On the chopping block are the Grashorn building, built in the 1880s; Henderson’s Music Hall, built c. 1899, where Al Jolson and the Marx Brothers performed; the Shore Hotel, dating from 1903 and Coney Island’s only remaining small-scale hotel; and the Bank of Coney Island, constructed in 1923 in the Classical Revival style and intended to show the strength of the Coney Island business community.

Over the course of MAS’ community outreach on the revitalization of Coney Island, we learned that much of the public appeal of Coney Island lies in its heritage, and there is great public support for preserving the best of Coney’s past while building new buildings and rides on the acres of vacant land that currently exist.

MAS believes that steps should be taken to protect the historic buildings that remain at Coney, including those that are threatened by demolition this summer. Most of these buildings were used by small amusement and food businesses before Thor purchased them, and should be used again this summer to help make Coney Island a lively and fun-filled destination.

In response to the hearing’s announcement, MAS President Vin Cipolla said: “These two buildings are incredibly intact remnants of early 20th-century Coney Island. The former Childs restaurant, now owned and invigorated by the arts organization, Coney Island USA, is a wonderful example of how Coney Island’s historic resources can be part of a revitalized Coney Island. The Shore Theater, although currently in disuse, has the potential to be a great performance space in Coney Island and to enhance the area’s revitalization. I commend the Landmarks Preservation Commission for taking steps to protect these two important Coney Island buildings.”

Built in 1917 at 12th Street and Surf Avenue, the former Childs restaurant was the first of two locations that the cafeteria-style restaurant chain opened in Coney Island (the other Childs restaurant was built in 1923 along the Boardwalk and was designated a New York City landmark in 2003). The Spanish-Revival style building was later home to the Blue Bird Casino and David Rosen’s Wonderland Circus Sideshow. Coney Island USA has occupied space in the historic building since the mid-1990s. With the help of New York City, the organization was able to purchase the building in 2007 and undertake a restoration of the building’s ground floor storefronts. Today, Coney Island USA operates its Coney Island Museum, Sideshow by the Seashore, Freak Bar, and other programs out of the entire building. For more information on the history of this building, see From Food to Freak Shows: Coney Island’s Unsung Childs Restaurant.  Also, check out MAS’ statement before the LPC in support of the designation of the Childs Restaurant.

The Shore Theater was built in 1925 at one of Coney Island’s most prominent locations, the corner of Stillwell and Surf Avenues, across the street from both the then-newly-opened subway station and Nathan’s hotdog stand. It was designed as a combination office building and 2,400-seat theater for live performances and movies. Vacant for decades, the protection of the entire building, including both the palazzo-style front and the unadorned theater exterior, is important to allow for the future reuse of the building as a new performance venue for Coney Island. For more information on the history of the theater see, The Shore Theater: A Sure Part of Coney Island’s Future? and Now Showing at the LPC: Coney Island’s Shore Theater. Also, check out MAS’ statement before the LPC in support of the designation of the Shore Theater.

Protecting Coney Island’s historic resources like the Childs building on Surf Avenue and the Shore Theater was one of the recommendations MAS made during the rezoning process. Both buildings are deserving of landmark status to ensure their place in Coney Island’s future. For information on Tuesday’s hearing, visit the LPC’s website.

During the Coney Island rezoning process, MAS recommended to the City that the area’s historic resources, like the Shore Theater, be protected, as they are key to a revitalized Coney Island.  The Shore Theater has long been one of Coney Island’s most striking buildings.  Opened in 1925 as the Coney Island Theatre and designed by noted theater architects, Reilly & Hall, the Shore Theater sat nearly 2,400 people in its auditorium and featured both live vaudeville shows and moving pictures.  Although it has long been vacant, if reinvigorated, the Shore Theater could present a unique opportunity for theater and other performance space in the amusement area.

The LPC’s action initiated the protection of the entire Shore Theater exterior, including the unadorned rear portion of the building, where the theater is located. MAS has long maintained that any designation of the site should include the entire building, not just the impressive palazzo-style front. Even though it has not been used in decades, the 2,400-seat theater remains intact and could serve as a much-needed new performance venue in Coney Island.

The next step in the landmarking process will be a public hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.  We encourage the public to voice their support for the designation of the entire Shore Theater building at this hearing or through sending letters and emails.  The final designation steps will be the Commission’s vote, followed by a City Council vote.

MAS is hopeful that in 2010, the Shore Theater will join the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel, the Parachute Jump, and the Child’s Restaurant on the Boardwalk, as an official Coney Island landmark.  For more information on the Shore Theater’s history see “The Shore Theater: A Sure Part of Coney Island’s Future?”.

Not surprisingly, the Coney Island topic was quite popular at the conference.  Many people shared with Melissa stories of family members from Brooklyn going there decades ago, while others were interested in how planning tools have been integral in the efforts to revitalize the historic amusement area.

Everyone recognized Nathan’s as an American icon that presents difficult preservation issues, but Melissa was told next time to bring Nathan’s hot dogs to share so that people could fully grasp its significance!  The poster presentation helped challenge preservationists from all over the country to think about how MAS’ visioning, planning, and preservation efforts in Coney Island could be an inspiration to their own work.

1. Jahn’s Ice Cream at 81-04 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, offers chilled relief from summer heat. “This king of ice cream emporiums goes back to 1897 and earlier,” one nominator wrote. “It has always been a traditional gathering place for locals, singles, partners, groups and families.” Best known for their ‘Kitchen Sink’ sundae, this Jahn’s outpost is the last of several locations that once dotted the city.

2. For another famous Queens confection, head over to the Lemon Ice King of Corona at 5202 108th Street in Flushing. His highness, Peter Benfaremo, has been in the Italian ice business since 1945; a year after his father had started the business. One note of caution, King Pete does not mix flavors, so if you want more than one kind you’ll have to order two ‘shovels’ of ice!

3. If you’re looking for a bit of shade, check out the Tree Museum installed along the Grand Concourse this summer in commemoration of the hundred year anniversary of the Bronx’s very own Champs-Elysées. While stopping at one of a hundred trees selected by artist Katie Holten, “Visitors will be able to listen in on local stories and the intimate lives of trees offered by current and former residents: from beekeepers to rappers, historians to gardeners, school kids to scientists.”

4. On the subject of leafy oases, you could also visit the Andrew Haswell Green Memorial Bench and Trees in Central Park. The 19th century urban planner, reformer and preservationist was responsible for the consolidation of the five boroughs, among other great civic contributions. Read more about Green and the memorial on the PlaceExplorer, or Andrewhgreen.net, and be sure to print out directions since the bench can be very hard to find.

5. In Brooklyn, another birthday is celebrated this year. The Prison Ship Martyr Monument that crowns Fort Greene Park was designed in 1908 by the prominent architect Stanford White. The 200-foot tall Doric column was recently restored in honor of its centennial. It memorializes the 11,500 Revolutionary War casualties whose remains are entombed in the crypt below. These patriots died in captivity on British prison ships anchored in Wallabout Bay along the East River.

6. Highbridge Park follows the natural bend of the Harlem River between 155th and Dyckman Streets in northern Manhattan, bordering the Bronx. The park is named after New York City’s oldest standing bridge, constructed in 1848 as a part of the Croton Aqueduct. Although the Highbridge Water Tower no longer refreshes upper Manhattan residents with drinking water, the park boasts both an Olympic sized pool and a wading pool, offering a cool retreat from the steamy city streets. Like the other 54 outdoor public pools managed by the New York City Parks Department, the pools at Highbridge Park will close on Labor Day.

7. With the return of ‘Free Bike Fridays,’ a visit to Governors Island at the southern tip of Manhattan will provide a true reprieve from city life. The nominator described how she “fell in love with the charm, the beauty and the sense of place and history. It’s a gorgeous place, and notable for its architecture, history and as a spot of pure beauty.” The island now offers movable hammocks and oversized Adirondack chairs overlooking the bustling traffic of the harbor at ‘Picnic Point.’

8. If you can’t get enough island hopping, take a free trip on the Staten Island ferry and stop by Sailors Snug Harbor, once a charitable home for retired merchant seamen and now an 86-acre park celebrating maritime history. Of the collection of twenty-six beautiful 19th century buildings, five Greek Revival temples are the centerpiece of this National Historic Landmark District.

9. The summer would not be complete without a trip to the beach. You could sunbathe at the Bronx’s only beach, and one of Robert Moses’ favorite projects, Orchard Beach at Pelham Bay Park. Intended as the ‘Riviera of New York,’ this great feat of engineering spans a mile and its 115 acres of white sand was imported from the Rockaways and Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

10. You could also catch some rays, and some cheap thrills, at Brooklyn’s most famous beach, Coney Island. Be sure to take a break from the hot sun with a drink at Ruby’s Bar & Grill, 1213 Riegelmann Boardwalk. According to the nomination, “stepping into Ruby’s from the Boardwalk is a bit like stepping into a cave where you can meet the past and present life of Coney Island. The walls are full of photos of days gone by, and offer a view of history while you sit with a drink or a Coney Island meal (hot dog, corn, fries). The bar, the tables, the old sofa in the back by the juke box, are worn with wear by many, many folks.”

Slideshow Photo Credits:
Jahn’s: Carlos Martinez
Lemon Ice King: kmoney
Grand Concourse: Payton Chung
Prison Ship Martyrs Monument: Wally Gobetz
High Bridge Park: Scott Dunn
Picnic Point: Tara Kelly
Sailors’ Snug Harbor: Wally Gobetz
Orchard Beach: NYCArthur
Ruby’s Bar & Grill: Phillip Orlando Green

MAS believes that Coney Island has extraordinary potential and we strongly support the City’s goals towards revitalizing it. Over the past year, we commissioned an economic study; convened a charrette (an intense design workshop) of entertainment experts; held an call for ideas; held numerous public meetings and workshops; and submitted extensive testimony and a massing study to the City.

Negotiations over the sale of privately owned land to the City and over the size of the outdoor amusement area at Coney Island are still ongoing. MAS recommended that the acreage for open-air amusements be expanded from 12 to 25 acres and that the high-rise hotels currently planned for the south side of Surf Avenue be moved to the north. To read The New York Times endorsement of our recommendations, click here.

If you agree that these recommendations are important, please contact your City Council Member before the scheduled vote this Wednesday, July 29. Click here to find your Council Member’s contact details.

We commissioned an economic study; convened a charrette (an intense design workshop) of entertainment experts; held an call for ideas; held numerous public meetings and workshops; and submitted extensive testimony and a massing study to the City. (keep reading to learn what you can do).

Through that work we developed a number of recommendations that we believe could improve the city’s plan. We support much of their plan, particularly their intent to acquire land to ensure amusements on public land in perpetuity, and we have two recommendations that we believe are important to its success. On Monday The New York Times endorsed our ideas: “We like the Municipal Art Society’s idea of doubling the size of the amusement area and removing hotels from the south side of Surf Avenue. This way, when visitors get off the subway, they will meet sunlight and open air, not a high-rise barricade.”

If you agree with us that those changes are important, please call or email your local council member and ask them to request those changes. The Council’s Land-Use Committee is expected to vote shortly and the full Council is likely to vote at the end of July. To find contact information for your council member, click here.

“We like the Municipal Art Society’s idea of doubling the size of the amusement area and removing hotels from the south side of Surf Avenue. This way, when visitors get off the subway, they will meet sunlight and open air, not a high-rise barricade.”

MAS strongly support the City’s goals of revitalizing Coney Island, but believes the plan can be improved to make Coney Island the absolute best destination and benefit to the city it can be. Read The New York Times editorial in its entirety after the “continue reading” jump. Click here to read MAS’ statement to the City Council and see our massing study.

“I am here today to urge the Council to adopt the city’s plan for Coney Island — the city’s plan is the greatest hope for revitalizing Coney Island, which can not be lost to private development interests,” said Mr. Cipolla. “Coney Island is the last great oceanfront park land opportunity in the region — and Coney’s continued demise would be a tragic loss to the citizens of New York, to the country and to the world. MAS strongly believes that the city — that the public — must own enough land at Coney Island to ensure a vital amusements district.”

“We believe there is enormous opportunity in this area and we strongly support the city’s goals toward revitalizing Coney Island,” Mr. Cipolla added.

MAS commissioned a report from the real estate advisors RCLCO to study the economic viability of an amusement park in Coney Island. They found that the economics do not currently allow for the creation of an amusement park on privately-owned land and that public investment in Coney Island could have enormous potential public benefit, as it did in places like Times Square and Millennium Park in Chicago.

“MAS believes the city is the only entity that can make this amusement district work and we fully support the city’s efforts to acquire private property in the amusement area,” said Mr. Cipolla.

Mr. Cipolla said “We hope the City Council will vote to approve the city’s plan. We also hope the city will continue in its diligent efforts to consider the following recommendations from the MAS study — so that Coney Island becomes the very best it can be giving New Yorkers the benefits they deserve from all the future development.” Our recommendations have been three:

1. Ensure Surf Avenue has a low-rise South Side by moving the hotels to the North Side of Surf Avenue. Coney Island is first and foremost a seaside resort, and it’s critical to retain the sense of openness, views of the horizon and taller amusements. The vast majority of people arrive at the Stillwell Avenue Station, and Surf Avenue functions as their point of entry into the amusement district. Erecting high-rise buildings there would create a visual obstacle for those visitors. Furthermore, Surf frequently functions as a public space for the events like the Mermaid Parade and Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest, which we all agree are critical to Coney’s success. Those events need an abundance of light and air, and a feeling of openness, in order to thrive.

   Further, high-rise buildings along the south side of Surf Avenue would have the effect of “privatizing” the amusement area behind them, which would feel more like the backyard of private buildings rather than public spaces. MAS recognizes that the City has changed their zoning text to lower the height limit of the base buildings on the south side of Surf Avenue to 45 feet, which we believe is a positive step, but we recommend moving the hotels to the north side of Surf Avenue and amending the zoning to keep the south side of Surf Avenue low-rise (below 25 feet).

2. Expand the size of the open-air amusement district to accommodate the potential attendance. MAS commissioned real estate advisory firm RCLCO to identify the key characteristics that would ensure that an amusement area in Coney Island would be successful (which we have submitted for the record). RCLCO estimated that the potential attendance for Coney Island was 3.5 million annual visitors or 15,000 visitors at any one time. This requires approximately 25 acres of land set aside for open-air amusements based on a conservative requirement of 75 square feet per person. MAS believes the City should set aside more than 12 acres of land for open-air amusements. Acquiring additional land and utilizing 5 acres of publicly owned land could expand the area of outdoor amusements from 12 to 24 acres.
3. Protect Historic Resources: The historic buildings at Coney Island represent a fraction of the land available for new development, and there is no need to make a choice between preservation and new development: both can and should be accommodated. Over the course of our public outreach, we learned that much of the public appeal of Coney Island lies in its heritage, and preserving the structures that remain are a key step toward safeguarding this critical aspect of Coney Island. The value to Coney Island of landmark designation has already been demonstrated: the designation of the Parachute Jump, Cyclone and WonderWheel as landmarks arguably stabilized Coney Island during a period when it was at risk of vanishing altogether.

   MAS believes that steps should be taken to protect significant historic structures, including the following buildings: Nathan’s Famous; Henderson’s Music Hall; Shore Hotel; Childs Restaurant (now the Coney Island USA headquarters); the Grashorn Building; the Old Bank Building; and the Shore Public Theater. The City should also consider protecting the Astrotower, one of the remaining artifacts from the 1964 World’s Fair.

MAS has worked with the staff of the offices of City Planning and Economic Development, amusement experts and with community and cultural groups to identify the best ways to restore Coney Island as a world-class amusement destination. For more information on MAS work at Coney Island, visit www.mas.org/coneyisland.

To read the MAS statement in full, click here.