Coney Island has great season opening after Hurricane Sandy!

And I, for one, must have a "Keep Calm, and Coney On" t-shirt!!

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130325/REAL_ESTATE/130329931

My 2013 goals for "The Cotton Candy Road Trip"

I consider myself the luckiest kid on the coaster, having published “The Cotton Candy Road Trip”, having sold a number of copies (not a huge number – yet.  But not just a dozen or so to friends and family, either), and having gotten the word out about vintage parks.  But frankly, I know I’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done for the parks, the people who love them, and the ways I can market, promote, and build excitement for the book.  2012 gave me a good toe-hold into what can be done, but I also got sidetracked by theatre and life and, well, just being overwhelmed by the ebbs and flows of 2012, a year that rocked each and every person I know without exception.

So, without anymore ado, behold my goals for the book in 2013:

1.      Get “Cotton Candy” connected with every single form of social media imaginable.  A few weeks ago, I had a meeting with my social media guru.  Yes, I have one of those, a woman who knows her way around Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, HootSuite, Pinterest and God only knows what else with a facility of a teen-ager who knows all the ins and outs around arcade games, going home with seventeen extra-large stuffed toy hound dogs.  She is awesome, she is smart and creative.  And, the biggest plus, she believes in my project and it excited by the prospect of creating a huge social network footprint for it. #soexcitedicouldplotz.

2.      Contact more Chicago media outlets.  I’ve been interviewed by local papers, a local radio station, and was featured as part of an article in the Chicago Tribune.  That’s good.  But that’s not as far as I can go with this.  More popular radio shows and TV shows will be harder nuts to crack, but they aren’t insurmountable.

3.      More swag!  I’ll be posting more swag for people to buy on Zazzle – and an item I’ve been toying with will be sold on Etsy.  I’ve had the “ingredients” for the Etsy items for about a year; it’s time.

4.      Re-visit at least three parks.  Travel is not cheap, but it’s imperative that I re-visit at least a few of the parks to keep excitement about the book building – plus, I just miss them.  I’m looking at my calendar for 2013, going, “But when do I visit the Eastern Pennsylvania parks again?  When do I get to go to the Enchanted Forest in Oregon again?”  I miss them, I miss the people and the energy and the rides and the fried dough.  So I plan to visit at least a few parks – and the ones at the top of my list are the ones affected by Hurricane Sandy: Keansburg and Coney Island and Rye Playland.

5.      Explore avenues that will “get” and celebrate the spiritual side of my book.  Those folks who’ve really, really enjoyed my book have all mentioned that they were moved and inspired by the sense of the quest, the embracing of the spiritual side of my travels.  I need to share the book with more folks who have similar sensibilities, who believe in “the spirit of place” the way I do.

2013 feels like a celebration just waiting to happen, much like that moment before you enter an amusement park.  I aim to make this New Year the time that “The Cotton Candy Road Trip” becomes the catalyst for thousands of celebrations around the country, when people plan for park visits, schedule park road trips, and commit to making every visit to a vintage park a personal quest for that moment of joy frozen in time. Yeah, tall order, I know., but NOT insurmountable.  Just a steep hill for the coaster cars to tackle, that’s all.  And I happen to know something about that…

 

Coney Island's arcade games and rides in the "vintage amusement park ER"

Please read this fascinating article on how the folks from Deno's Wonder Wheel Park are working hard to salvage the rides and games that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323501404578165283531252180.html

Of particular interest to me is how dear the Grandma's Predictions fortuneteller is to the park; they consider it a good luck charm.  Here's a photo I took while Ben and I visited Coney:

The article relates that Grandma's been around since the 1920s.  She apparently made it through the flooding, although she's being taken care of at the "ER"; apparently the Zoltar machine in the background didn't fair as well.

Again, please give to the Red Cross and help the folks affected by Sandy. And consider donating to Coney Island USA, to help keep the history and spirit of this priceless place alive for future generations: http://shop.coneyisland.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

Give at Thanksgiving. The folks at Coney Island will be very grateful.

The museum is doing alright, but the sideshow, the gift shop and the attached bar are in shambles.  You might ask, "But why do I want to contribute money for a sideshow?  What good will that do the world?"  In a word: plenty.

Coney Island USA is enclosed in a building nearby the famed Coney Island amusement parks, the legendary Cyclone rollercoaster, and just down the street from THE Nathan's famous hot dogs.  Coney Island USA is comprised of the side show (I believe the only side show, actual side show with "freak" acts and feats of derring do) in the US, a place which hires folk who might be considered to be on the fringes of "normal" society, but who possess amazing skills and display them with pride and reverence for a form of theatre has long been ostracized and disrespected.  One visit to the Coney Island USA side show will tip you on your ear.  You''ll walk away with a sense of awe and, most importantly, a a fresh reverence for the unique characters who shamelessly give of themselves in order to keep the spirit of side shows alive.  To borrow the words from the company's site, "The purpose of Coney Island USA is to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances."

Right now, the materials needed to present performances are soggy from salt water or were thrown away in a dumpster due to the flooding. See photo above.

 

The gift shop is the only place you'll be able to find earrings shaped like Deno's Wonder Wheel (I own a pair and wear 'em proudly), or a bottle containing an authentic shard of Coney Island boardwalk.  Right now, the items that were spared from the deluge are being sold to help support Coney Island USA.  Oh, and the bar?  A great place to grab a beer after watching the side show or visiting the museum.

So - your donation, or your purchase from the gift shop, helps support Coney Island USA, allowing them to do their work.  Oh,yes, the museum.  It's upstairs on the second floor, so it was spared from the flooding.  But the gift shop helps support the museum, as does the bar, so it's best that all spaces are cleaned up and restored as soon as possible.

And what's up in the museum? Oh, just amazing exhibits about the history of Coney Island, a true American icon, a seaside treasure that's withstood fire and flood, the changes of time and culture, and keeps on kicking and inspiring and entertaining.  The museum keeps the true spirit of Coney Island alive.

The holidays are just around the corner.  Who doesn't want a necklace with an image of a tattooed mermaid on it? The following link will take you to the store website, where you can order a great gift, or make a donation:

http://shop.coneyisland.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

DO this.

(Photos from the Coney Island USA Facebook page.)

New uses for old bumper cars!

My delightful friend, Jill Jackson, who's a great fan of my book, sent me this email and I was blown away by the creativity therein!  While on the Road Trip, I took a number of photos of old bumper cars, always wondering where the retired ones went.  To the trash heap?  To the park's museum (only a few parks actually have museums.  Arnolds Park and Knoebels come to mind; Coney Island has a museum but I don't know if they'd have the space for ride vehicles).

Anyway - I've never copied an email into a blog post, but I couldn't pass this one up.  Kudos to the brilliant Tom Wright who found a wonderful way to repurpose these vintage beauties.  Enjoy!

The ones in Coney Island and Rockaway Park back in the 20’s thru to the 50;s ran on electric . Had a pole on the back going to a metal electrical charged overhead plate.


Remember driving the bumper cars at amusement parks or
a fair, don't you? They were so much fun.

 Well, now what do you do with old Bumper Cars? (and check out the license plates!) 



WHO KNEW?
















Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal.
They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we've seen in too long. There are seven of these little monsters floating around California and they're all the creation of one man, Tom Wright, a builder in the outskirts of San Diego who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap.

They were originally powered by two cylinder Harley Davidson
Motorcycle engines but they rattled like heck because of the two cylinder vibration and Tom replaces them with four cylinder Honda or Kawasaki 750's.
And a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase.
By the way, they are almost indestructible in accidents!

Creepshow at the Freakshow at Coney Island

http://www.coneyisland.com/creepshow.shtml

I'm a big fan of the folks who run the Coney Island freakshow.  Part of my East Coast roadtrip, my visit to the freakshow and the Coney Island museum connected me with this group of highly dedicated, creative performers who have their hearts in the rigth place and hold the history and spirit of the true Coney Island  reverently - and somewhat irreverently.

So when I got win that they put together a mean haunted house, I had to learn more.  Truth be told, I hate haunted houses that aren't actually haunted.  Give me an EMF meter and night vision camera, and I'm golden, but I don't get the thrill of spending good money for people to chase me with chainsaws. 

Having said that, if I had the time/money to make it out to Coney for their own unique brand of horror show, I'd be there in one quick bone rattle.  From what I get from reading the description, it's more a theatrical experience, fully immersive, and completely original and deeply creepy. 

Think about it: it takes you "into the tortured dreams of a corrupt and drug-addled amusement park official".  Can't think of much that would be creepier than that.

Rockin' it, old school.

I can hardly catch my breath after the amazing onslaught of history, charm, grime, magic, wonder and hope I encountered today.  I'm tired, I'm spent, I'm slightly tipsy after a glass of pinot grigio.  What I will tell you is this:  I'm rolling along through the last leg of my Road Trip, on the East Coast, where I'll tackle 9 parks (yes, you read that correctly) in less than a week.

What have I seen so far?  The sweetness and childhood hope of Storybook Land.  The perfect summer evening at Gillian's Wonderland (and some might fine coconut macaroon ice cream).  Keansburg Park's embrace of the old and new. And Coney Island's cornucopia of Wonder Wheel, red hots, red hot mamas, freak shows and amazingly sad/happy/glittery/seamy history.

I'm going to sleep well tonight.  Very well.  Because I'm Cotton Candying again, winding down this tremendous journey, and collecting some of the most incredible, heart-wrenching stories yet.

A Coney Island state of mind...

I'm chomping at the bit to visit Coney Island. I keep reading articles on Facebook about how the place is being changed forever; I want to visit it and steep myself in as much of the "original" as I can as quickly as I can. So I was heartened when I read today that although developers are obliterating a lot of the vintage, they are keeping the old Coney Island Theatre, listed in the Register of Historic Places.

Old theatres. If I wasn't writing a book about vintage amusement parks, I'd probably be doing the same for old theatres, epecially those with vaudeville, "legit" histories. I recall a grand house, the Berwyn Theatre, at the corner of Cermak and Oak Park in Berwyn, IL. I learned that a distant relative of mine had performed there in theatrical productions with a Bohemian acting troupe back in the early 1900s. I remember when they decided to tear it down, wrecking ball in action as I drove by. I could see the pink stucco interior gaping through the downed wall like flesh exposed by a fatal blow. And its soul flew up, up, up.

So kudos to the powers that be for helping the Coney Island Theatre to remain. I look forward to visitng next summer.

Coney Island. Or maybe Luna park? Okay then -- Dreamland. No, wait...

http://amusingthezillion.com/2010/11/01/out-with-the-old-in-coney-island-only-2-of-11-boardwalk-businesses-invited-back/

Check out this link for a sobering article on how so much of what gave Coney Island its soul is tragically being sent out to pasture. Many of the iconic businesses are not having their leases renewed. In with the new. Which sometimes isn't the best course to follow.

All in all, I still want to include Coney Island in my book, because although there's not an actual vintage amusement park that has at least three vintage rides, Coney Island itself has three rides which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places: the Cyclone rollercoaster, the Wonder Wheel, and the Parachute jump. It has two new parks named after long-gone vintage ones: Luna Park and Dreamland. So as far as I'm concerned, these disparate facts add up to one definite trip to plan.

So it seems a visit to Coney Island puts you in a position to decide what you want to get out of it. Of course, I choose to focus on the vintage, the kitsch, and the spirit of the place. I look forward to a little grime here, the sounds of rickety coaster chains (hopefully not too rickety...), and the shadows of days past tapping me on the shoulder, asking me if they can guess my weight.

On the itinerary: a weekend in Brooklyn

http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Samantha_Brown/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Episode_Brooklyn

I rarely get bold-faced jealous of anyone, but I do have my moments regarding Samantha Brown, the plucky Travel Channel star who travels all over the world, stays at the best inns and otels, eats the local specialties, shops 'til she drop, and has even had a private audience with Mickey Mouse when she visited Disney World. This week, Samantha took you on a "Great Weekend Getaway" to her hometown, Brooklyn, New York. Part of that getaway included a visit to Coney Island and a performance of the Coney Island Freak Show.

Obviously, there's no way I can have my Cotton Candying NOT include a ride on the Wonder Wheel or the Cyclone, so I'll definitely be hitting Coney. And a nathan's Hot Dog (or as the locals say, a hawt dawg) will round out my visit.

Grew up underneath the Thunderbolt...

Happy Oscar Weekend everybody!

In my favorite comedy of all time, "Annie Hall", we learn Alvy Singer, Woody Allen's iconic antihero, grew up under the Thunderbolt rollercoaster (demolished in 2000) at Coney Island, where his father ran a bumper car concession.

I remember seeing this film when it first came out and rather than being concerned for Alvy's nerves, I actually envied him. Imagine -- all the bumper car rides you wanted! Then again, it was probably a bitch to make a souffle in that kitchen.

Hey -- that's, um, freaky...

I forget how the topic came up, but I was at a voice-over session yesterday and the producer and I got talking about my book project and suddenly we strode down the tangential side road of the freak show.

"I think they still have them at Coney Island", said she.

"Really? Are you getting that confused with the burlesque show there?" asked I.

Neither of us was quite sure where to go from there and were probably both grateful it was time to start recording. But it got my brain a'tapping, so I've done a little research.

http://www.coneyisland.com/sideshow.shtml

Yes Virginia, there IS still a place to attend a proper sideshow, complete with freaks and human curiosities.

I can't wait. The main amusement park may be gone (there are still some rides remaining, so it's definitely fodder for my book), but the freaks abide.