Coney Island Blog - News

No Coney Casino

Next Thursday, June 12, at 11 AM, the New York City Council's Land Use Committee will hold a hearing about the Coney casino developer's proposal to de-map public streets and acquire air rights to build sky bridges and a hotel twice the height allowed by existing zoning. “I am asking the New York City Council Land Use Committee to reject the de-mapping of streets for the Coney casino project," says Charles Denson, Executive Director, Coney Island History Project. "The project’s Environmental Impact Statement reveals an out of scale monstrosity that will choke off and smother all surrounding business and destroy the fabric of the surrounding community.” Scroll down this page to read the rest of Charles Denson's comments.

If you don't want Coney Island to be replaced by casino, we urge you to testify at the June 12th hearing or submit written comments. To testify via Zoom or phone you must register at https://council.nyc.gov/land-use/ and click on “The Coney Development” link. You don’t need to register to testify in person, just show up at the hearing. The location is Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, 250 Broadway, 16th Floor Committee Room, New York, NY 10007. You may submit written testimony to landusetestimony@council.nyc.gov up to 72 hours following the completion of the public hearing. You can view the timeline of upcoming hearings, reviews and votes on the de-mapping proposal in progress on City Planning's Zoning Application Portal at https://zap.planning.nyc.gov/projects/2024K0230.

Council Member Justin Brannan’s vote is extremely important because it’s customary for NYC Council members to vote with the local council member. Justin Brannan is term limited and currently running for citywide office as NYC Comptroller. Write or phone Justin Brannan, Councilman for the 47th District (Bay Ridge, Coney Island, Sea Gate and parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Gravesend). 718 748-5200. AskJB@council.nyc.gov. Mail: District Office, 8203 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209.

In 2023 and 2024, the developer paid registered lobbyists over $400,000 to lobby elected and appointed officials and their staffs, including Council Member Justin Brannan, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, City Planning Commissioners, Office of the Mayor, Deputy Mayors, and Economic Development Corporation. (TSG Coney Island Entertainment Holdco LLC via lobbyistsearch.nyc.gov.)

Let your voices be heard by signing and sharing the petitions against the Coney Island casino organized by our friends and neighbors Coney Island USA and Luna Park. Over 9,000 people have signed Coney Island USA's petition since December, with dozens more signing every time it is shared via social media. Luna Park started their petition on June 4 with a plea to "Save Iconic Coney Island's Historic Amusement District."

After the full vote in the NYC Council, the Mayor has five days to review the City Council’s decision and issue a veto. Applicants must complete this local land-use/zoning process in order to be eligible for consideration by the New York Gaming Facility Location Board, which is overseeing the commercial casino siting process in the Metro New York region. Casino applications will be due June 27, 2025.  For each proposed gaming site, a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) will be formed, consisting of six representatives appointed by elected officials. The process to award the casino license is expected to come by the end of this year.

Statement by Charles Denson, Executive Director of the Coney Island History Project

I am asking the New York City Council Land Use Committee to reject the de-mapping of streets for the Coney casino project.

The project’s Environmental Impact Statement reveals an out of scale monstrosity that will choke off and smother all surrounding business and destroy the fabric of the surrounding community.

De-mapping of public streets is not needed. The developers are asking for the streets to be de-mapped so that they can buy air rights to build sky bridges connecting all the Thor Equities properties. The purpose of a sky bridge is to make sure that no one leaves the casino once they enter it. They want to cut people off from all surrounding streets and attractions and keep them inside gambling until their money runs out. The casino has a business plan based on gambling addiction.

The developers are asking to transform Stillwell Avenue into a pedestrian mall that will funnel people into the casino. Transforming Stillwell Avenue will severely limit emergency access to the beach, Boardwalk, and amusements for nearly a quarter-mile stretch of the world’s most crowded beachfront.

The developers also want to transform West 12th Street into a four lane driveway for the casino. The project’s environmental impact statement confirms that this will create a choke point and traffic nightmare at this intersection and all along Surf Avenue. According to the EIS, there is no way to remediate the severe problems associated with the casino project. De-mapping of streets will disrupt historic family-oriented businesses of Coney Island. The owners of Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island’s largest businesses, are opposed to the casino. The Community Board has voted against the casino. This land grab benefits no one but greedy developers.

The proposed casino is a dead whale on the shores of Coney Island. Please vote no on the casino and de-mapping Coney Island’s streets

Coney Casino Rendering

posted Jun 5th, 2025 in News and tagged with Coney Island, casino, NYC Council,...

 

Brooklyn Borough President Riegelmann, holding rope, opened the Boardwalk and new streets in 1923. CIHP photo illustration

A century ago, Coney Island’s shoreline was private and fenced off to the public and a fee had to be paid to access the beach and ocean. In 1918 newly elected Brooklyn Borough President Edward Riegelmann proposed a visionary plan to take back the beach and make it public property. Not only did he accomplish this goal, but he also built the Coney Island Boardwalk and opened two dozen new streets between Surf Avenue and the beach. It wasn’t an easy task to raise the funding to claw back property from wealthy landowners, but he did it. Riegelmann wasn’t a ceremonial Borough President. He was someone who fought hard and got things done for the public good.

Borough President Antonio Reynoso is now in a position to uphold and preserve the difficult work that his predecessor accomplished. Will Reynoso approve a billionaire slumlord’s attempt to privatize and demap the two most important public streets in Coney Island’s amusement zone, or will he have the guts to save what Riegelmann created? 

Demapping public streets is not needed for the casino project. It’s just a greedy land grab by a questionable developer. There is no good reason to give up the last remnant of the historic Bowery for a casino. There is no reason to transform Stillwell Avenue into a pedestrian mall that serves as a feeder ramp for a casino. Turning West 12th Street into a four-lane driveway is one of the most egregious and damaging projects that Coney Island has ever seen, a plan that will cut off and kill off surrounding business and hinder emergency access.

Is Reynoso strong enough and smart enough to withstand the lies of big money and bad planning? Does he care about his legacy? Does he want to be remembered as the man who sided with a slumlord and took Coney Island down? Does he really believe the lies and false promises of someone with a miserable track record? Does he really care about Coney Island? Does Reynoso want to be enshrined in the Hall of Shame with Fred Trump and Robert Moses?

We shall see.

(You can send your written comments to the Borough President at testimony@brooklynbp.nyc.gov no later than Friday, March 14th, 2025.)

-Charles Denson

Coney West rendering 2007

Conceptual rendering of Coney Island Master Plan released in 2007 by the Bloomberg administration in the lead-up to the 2009 rezoning shows residential towers north and west of the ballpark including on the parking lot (Parcel A). Credit: Holm Architecture Office via CIDC/NYCEDC Press Kit, 2007.

The recently announced “bold new vision” plan for Coney Island is not "new," it’s not "bold," and it’s certainly not visionary. This plan is part of the 2009 Bloomberg rezoning that greatly reduced the Coney Island amusement zone. For some reason it’s being recycled to make it seem as if New York’s troubled Mayor Adams is behind it.

Building high-rises on the 1,000-car parking lot (“Parcel A”) that serves Coney Island’s minor league ballpark is the last segment of the 2009 rezoning plan to take effect and it will have a devastating effect on the future of Coney Island. When construction begins, it will be the death knell for the Brooklyn Cyclones as fans, families, and visitors will no longer have any place to park.

What’s ironic is that Mayor Adams, a Trump flunky, is now fulfilling developer Fred Trump’s dream of putting “Miami Beach-style” high-rises on the old Steeplechase site, a scheme that was stopped cold by the City Council in the 1960s after Fred Trump demolished the historic Steeplechase Pavilion.

After the City bought the site from Fred Trump in the 1980s, it was rezoned as a public park, the only “special events” park in the City of New York. It remained a 10-acre public park until it was taken by Mayor Giuliani to build KeySpan Park, where the Brooklyn Cyclones play. The parking lot remained as public parkland, even though it was paved over for parking.

2025 Coney West Rendering

Conceptual rendering of Coney Island West, including development of housing on ballpark parking lot (Parcel A) and Abe Stark renovations released on February 20, 2025. Credit: ONE Architecture & Urbanism via NYC Mayor's Office.

Bloomberg’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) decided to remove the parkland designation and rezone the parking lot for high-rise residential housing. This involved a complicated state approved process called Alienation, that requires parkland taken for other purposes be replaced with equal acreage at another site. In reality, the parkland was never replaced, the EDC just purchased property in the amusement zone and called it parkland.

A positive part of this plan is the preservation and restoration of the Abe Stark Rink, which Bloomberg and the EDC had originally scheduled for demolition. The real reason it’s being saved is that the rezoning required that a new rink be constructed and opened at another site before demolition of the Abe Stark Rink could begin. That requirement was never fulfilled. The renovated rink will have a long overdue Boardwalk entrance. Coincidentally, a month ago I submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to have the Abe Stark Rink landmarked.

The Army Corps resiliency plan for flood control on Coney Island Creek, and the elevation of the Boardwalk, are existing plans that have been in the works for several years, and not something new. Somehow these existing proposals have been thrown together and hyped as some sort of new “visionary” plan for Coney Island.

The only new part of the Coney Island plan is that an RFP has been released to build high-rises surrounding the Parachute Jump. Brooklyn Cyclones baseball ushered in a new era of revival and appreciation for Coney Island. The joy and support for the team and for Coney Island is being eradicated by a ruinous project that will eliminate views of the Parachute Jump and add to the terrible new construction that’s rising in a vulnerable flood zone. 

It’s a shame that the old Steeplechase Park site is being lost as it had multiple uses. It’s not just a parking lot. It's the last open waterfront space in the area, and has hosted numerous fairs, and circuses, and other special events. The lot was taken over by FEMA after Superstorm Sandy and used to store all the rebuilding supplies for Coney Island. The EDC is replacing a 1,000-car open space with 160 parking spots. The loss of what is now Coney Island’s only parking facility will kill the ballpark that brought baseball back to Brooklyn. It’s the most unimaginative and tragic misuse of a unique and irreplaceable portion of New York City.

-Charles Denson, Executive Director

Abe Stark Rink Photo by Charles Denson

Abe Stark Rink saved! Photo: Charles Denson

 
posted Feb 22nd, 2025 in By Charles Denson and tagged with Coney Island, Development, Mayor Eric Adams,...

Developer's rendering of the massive casino proposed for Surf Avenue at West 12th Street.

Developer's rendering of the massive casino proposed for Surf Avenue at West 12th Street.

Don’t believe the dramatic renderings and gleeful promises presented by the Coney Casino developers. What they’re actually planning is the destruction of Coney Island as a beachfront amusement park destination. The massive Coney casino project is a disaster that’s way out of scale and designed to smother and kill all surrounding businesses in the amusement zone. It will destroy the fabric of the surrounding community. But the developers don’t care. They’re building a fortress of greed.

There will be a Community Board public hearing regarding the casino on Thursday, January 9, 2025 at 7 PM. The meeting will be held at the Coney Island YMCA, 2980 West 29th Street at Surf Avenue. Public comment is encouraged, in person or remotely. The meeting is in response to the casino’s application to build a “1.3 million-square-foot” gaming facility in the heart of the Coney Island community. This will be the first of many public hearings to be held before three gambling sites in and around New York City are chosen in late 2025.

The developer’s request to take over and de-map several local streets is nothing more than a greedy land grab by Thor Equities that would allow it to build a monolithic fortress, a three-block-long solid wall that will surround the amusement zone, reducing access to the beach, Boardwalk, and amusements. The project includes a 402.5-foot tall, 40-story “hotel “ on Surf Avenue that will cast a shadow over the entire neighborhood. It will create a traffic nightmare that will affect the lives of all who visit or live in the community. Emergency responders will be delayed when the streets surrounding the casino are closed and they can’t reach the beach and Boardwalk in time to save lives.

The casino plan is reminiscent of the crack epidemic of the 90s: some people made a lot of money, but it didn’t end well. Casino gambling will bring addiction, poverty, bankruptcy, domestic abuse, and mental illness. It will destroy the outdoor amusement industry. It does not belong in this community.

The political ramifications of this destructive, ill-conceived casino have become clear. Two former NYC councilmembers have already been bought and paid for by the casino developers and hired as “consultants.” A respected former journalist is now a public relations flack for the casino. Money is being spread around to buy support. If approved, a project of this size would have political clout that would in no way benefit or represent the welfare of the community.

The NYC Economic Development Corporation planted a poison pill when they rezoned Coney Island in 2009. They left the door open for a predatory speculator like Thor Equities to buy up and destroy a majority of the amusement zone. Since buying up multiple Coney Island properties more than fifteen years ago Thor has raised rents, demolished historic buildings, and allowed most of his properties to deteriorate into terrible eyesores. The casino developers have shown an unwillingness and inability to work with local businesses. The Coney Island History Project is asking the members of Community Board 13 to vote against the Coney casino.

-Charles Denson, Executive Director, Coney Island History Project

If you would like the opportunity to speak for 2 minutes, whether as a member of the community or Community Board 13 member, you MUST sign up in advance by emailing hglikman@cb.nyc.gov.

You can attend via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82717437304?pwd=YfEWyaUUJgy2HE8NFrYI64jbyuEZrb.1

Dial-In:+1 646 931 3860

Meeting ID: 827 1743 7304

Passcode: 123456

Developer's rendering of the massive casino proposed for Coney Island

Developer's rendering of the massive casino proposed for Coney Island.

posted Jan 8th, 2025 in By Charles Denson and tagged with Coney Island, casino, public hearing,...

In memoriam collage

Photos and credits clockwise from top right: Benny Harrison (Charles Denson), John Dorman (Philip's Candy), Ralph Avella, Gloria Nicholson, and John Rea Sr. (Coney Island History Project).

As we near the end of 2024, the Coney Island History Project pays tribute to two Brooklynites who recorded their stories for our oral history archive and who we lost this year: Benny Harrison and John Rea Sr.  We also honor John Dorman, Ralph Avella, and Gloria Nicholson, whose passing in 2023 we learned about too late to include in last December’s post.

We received emails from their relatives that said: “Unfortunately he passed away a few months ago but my family and I love to listen to his interview as a lasting reminder of him” and "I've listened to her interview and it warms my heart to hear her voice" and  “I have to tell you that having your audio of his memories and history of his life in Coney Island is such an incredible gift. I listen to it often. I just love hearing his voice.”

 All five narrators or their families worked in Coney Island’s amusement area. Their oral histories, recorded by Charles Denson over the past fourteen years for the History Project’s Oral History Archive, captivate, inspire and inform us, and they will never be forgotten.

If you’re spending the holidays with family, we strongly recommend recording the stories of your oldest relatives using the voice memo app of your phone. The Coney Island History Project records interviews in English, Russian, Chinese, and other languages with people who have lived or worked in Coney Island and adjacent neighborhoods or have a special connection to these places. If you or someone you know would like to record a story remotely via phone or Zoom, sign up here to schedule an appointment.

Benny Harrison (1940-2024)

“I had a store in Feltman's. We used to open up all year round on the weekends because they kept the carousel open. And Faber's Arcade was there also. During the weekends, people used to go on the boardwalk. When it got cold, even in the winter, they would come down. And I would have a blower there, and [it] would blow out boiling vanilla, so it would make people salivate. I would make the caramel coconut popcorn in a big copper kettle on a platform where I used almost like an oar for stirring the caramel corn and it would inundate the entire place with this wonderful, sweet aroma. And we would do a lot of money at that time. On a Sunday in February, for example, provided the sun was out, maybe $1,000 in a day.”

Benny Harrison grew up in Coney Island during the 1940s and '50s, and at the age of 12 began working in his father’s candy factory.  He continued in the candy business as a teenager with a stand at Feltman’s Restaurant that he and his mother operated. When Feltman’s closed, they became Astroland’s first tenant. During the last ten years Benny’s stands on West 12th Street next to the Coney Island History Project entertained thousands with quirky games and attractions including his dancing girl, Miss Coney Island, and an animated diorama of Coney Island.  He passed away on March 11, 2024. Read "Benny Harrison: A Life in Coney Island" by Charles Denson on our news blog.

John Rea Sr. (1924-2024)

“Well, I came in 1947, September. Maybe in the end of the year, I got the job at Peluso. I was a first class machinist from the other side. I went to work with Alfa Romeo, a big company. Peluso would do very little machine work. When I took over Peluso, I was doing a lot of machine work: Wonder Wheel, Cyclone, Steeplechase Park. The roller coaster, the Parachute. I would make all new parts for them. When they wear out the parts, they will come to me to make a new one. I will repair every ride on Coney Island. I had a lot of machine work from the airport too. They would bring it to me. First the shop was on West 8th Street, across the street from the Bonomo factory. You know, the candy factory.”

Machinist John Rea emigrated from Naples, Italy, and began working at Peluso Machine and Iron Works in Coney Island in 1947. He bought the business, and operated it until his retirement in 1966. He repaired or worked on nearly every famous ride in Coney Island. He was on call 24 hours a day and could build any part for any ride, an important skill that saved numerous operators who could not afford down time in Coney Island's short season. In 2016, The Coney Island History Project inducted him into the Coney Island Hall of Fame as one of the “Wizards of West 8th Street," where his shop was located. John Rea passed away on February 22, 2024 at the age of 99.

John Dorman (1930-2023)

"We had a puller machine and we had a wrapping machine. Taffy pull, taffy wrap, taffy being cooked. You could see it right from the street. You walk up to the window and it was right there. Yeah, when I came to work for Philip's, there was one candy shop, and then next to the candy shop was a refreshment [stand] that's strictly hot dogs and drinks. Then there was a milk stand. No ice cream, just milk, buttermilk, milkshakes. And then there was a light lunch behind us. We got along with everybody. And then, you know, in those days the bars had nice people. I remember on one of the signs, it said, ‘Tables for the Ladies.’ Because that time the ladies didn't go in the bar, they’d sit in the restaurant part. One was the Hollywood Bar and the other one was the Mardi Gras Bar. And that's years ago. They had movies there, sound movies. And you have a hot dog and you watch the movies. The gentleman at the bar having a drink. the kids and wife, hot dogs and cold drinks."

A Coney Island classic, Philip’s Candy Store originally opened in the Stillwell Avenue train terminal in 1930, but John Dorman began working there in 1947 when he was seventeen. He left in 2000 when the city would not renew his lease. In his oral history, Dorman recalls many regular customers, including transit workers who would visit for coffee and cookies; taffy pulling and wrapping machines that visitors could watch through the window; and businesses that used to operate in the terminal. John Dorman reopened Philip’s Candy in 2002 in Staten Island and his daughter Maria continues to run Philip's today. John Dorman passed away on December 28, 2023 at the age of 93.

Ralph Avella (1945-2023)

"Some of these guys I worked with they would want to put on a little bit of a show for people that were out on the boardwalk and watching. So they would go up with me, particularly one of the biggest guys, he was an older guy in his thirties. And what we would do just before we hit the top, he come on top of me. Because the [strap], it'd be very loose. I mean very loose. You could slide out from underneath. And I'm 16 years old. I'm holding onto that thing like dear life, literally. So he’d lean over and put all his weight on my side. And as we hit the top and free fall, he would yank on the right side and I would yank on the right side and we'd flip the seat. I swear to God, this is true. I've done this about three times, okay. And you come down upside down. Now, before you hit the bottom. You got to right the seat because your head is there and there’s these shocks and you're going to break your neck if you don’t. And so you got to let go when you're, you know, 30, 40 feet above the bottom before it hits."

Ralph Avella was the youngest member of the Coney Island Parachute Jump's operation crew. Bensonhurst native Avella was sixteen years old when he began working on the landmark ride in 1961 after graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School. This interview is probably the best description ever of how the Jump operated and what it was like to ride it. As part of his job, he says he rode hundreds of times including windy days when it was the most terrifying ride you could imagine. His recollections of the crazy stunts that the crew performed on the ride such as flipping the seat are classics! Ralph went on to a career in the NYPD and later became a lawyer with a practice in Brooklyn. Ralph Avella passed away on June 12, 2023 at the age of 78.

Gloria Nicholson (1940-2023)

"During the summertime at least I ran free to the beaches and the Bowery and all the rides. And everyone knew me. I would trek back and forth from Jones Walk to my father's place of business to bring him his lunch. But I have very fond memories of the rooming house, the people that used to come each season. Downstairs at the time, oh my goodness, I can remember distinctly. Do you remember when you had to hit the hammer and the bell would ring? The high striker was right outside our window. The winters were miserable because the four of us lived in this one room during the wintertime with no heat and no electricity. I mean, yeah, we were poor people. We came from really remarkable backgrounds."

Gloria Nicholson was born in Coney Island in 1940 and grew up in a rooming house that her mother Josephine Boyce managed on Jones Walk and the Bowery. It overlooked the Virginia Reel and Wonder Wheel, which she often rode. During the summer her father Sakuzo "Tish" Tashiro managed a scooter ride owned by the Handwerkers and located next to Nathan's. She reminisces about unusual attractions and the cast of characters who populated her childhood including Ned Tilyou, Tirza's Wine Baths, Shatzkin's Knishes, the Shark Lady, and fortune-telling myna birds. Gloria Nicholson passed away on April 25, 2023 at the age of 82.

posted Dec 17th, 2024 in News and tagged with In Memoriam, oral history, Narrators,...

Coney Island History Project 20th Anniversary

Celebrating our 20th year in 2024, the Coney Island History Project opens for the season on Saturday, May 25th, of Memorial Day Weekend. Since the History Project's inception in 2004 with a portable recording booth on the Boardwalk and the inaugural season of our exhibition center in 2007, we have proudly offered "Free Admission for One and All!” The exhibition center is open free of charge on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day. Our hours are 1:00 PM-7:00 PM. We're located at 3059 West 12th Street, next to the West 12th Street entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, just a few steps off the Boardwalk.

Visitors can view historic artifacts, photographs, maps, ephemera and films of Coney Island's colorful past. You’re invited to take free souvenir photos with "Cy," the mesmerizing Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, and Coney Island's only original Steeplechase horse from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name. Our rarest treasure on display is Coney Island's oldest surviving artifact from the dawn of the "World's Playground." The 1823 Toll House sign in our collection dates back to the days when the toll for a horse and rider to "the Island" was 5 cents!

In a joyful dedication on May 11, the walkway along Coney Island Creek in Kaiser Park was officially named Gene Ritter Way. The ceremony took place during Estuary Day, the annual event founded in 2015 by Gene as a way to celebrate, protect, and restore the neglected Coney Island Creek estuary. Coney Island native Gene, who passed away in 2018, was a commercial diver, environmentalist, and educator dedicated to teaching youth about local history and marine environments. He was also the diver who discovered and recovered the historic Dreamland Bell, which was displayed at the Coney Island History Project in 2009. You can listen to Gene's oral history, which he recorded in 2016, on the Coney Island History Project's website at:
https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/oral-history-archive/gene-ritter

 

 

posted May 12th, 2024 in News and tagged with

Benny Harrison

Coney Island has lost one of its most creative and beloved souls. Our good friend and neighbor, Benny Harrison, passed away on the morning of March 11 at the age of 83. For more than 60 years Benny Harrison brought fun and smiles to visitors who enjoyed his delightful, artistic creations. For the last ten years Benny’s stands on West 12th Street entertained thousands with his dancing girl, Miss Coney Island; an animated diorama of Coney Island; and a storefront of quirky games. All of these attractions were designed and built by Benny, who also operated several homemade candy stores in Coney Island over many decades. Benny was a one of a kind, witty, soulful, beautiful man who will be missed terribly by all who knew him.

posted Mar 11th, 2024 in News and tagged with In Memoriam, Benny Harrison, Benjamin Harrison,...

Johns Bait and Tackle

Last year, Cynthia Nuara of Queens, New York, sent a query to the Coney Island History Project asking if we had photos or information about her great-grandfather John Polise’s bait and tackle store. John's Bait & Tackle operated from the 1940s through 1974. “I believe it was near the old Thunderbolt roller coaster, perhaps where the Cyclones Stadium is now. I would love to find some prints, if they exist somewhere, to give to my mom and aunts,” she wrote.

By an amazing coincidence, we recorded an oral history interview in 2011 in which the owners of John's Bait & Tackle play a prominent role. In his oral history, Morris Egert, a self-described “greenhorn” from Poland, talks about "Mary and John" of the bait and tackle next door to his brand-new food stand on West 16th Street in Coney Island in 1951. He vividly describes the kindness of Cynthia Nuara’s great-grandparents, who saved the Egert family’s business by teaching them how to make Italian food.

"When we opened up, my mother made a gefilte fish and chopped liver and knishes," Egert recalls. "And this wonderful lady, Mary, came in. She says, you know, this is not the right place here. You want that? You gotta go up 29th Street, 30th Street. You're in the wrong place for this. And this wonderful lady really saved us. She came in and she taught us how to make pizza and sausage and peppers.  And we ate up the chopped liver.“ Morris Egert went on to become a successful caterer.

“I knew my great-grandmother well, she died when I was 12,” wrote Nuara, after listening to Egert's oral history. “She was super opinionated so this interview is making me smile. I can just see her re-doing this guy’s whole business! And before the bait and tackle, they did own a restaurant.”

Nuara's great-aunt Gail Polise, whose late husband Vincent was John and Mary's son, shared the following information, family photos and business cards. They tell the history of the Polise family's businesses in Coney Island, starting with a restaurant with furnished rooms in 1929.

Polise Business Cards

Coney Island business cards in chronological order from 1929 through the 1970s, clockwise from top left. Photo courtesy of the Polise family.

"John Polise was an Italian immigrant from Capri, Italy.  He was proprietor and chef of Santa Lucia, an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  There he met and married Mary Scotti, a Williamsburg native.  Their children, Rose and Vincent, were born in Williamsburg. Having grown up on the Isle of Capri, it was only fitting that John was drawn to Coney Island. In 1929 he and Mary moved their family and business to Coney Island.

"John's first venture in Coney Island was the Tre Stelle Restaurant and seasonal rentals on the Bowery.  The restaurant occupied a large ground level area and the rental rooms were above.  John and Mary seasonally accommodated and fed tourists and visitors to the Island.  It was very hard work and their livelihood for almost nine years, until John opted for a restaurant only.  Mary was then relieved of the responsibility of the rental rooms. In 1938 he opened John's Restaurant at West 16th Street and the Boardwalk.  Vinny remembered he and his sister helping to bus dishes and set tables.  The restaurant business, although successful, was labor intensive.  In the 1940s John began to transition to a bait and tackle only venue.  He operated John's Bait & Tackle from then until 1974.  He was located on West 16 Street near the Boardwalk entrance closest to the pier.  John, Mary, Vinny, and Rose worked long hours and happily catered to the needs of the Coney Island fisherman.

John Polise

John Polise with the day's catch. Photo courtesy of the Polise family.

"According to Vinny, Coney Island was a wonderful place to grow up.  He loved the atmosphere and the people. During the season it was bustling with people, excitement and opportunities to earn a few extra pennies by selling soap slices outside the bathhouses or 'barking' at a concession or selling homemade bags of confetti for the end of season Mardi Gras. The winter was desolate for those who lived there year round.  However, the friendships were hard and fast. Both he and Rose had lifelong Coney Island friends. After their years on the Bowery, the family lived in various Coney Island apartments, until they settled into an apartment at 1526 Mermaid Avenue."

Vincent Polise was a public school teacher in New York City and lived in Coney Island until 1961. Rose raised her family (including Mary Celentano, Cynthia’s mom) on West 17th Street until they moved to Staten Island in 1965. If you have any snapshots of John's Bait & Tackle or John's Restaurant, please send to info@coneyislandhistory.org and we'll be happy to forward to the Polise family. --Tricia Vita

posted Feb 4th, 2024 in History and tagged with Oral Histories, oral history, Morris Egert,...

Coney Island History Project

Photo: Jimmy Prince, Charles Denson and John Dorman at Ruby's on the Coney Island Boardwalk in 2011.

We're sad to hear that our friend John Dorman, 93, has passed away. John Dorman and Philips Candy were Coney Island landmarks. His smiling face and bright colorful candy store were the first thing you’d see when entering the Stillwell Terminal in the morning, and again when returning from work at night. You could always depend on a kind word and a smile when stopping by for a cup of coffee.. And of course there was his delicious home-made candy on display in the windows of the business he operated for half a century.

It was a shame that the MTA would not let him return after the station was renovated. Coney’s loss was Staten Island’s gain when he reopened his store at the other side of the Verrazano Bridge. He was a Coney Island original: a caring, hard-working man. He will be missed. You can listen to John Dorman's 2010 oral history interview with Charles Denson for the Coney Island History Project here

posted Dec 29th, 2023 in News and tagged with John Dorman, Philips Candy, Coney Island,...