The Show Must Go On…
It
was snowing in New York in the darkness of the chilly April
morning as I arrived in Brooklyn. The drive North from Florida
had me pretty much beat…
Coney
Island looked a lot like it had years before when I last paid a
visit. The Wonder Wheel, the Cyclone Coaster, and the old
World’s Fair Parachute Tower from the thirties stood as eternal
landmarks along Surf Avenue…
My
lovely daughter Katerina was already heeled in with the light
plant running and her house set up. She helped me spot the snake
wagon and run juice to the heating system.
The
Worms were coiled tight hugging the hot rocks and heat mats on
the floor of the cage, the profane furnace was radiating heat
but it was so cold that the air temp in the cage was only a
chilly seventy degrees. I was a little concerned, but fairly
confident that they hadn’t suffered due to the fact that I had
geared up with a giant AC inverter to power the heat mats and
hot rocks in the cage while we were rolling up I-95…
The
forced air electric heat system quickly brought the cage temp up
to ninety-eight degrees, but I could hear the Onan plant
struggling under the load. With all the systems cranking in my
daughters house, my motor home, and the reptile den, the plant
was turning diesel into greenhouse gasses at its maximum
capacity…
We
were parked in a vacant lot behind the jagger
shack across the street from the Grafter
School at Surf and twelfth. It was not possible to get in the
park because the wrecking ball was still swinging. A century of
history was leaving Coney and heading for the landfill.
Astroland was no more…
When
I first saw the site, it reminded me of another New York
landmark…
Ground Zero…
Total
devastation with the wreckage of a once proud and prosperous
amusement enterprise scattered about in piles of debris waiting
for the final ride to the scrap yard…
We
were opening for Easter weekend with our shows and attractions
and staying for the season…
The
rides were coming in May. All modern thrill rides, all new, with
computerized technology and safety features…
This
meant that the old permanent park model rides and buildings had
to go…
Out
with the old and in with the new…
An
old friend and professional colleague was in charge of removing
the outdated attractions on concrete foundations. The Old Mill
was a gigantic water flume ride that had been a part of
Astroland for decades. It was now being sectioned out by giant
cranes. As the last of the container loads were rolling out the
gate, we made a surprising discovery. Under the foundations of
the rides being removed, were ancient relics and components of
previous attractions…
Much
as modern cities are frequently built on top of older
civilizations ancient ruins, Astroland was constructed on top of
an older and previous amusement enterprise…
I was
an amusement industry historian lucky enough to be first on the
site of an important archeological dig…
I had
only a few days to exhume priceless treasures from the Luna Park
period before the bulldozers buried and paved over the
excavation site forever…
I
spent endless hours picking through the rubble, identifying
artifacts from antiquity…
With
every rescued treasure, I suffered mixed emotions, as I well
knew that many others were being loaded for the bone-pile as I
identified, catalogued, and dated each artifact I was able to
salvage…
Part
of me was indignant and outraged at the insult to history with
the loss of these treasures. Yet another part of me realized
that we were making room for the creation of an updated version
of the very same thing that I was mourning the loss of…
Soon
the Park would be alive with fun seekers and the happy sounds of
children’s laughter as still another generation of youngsters
enjoys a day of future memories at Coney Island…
The
more things change, the more they remain the same…
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