On Tuesday January 11, 2011 the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted permanent protection to the former Childs Restaurant at Surf Avenue and W. 12th Street now home to Freak Shows; joining other official landmarks already in Coney Island- Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel, the Parachute Jump, Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs and the Shore Theater in Coney Island.
Bensonhurst Beauty Angelica Di Spigna and former Brooklynite :( Russian Model Viktoriya Zueva star in “Brooklyn Vice” with Johnny ‘I wish lived in Brooklyn’ Calvanico. This was shot on location in Coney Island at the world famous boardwalk. The film is directed by Dave Gold, relatives in Park Slope, and written by Nicholas M. Garofolo of Brighton Beach.
http://www.youtube.com/v/cWRxYwsDcVU?version=3
This summer has been great for the beach, boardwalk, shows, contests, events and all things grand that attracts crowds of people to Coney Island. However, there has been murder, stabbings, robbery, sexual assault, violence, etc as well which has residents on edge. Because of this the Guardian Angels are out and about between Stillwell Avenue and Sea Gate. As summer comes to an unfortunate end…hopefully unnecessary violence will as well.
The wonder wheel was built in 1920 and is 150 feet high with a diameter of 140 feet and can have up to 144 riders. To celebrate the birthday: On Friday September 3rd, Fireworks & Karaoke from 7pm – 11pm. Saturday September 4th, 4pm – 8 pm, live performances, prizes, entertainment on the Boardwalk, live music with performances by Coney Island Talent Show winners; renowned performers; clowns, face painters, stilt walkers and more! More information available at www.wonderwheel.com Hopefully Earl will stay away.
Local businesses can’t get a break. Property flipping Joe Shitt of Thor Equities had bought acres of Coney Island property and had people believing of new malls, hotels and amusement rides. He only accomplished tearing down areas like the batting cages and the closing of the institution Astroland. Now Zamperla, the Italian amusement company that opened the new Luna Park in May, is asking locate business to prove that they still belong in Coney Island but submitting business models and marketing plans. Zamperla plans to let all the leases expire in October and may bring in Shake Shack and Atomic Wings. Will it go dark popular Ruby’s Bar, Cha Cha’s and Shoot the Freak?
In this boiling hot wave summer hitting the ocean is a good way to cool off… right? A Natural Resources Defense Council’s report found high levels of pollutants at New York State’s beaches in which human and animal feces were found in many locations. Their study ranks New York state beaches seventh worst in the nation. The NRDC’s took samples from beaches and found harmful bacteria causing infections such as pink eye and dysentery. At Coney Island 0 to 5 percent of samples were over state limits and Rockaway Beach 0 to 9 percent. This is great compared to White Cross Fish Club, Bronx 22%, Crescent Beach, Nassau County, Long Island 29% and Beachwood Beach West, Ocean County, New Jersey 51%. Have you gotten out of the water and felt sick?
The original Dreamland had an attraction “Lilliputia” aka “The Midget City” in the early nineteen hundreds. Three hundred midgets came to Dreamland to live in an experimental community as a replica 15th century Nuremburg, Germany. The Midget City had their own parliament, Fire Department, their own beach complete with midget lifeguards, There was also a “Midget Theater”, circus arena, miniature livery stable with diminutive horses, bantam chickens, and midget Chinese laundrymen. Everything was built in proportional scale of the resident inhabitants, from the theater to the beach lifeguard towers and toilets in their homes. Do you… believe it or not?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he is leaning toward a smoking ban on beaches and in parks in New York City. “When you ask people in parks or on beaches they say they just don’t want smokers there,” “People take their cigarette butts and packages and just throw them away.” Bloomberg said. DO IT MIKE!!! He is right on this issue…people just throw their butts and other shit all over the once pristine beaches. People should be fined for smoking especially with children around…as well as leaving fast food wrappers and cups on beach to blow around and end up in the ocean water. People that leave and break glass bottles on the beach should spend the night in the tombs. OK…too harsh? How about mandatory 8 hr community service for the litterbugs to clean up after the unsanitary litterbugs…what do you think??
What do film stars Woody Allen, Eddie Murphy, Rhea Perlman, Steve Buscemi, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Tony Danza, Alyssa Milano, Jackie Gleason, the best comedy team of all times – the 3 Stooges (brothers: Moe, Shemp and Curly), musicians Lena Horne, Stephanie Mills, Jay-Z, Lil Kim, Carole King, Pat Benatar, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Biggie Smalls, former New York Yankees and Mets manager Joe Torre, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, politicians Shirley Chisholm, who became the first black woman to be elected to Congress, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg have in common? All were all born in Brooklyn. “Judge Judy” Judith Sheindlin grew up in Brooklyn, Founder of the popular fitness club, Lucille Roberts, immigrated to Brooklyn from the then Soviet Union. Spike Lee was born in Atlanta and moved to Brooklyn at a young age while Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn and moved out at a young age (he could not handle it!)Spending portions of their childhood in Brooklyn are Lauren Bacall, Mickey Rooney, Mary Tyler Moore and Mae West. Ok Lets focus on South Brooklyn, Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld, was born in Sheepshead Bay. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer and NFL legendary coach Vincent Lombardi grew up in Sheepshead Bay. In Brighton Beach singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka was born and Mel Brooks previously resided. The Neil Simon play, “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, film adaptation was set against the backdrop of Brighton Beach in 1937 and the films “Little Odessa” and “Two Lovers” are both set in Brighton Beach. Perhaps the most famous residents of Coney Island are fictional. “The Warriors” Walter Hill’s 1979 GREAT cult classic film follows the progress of a street gang as they get framed for killing a powerful gang leader and then have to find, battle and fight their way from the Bronx to home turf Coney Island with many different creative and artistic gangs chasing them. In Woody Allen’s 1977 classic “Annie Hall”, as a child Alvy Singer lived in Coney Island in a house that was built under the classic Thunderbolt rollercoaster that shook when in route. “The Great Gatsby” invites Nick (not Silver) to go to Coney Island. The 1917 film “Coney Island”, starring Buster Keaton, was set in Coney Island. The video for One of Us by Joan Osborne was shot in Coney Island. The Three Stooges made several references to Coney Island in there classic short comedy routines…and list goes on and on.
The summer is here and temperatures hit 90+ in spring so we are in for warm days in the naked city…I’ll get back to that in a minute. What could be better than going to Coney Island or Brighton Beach to cool off with a swim in the Atlantic Ocean? So I decided to see where these beaches ranked! From Beaches World, the World’s Top 10 Beaches are 1) Anguilla, Caribbean, 2) Barcelona, Spain, 3) Bora Bora, French Polynesia, 4) Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, 5) Harbour Island, Bahamas, 6) Mykonos Island Beach, Aegean Sea, 7) Oahu, Honolulu (what no Maui..where you can get some Maui wowie, 
Palm Beach – Aruba, 9) Tulum Beach – Cancun, 10) Horseshoe Bay – Bermuda. Brighton Beach and Coney Island not mentioned…where else can you eat great Eastern European food overlooking the ocean at sunset…well maybe the Black Sea…where else can you ride the world’s most famous roller coaster and eat the world’s most famous hot dog? Ok maybe Coney or Brighton made the Top 10 USA Beaches for 2010: 1. Coopers Beach (Southampton, N.Y – WTF!! Those snooty bastards in LI are #1!), 2. Siesta Beach (Sarasota, Fla.) 3. Coronado Beach (San Diego, Calif.) 4. Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks, N.C.) 5. Main Beach (East Hampton, N.Y.) 6. Kahanamoku Beach (Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii) 7. Coast Guard Beach (Cape Cod, Mass – over Kalmus and West Dennis Beaches.) 8. Beachwalker Park (Kiawah Island, S.C.) 9. Hamoa Beach (Maui, Hawaii) 10. Cape Florida State Park (Key Biscayne, Fla.).. from Leatherman’s survey of 650 public beaches along the U.S. coast of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific…uses 50 criteria for ranking beach quality, including sand softness, frequency of rip currents, size of waves, presence of shorebirds, water color, the presence of oil and tarballs, whether it’s overcrowded, public safety, maintenance of grounds and other factors… ok not mentioned in USA either!! Well the NY Daily News has Brighton/Coney as #4..should be #1! Ok back to the naked city…in case you were wondering…There are several nude beaches on Fire Island and discreet nudity is seen on isolated stretches of sand in between towns. Topless sunbathing, heard to be legal in NY state, happens on except at the busiest beaches. Gunnison Beach in Monmouth County is the only nude beach in New Jersey and the largest clothing-optional recreation area on the East Coast. Asbury Park is the news of date and is the first municipality to officially sanction a topless optional section beach — which would be located on the northern end of the beachfront away from homes and even the boardwalk. “It’s a person’s prerogative if they want to go topless,” Deputy Mayor and City Councilman John Loffredo said in an interview. “I really don’t see anything wrong with it.”… This is a list of the 10 most famous nude beaches of the world….Black’s Beach, San Diego, California; Bondi Beach Sydney, Australia; Clifton Beach Cape Town, South Africa; Forte Dei Marmi, Italy; Ibiza Spain; Ipanema-Copacabana Beach Brazil; Kuta Beach Bali; Margarita Island, Venezuela; St Tropez France; St Barts Beach;
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