage over on this Coney Island blog.

Apparently, the sturdy Cyclone roller coaster survived intact, faring much better than the ride down in Seaside Heights in New Jersey which is now in the ocean.  But one attraction which took a major hit was the Sideshow by the Seashore and the Coney Island USA building  housing the museum. Fortunately, the museum was on the second floor so nothing there was lost. But the Sideshow Theatre was a mess, as was the lobby bar (below). You can see some more photos here on HuffPost as well as a story about how some of the owners of these businesses rode out the storm. To help Coney Island USA in their time of need, you can donate or volunteer.

Boylesque Boys Bare All At the Coney Island Freakshow

Last night I headed all the way out to the ends of Brooklyn and the beaches of Coney Island USA. I went with some friends to see the 5th Annual Boylesque Show (which I've written about before) aka Man-A-Tease at the Sideshow by the Seashore, home to the infamous Coney Island Freakshow.  This years program, curated by Tigger, was quite stunning with the addition of an actual freak to the lineup....Seal Boy!  You can read all about my adventures on the NEXT magazine blog today.  As a bonus, here's some extra pictures below that didn't make the cut.....

The Ruins Of Coney Island

Coney Island is one of my favorite places in NYC, as many of you know. I've blogged about trips to the Freak Show for Burlesque and Boylesque and my annual ride of the Cyclone, the best coaster in the world.  But, these days, Coney is in the midst of a massive transformation and pieces of it's storied past are fast disappearing.

This week, the TIMES City Room blog featured some gorgeous photos of the ruins of Coney Island by a local photographer, Nathan Kensinger.  He took shots of the Playland arcade which dates from the 1930's and is falling down.  His website has more of these pictures which capture a ghostly place, lost in time.  The new Coney may be nicer than it was, but hopefully the old Coney in these photos will never be forgotten.

Boy-Lesque By The Sea

In July, I went out to the Sideshow-By-The-Seashore at Coney Island to see the Pontani Sisters burlesque show.  Well, now the boys have gotten in on the act.  Last Friday, I attended the Boy-Lesque show called "Man-A-Tease", hosted by downtown performance nudist Tigger.  I'd been to the Boylesque review before, as this was the 4th annual show.  But this year, Tigger stepped it up a notch with the addition of a trio of real pros from Chi-town known as The Stagedoor Johnnies.

These three gorgeous and inventive artists presented some stunning new numbers which really brought the boys up to the level of the ladies. Jett Adore (pictured below) did a Zorro number and worked his cape like nobody's business.  Bazooka Joe did a steamy number with a towel...actually lots of towels. And Ray Gunn got a standing O with a burlesque version of the Matrix. Seriously. The night ended with a marching band themed number which was awesome (pictured above).  Maybe it's my past history as a band fag but I loved this number especially.

There was also some pre-show stripping by Go-Go Harder as well as performances by the Evil Hate Monkey, who was recently crowned King of Boylesque in Las Vegas, and a special appearance by Julie Atlas Muz at the end of the show.  Overall, it was a very sexy and entertaining night at the Sideshow by the Seashore.

Burlesque By The Beach

Last Friday, I headed out to Coney Island for some Burlesque By The Beach.  After checking out the new Luna Park and some serious fireworks on the boardwalk, we strolled back through the summer throngs to the Sideshow By The Seashore for an entertaining evening of old school showgirls.  Pictured here is one of World Famous Pontani Sisters in an amazing act they put together called Goldigger.  


The whole thing was hosted by Murray Hill who had the rowdy, wildly mixed crowd eating out of the palm of his/her hand.  All in all it was a highly entertaining 90 minutes with some amazing outfits and impressive dancing, not to mention some bumping and grinding. ;)  This summer, Burlesque By The Beach has a different act every Thursday and Friday with tickets a reasonable $10 and $15 respectively.  And coming up on September 10th is Tigger's Man-A-Tease, an all-male review which I caught last year that is not to be missed. 

Coney Island Comeback

So forget Easter...the true sign of spring happened this weekend as the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster opened for the 2010 season.  The NY Times City Critic columnist took a ride and declared it as frightening and awe inspiring as ever as the coaster enters is 83rd year of scaring the crap out of riders from around the world.  


However, this years' opening was different.  The clacking and rattling sounds of the steel and wooden coaster are now accompanied by the slam-bang and beep-beep of construction activity as the rebuilding of Coney is underway.  In less than 2 months, the new "Luna Park" will open; an entertainment complex with 19 new rides and attractions on the site of the old Astroland.  The photo above is a computer rendering of the park's new Surf Avenue entrance.  In 2011, Phase 2 of the project will unleash two brand new roller coasters on the Stilwell avenue lot which has been empty for a couple years now.  


All this is great news for Coney which was on verge of extinction just a couple years ago under the misguided condo/hotel redevelopment plans of Thor Equities.  You can read about the new Coney on the on the new Luna Park blog, which also has some pictures of the rides coming this summer. Opening day is set for May 29th.

The Cyclone & The Last Days Of Summerrrrrr!!!!

Last night, I headed out to Coney Island for my annual summertime ride on the Cyclone. Though Coney is going through a rough transition right now where more is being torn down than built up, the Cyclone remains standing and continues to be the most awesome roller coaster on the planet. The picture above of me and my brother and my good friend Mark Sam plummeting down the first hill just about says it all.

If you're looking for end of summer fun, I'd encourage you to ride out to the end of the F, R or Q lines and take a spin on this 80-year old master class of a coaster. And, if you happen to go out tonite, they are having a Full-Moon Special! You get two dollars off the price of admission if you're dressed as a vampire or werewolf. Since the coaster is a little pricey at $8 bucks a pop ($5 for immediate re-rides!), it could be worth the effort and fangs. If you can't make it there today, the coasters is open weekends in September til the 20th.