[Bottom photo courtesy of Captain Nemo, Coney Island Message Board]
While the B&B Carousell itself was saved and will someday reappear as part of the city’s planned Steeplechase Plaza, the sign for it that has been on Surf Avenue since the days of Luna Park is now gone. It fell victim to a paint job that was photographed by the Coney Island Message Board’s Captain Nemo, who calls the destruction of the sign “a crime.” The sign was painted on metal that was bolted to the building and, apparently, couldn’t be removed without causing a lot of damage and the subject of saving it had come up in the past. Saving it is no longer an issue, however, as this small yet significant piece of Coney history has been obliterated via paint roller. While one can appreciate that it might have been difficult or impossible to remove from the building, you certainly have to wonder if there was a way to restore the sign and make it part of the new building and whatever ends up there. No matter. It’s now another bit of Brooklyn’s past that is just a photograph.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Frank Jump // Feb 18, 2008 at 7:55 am
Check out some of the shots I took of this Coney Island storefront on July 4, 2005 @ the Fading Ad Blog.
2 Anonymous // Feb 18, 2008 at 8:22 am
Possibly, the new paint can be removed without too much damage to the original sign. Maybe.
3 Anonymous // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:27 am
No, just keep on stabbing me. Stab , Stab, Stab.
4 Anonymous // Feb 18, 2008 at 4:14 pm
When I was walking up Surf heading towards Nathans, I said to myself holy shit, I stopped dead in my tracks. So many emotions.
The b and b was painted on. I dont know how you could just removed the outer paint job to restore the orginal. Like I said, this was a crime, a crime we knew that was going to happen, but still one that breaks the heart.
Bruce aka Capt_Nemo
5 JackSzwergold // Feb 18, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Sad to see it go, but only a true “angel” willing to cut the stone/cement and remove it elsewhere would have truly saved it. They actually saved a Keith Haring mural on the side of a Lower East Side boy’s club by doing that. But it’s a pricey procedure and understandably not something most people would do.
What’s more sad to me is the classic tradition of tin sign painting has seemed to die off in Coney and elsewhere.
6 Miss Lo // Feb 18, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I am heartbroken
7 deborah matlack // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:40 am
Really shocking! Who did this unspeakable act?
My 97 year old mother who learned to do the Charleston on the beach at Coney and went to Luna Park, Dreamland and Steeplechase Park as a young person, said to me “You should have seen Coney Island at its high point.” I said “I’m seeing it at its lowest.” Heartbreaking.
Thanks for your great coverage, as always.
Sincerely, Deborah Matlack (Bay Ridge)
8 The Phantom // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I worked summers at Coney Island for three years, and visited it many other times.
Passed this sign thousands of times. Sad to see it go.
Even in the late 1960s, Coney Island was tired, not what it was. And it has faded steadily ever since.
Not much left now. Hope that something good happens soon.