Dixon Place only recently opened its doors on Chrystie Street, but it has had a distinctive presence in the downtown theater scene since 1986. A veritable living room-cum-rehearsal and performance space, Dixon Place has been and remains one of the few New York City venues committed to featuring new and original works as well as nurturing dancers, actors, and literary artists during various stages of their creative process.

Just as artists produce developing works at Dixon Place, so the theater itself has been a work-in-progress. Formally established in 1986, founder Ellie Covan brought the spirit of the impromptu salons she used to hold in Paris to a store front in the East Village. Its opening act was a six month reading series of original works called “Tuesdays at Dixon Place.” Soon outgrowing its space, Ms. Covan moved Dixon Place to her larger, though modest home, on the Bowery. Continue Reading>>

The Amalgamated Housing Cooperative abutting Van Corlandt Park in the Bronx, is the oldest limited-equity housing cooperative in the United States. While it was not the first co-op in the United States, the Amalgamated was nominated to the Census of Places That Matter as an early and enduring model for cooperative housing in New York City throughout the 20th century.

In the late 1920s, population densities in New York City – especially in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods like the Lower East Side – were among the highest in the world and people were looking for alternative housing, often outside of Manhattan. Continue Reading>>

On Wednesday night, 300 courageous souls boarded the Circle Line for the MAS Annual Boat Tour, braving wind, rain, and ominous darkness. In honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage, the boat tour featured the upper Manhattan and Bronx sections of the mighty Hudson River. Architectural historian and MAS tour guide Francis Morrone expounded upon many architectural jewels of this stretch of the Hudson, including the Wave Hill, in the Bronx, the George Washington Bridge, and the magnificent 1904 IRT Powerhouse, which the Landmarks Preservation Commission is currently considering landmarking after much urging from MAS. Continue Reading>>

Directly across the East River from the United Nations, Gantry Plaza State Park has stunning views of Manhattan, but it was nominated to the Census of Places that Matter for its main attraction: restored gantry cranes. Now dramatic industrial sculptures, these gantries were the nexus for providing goods and supplies to Long Island via the Long Island Rail Road tracks that used to run to the water’s edge. Built in the 1920s, the gantries hoisted rail cars from floats and barges onto land and vice versa, opening up the Long Island waterfront for industrial activity and inland for residential communities.

But the gantries are just one feature that pays homage to the Long Island City waterfront’s industrial past, which is quickly giving way to residential buildings. The Long Island City waterfront was originally a site for tanneries and other factories, including the Pepsico bottling plant in Hunters Point. The iconic ruby-red Pepsi Cola sign was dismantled late in 2008 to be re-situated further north in the newest section of Gantry Plaza State Park, which just opened July 1, 2009. Continue Reading>>

The Municipal Art Society testified Wednesday evening at the public hearing held by Brooklyn Community Board 13 on the City’s proposed rezoning of Coney Island.

Citing our concerns that the proposed rezoning would threaten the potential of Coney Island to succeed as a major, world-class entertainment destination, MAS recommended key modifications to the City’s plan and other critical steps the City must take to revitalize Coney Island. Continue Reading>>

Over the past several months, over a thousand people have participated in the ImagineConey initiative. The results – on display at MAS through Wednesday, March 11 – have been extraordinary, convincing us that Coney Island’s potential is truly unlimited.

While we support the City’s overall goal of revitalizing Coney Island, we are concerned that their proposed rezoning would threaten that potential, by restricting the size of the amusement area, locating high-rise buildings between Surf Avenue and the ocean, and offering insufficient protection for historic buildings in the amusement area.

Tomorrow, Brooklyn Community Board 13 will hold the first public hearing of the ULURP process on the rezoning. Please consider joining MAS in asking the City to make critical changes to the plan to ensure that we create a great Coney Island.

WHAT: Community Board Hearing on Coney Island Rezoning
WHEN: Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lincoln High School (by the Ocean Parkway stop on the Q train)
ADDRESS: 2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11235 MAP

If you plan to testify, please consider mentioning the following points: Continue Reading>>

Over 350 ideas to reinvent Coney Island have been submitted from around the world to the MAS initiative ImagineConey.

These ideas, together with results of two public workshops and a charrette – an intense design workshop – will be on display at the MAS Urban Center Galleries from Wednesday February 4 through Wednesday, March 11. Join us at the exhibit opening on Tuesday, February 3, 6.30 – 8:00 p.m.

To supplement the exhibit, MAS is also holding two public programs:A Serious Business: The Future of Amusements in an Urban Economy, on Wednesday, February 11, 6.30 – 8:00 p.m., at which a panel will discuss the future of amusement parks in New York; and Imagining Coney: Bold Ideas, Technicolor Dreams, and Fanciful Concepts, on Tuesday, February 17, 6.30 – 8:00 p.m., when the public’s submissions to ImagineConey from around the world will be presented.  Call 212-935-2075 to RSVP for both programs. Continue Reading>>

Over 150 Coney Island residents and fans attended last night’s ImagineConey meeting, held at Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue. MAS planning committee members presented the public’s submissions to ImagineConey as well as the results of a charrette held in November. MAS also outlined the critical next steps we believe must be taken for Coney Island:

New York City Should Buy the Land for an Amusement Area. At current land values, it is unrealistic to expect private developers to construct amusements in Coney Island. Building on it’s successful effort to purchase a parcel last November, New York City should purchase enough land for a Coney Island Amusement Area of sufficient scale that could then be managed by a private, third-party entity overseeing a mix of large, small and mid-scale operators.

Refine Vision for a Viable Coney Island. Building on the strategic plan developed by the city, key stakeholders should develop a specific master plan for Coney Island that incorporates 25 acres of amusements, excluding retail and hotel uses, to support a minimum of 3.4 million visitors annually. The refined vision should include a signature, iconic ride that re-establishes Coney Island as world-class destination and enough rides to support up to 15,000 visitors at any one time. Continue Reading>>

MAS will tonight present the results of the ImagineConey project, offering ideas for a visionary new 21st century amusement district and the steps necessary to achieve it.

At a public meeting at Our Lady of Solace Chuch at 6.30PM (MAP), MAS will present ideas generated by a team of international design, planning and amusement experts, as well as concepts generated through an innovative online “call for ideas” and from public workshops convened in Brooklyn.

Building on the City’s recent actions to revitalize the area, MAS will also set forth the steps it believes are necessary to successfully return Coney Island to its former place as a dynamic and robust entertainment and amusement destination.

Join us tonight!

This is the fourth in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click to view the first , second (AnimalConey!) , and third (InventiveConey!) in the series.

Coney Island was once the greatest entertainment destination on the planet – from the great parks of the 1900’s through to the Nickel Empire of the 1930’s and ‘40s – and many New Yorkers remain nostalgic over Coney’s golden age.

And while much of the historic fabric of Coney Island has been lost, much can still be preserved or renewed– from structures that are already city landmarks (like the Parachute Jump) to the Shore Public Theater. And we can always rebuild or reinvent what we have lost. This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on the submissions that explore how the historic elements of Coney can be renewed or recreated to exploit the enormous nolstagia that exists:

• Landmark the Shore Theater and bring Coney Island themed theater and movies. Regular showings of The Warriors or original bio-epic films about Coney Island and its residents
• Reuse Historic Buildings Hendersons as a nightclub, and the Playland building as an arcade again
• Rebuild Victorian Whipcream Buildings. Only this time, make them fireproof Continue Reading>>