Last year, we ran a GL Analysis on Sunday, September 9, 2007, which was “Astroland’s Last Day.” Usually, we can’t deal with even reading old posts, let alone reposting something, but we feel this one is worth another look. The issues haven’t changed at all in the last year. Here it is, as we wrote […]

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[Photo courtesy of Coney Island History Project/flickr] Back in 1963, Time magazine had this to say about Astroland, which could die today: “Coney Island’s biggest addition for 1963 is Astroland, a $3,000,000 fun-and-games nexus devoted to space exploration. It has the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet—passengers enter the rocket, fasten seat belts, then blast off with […]

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Here are some vids from the YouTube of Coney Island in the past, with an emphasis on some great clips and docs of Coney in the 1940s.

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[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool] Tropical Storm Hanna may not have delivered quite the blow of deluge + heavy winds to Brooklyn that had been predicted, but it did produce some very impressive downpours. Here’s the scene on the Coney Island, courtesy of Ruby’s Host.

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[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack/Matlack Photography] The actual “last fireworks” of the season took place Friday night in Coney Island, with a night sponsored by the Cyclones. Photo contributor Deborah Matlack, who does some lovely Coney photography for GL, notes, “They didn’t start until 10:30, I guess they were waiting for the Cyclones game to […]

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Astroland’s rides are on the market, featured in a “Liquidatioin” Sale from a firm called Rides-4-U, which is based in Sommerville, NJ. On Thursday, Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert announced the venerable little park will close permanently on Sunday and that she needs to start packing up and disposing of things. So, here we are. […]

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With Astroland ostensibly about to have its “last day” tomorrow, the Save Coney Island group is looking for volunteers to hand out flyers this weekend (pictured above). Here’s the email making the rounds and posted on the Coney Island Message Board: We Need Volunteers to Pass Out Save Coney Island Flyers This weekend!!! Come one, […]

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We won’t normally post a TV ad, but this Bank of America ad was shot at Astroland, and given that it’s Astroland Time here at GL, we figured we’d put it up. If you’re not into watching B of A propaganda, just pass it by.

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[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool] With Tropical Storm Hanna moving up the coast and Astroland closing tomorrow, we zeroed in on this photo of the end of Labor Day Weekend dropped into our GL Flickr Pool by Rubys Host. Summer memories, yes?

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News of Carol Albert’s statement that Astroland will close for good on Sunday hit around 2PM yesterday. By 5PM our inbox was starting to get statements about the closure, some of them more curious than others. Lynn Kelly, who chairs the Coney Island Development Corp. and is one of the key city players in the […]

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Late yesterday, the Save Coney Island group distributed a statement from Astroland owner Carol Albert. Several times in the last week Thor Equities spokesperson Stefan Friedman has been quoted as expressing disappointment that Ms. Albert was “giving up” on Coney Island by setting a deadline for negotiating a new lease for the amusement park. She […]

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Are you a member of our rocking Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool? More than 120 local photographers are and they’ve contributed more than 1,800 photos since Spring. We’d love to see your work and to be able to feature it here. Please join the GL Flickr Pool and/or tag your pics “gowanuslounge.” Also, we do take […]

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We take this with a small grain of salt because we’ve been around this track before, but Astroland owner Carol Albert says she’s closing the historic little amusement park for good on Sunday. She had set 1PM today as a deadline for reaching a deal on a lease with developer Joe Sitt, to whom she […]

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This is the second YouTube vid posted from the upcoming documentary Save Coney Island. Per the YouTube text: With over 160 hours of footage shot over the course of two years, Peter LiPera, and his fantastic crew present a web series about Coney Island. The series involves a reedit of all the unused footage in […]

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[Photo courtesy of stoneyjimrocks/GL Flickr Pool] The photographer calls this one Beach Patrol. We call it horses on the beach at Coney Island. We also think it could mean there is horse shit on the beach?

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Will Coney Island’s Astroland die or live another year or two? A year after hundreds of reporters showed up to record “Astroland’s Last Day,” the process has started again, with a number of TV reports on Labor Day and an article in the Post on Friday suggesting that Thursday might be the park’s final day. […]

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“The boardwalk is getting a lot less crowded on Coney Island. Beachgoers snubbed the iconic Brooklyn spot for the second summer in a row, Parks Department statistics show. Only 4.5 million people enjoyed Coney Island’s sand and surf this summer – a little more than half the 8.6 million visitors who came in 2007. And […]

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[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host/GL Flickr Pool] This is Coney Island as it appears from Breezy Point, which is at the tip of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. The pic comes from GL Flickr Pool Contributor Rubys Host.

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[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack Photography] These were the last Friday night fireworks of the season as captured on camera by GL Contributor Deborah Matlack from the fishing pier in Coney. We assume the fireworks will be back next season, but it’s unclear right now what shape Coney will be in if the Coney Island […]

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The 8th Annual Coney Island Film Festival is almost upon us and the films that will be shown have been announced. The Fest takes place from September 26-28 at Sideshows by the Seashore and at the Coney Island Museum. The list of films has been posted here and there will be more info at the […]

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Earlier, we had our own vid showing the waterboarding attraction at Coney Island that almost instantly drew a lot of attention. Here is a report from Al Jazeera that really consists mostly of its creator speaking. We found this originally on Kinetic Carnival.

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This is Beer Island. The red truck serves BBQ. They are in Coney Island. Like many things there, it makes us smile. We are sad that the official summer season is coming to a close (where did it go?), but Happy Labor Day Weekend!

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There are a couple of skating parties coming up this Labor Day Weekend at the Dreamland Roller Rink in Coney Island. Tonight is a Bollywood Party starting at 7PM: Bombay meets Hollywood kitsch extravaganza! Sway your hips to the Bollywood’s upbeat and catchy musical films! Featuring a few select pieces from performer Cara Yeates’ fascinating […]

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The 2008 Coney Island Rockabilly Festival starts today at Cha Cha’s in Coney Island and runs through the Labor Day Weekend. Tonight’s show (8/29) features: The Memphis Morticians (NYC), The Arkhams (NYC) and Rockets’ Red Glare (NYC). There’s live Burlesque too. Ticket are $15 at the door. Saturday’s show on an outdoor stage will include […]

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We haven’t seen any “Summer of Hope” press releases announcing the Cops vs. Cops NYPD Boxing at Beer Island tonight. We only saw the sign hung at the Coney beer drinking establishment announcing the event. The last such event was a Summer of Hope “Beer Brawl” in late July. Details of tonights big cop fight […]

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