From left: Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Paul’s Daughter

A handful of the beloved, longtime Coney Island boardwalk businesses expected to be shut down in favor of newer attractions at the end of the month got a surprise dose of new life. According to the New York Post, Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Paul’s Daughter are likely to be offered new leases by the same developer that gave them the boot.

The American arm of Italy-based Zamperla, which the Bloomberg administration has given a 10-year lease to improve the boardwalk, had tapped a Miami Beach to replace seven storefronts and operate four sit-down restaurants in a $5 million renovated rendition of the amusement strip. [more]

The Steeple Chase ride at Coney Island’s Scream Zone

Central Amusement International, the firm behind the redevelopment of the old Coney Island amusement park, has had two profitable years from the $25 million it spent to build Luna Park and Scream Zone, and plans to spend an additional $5 million to build up the final 60,000-square-foot lot it leased from the city by next summer, Crain’s reported. Central Amusement, a subsidiary of Italian ride manufacturer Zamperla, will also upgrade the Cyclone and much of the retail along the boardwalk, to the dismay of old-timers.
The firm pays $100,000 in rent to the city per year in a lease through 2020, and also relinquishes a percentage of its revenues to the city. [more]

Top: the new Coney’s Cones; Bottom: the Coney Island Boardwalk

Ruby’s Bar and Grill, Cha Cha’s, Paul’s Daughter, Kris Greg’s Beer House, Gyro Corner, Beer Island, Coney Island Souvenirs: when the last traces of this summer season melt away, by the end of October, these down-trodden temples of high-caloric American capitalism, which line Coney Island’s famous Boardwalk between Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel, will pass away with them.
Last year, the seven concession areas negotiated a one-year reprieve from Zamperla, the Italian rides manufacturer and operator that is overseeing the transformation of Coney Island (their eighth cohort, Shoot the Freak, which completed the so-called “Coney Island Eight,” has already been razed). And when they vanish, the Boardwalk, as we have known it for the past half century or more, will be changed beyond recognition.
Already, however, as reported on NY1 Tuesday, a new eatery named Coney’s Cones is set to open on the Boardwalk, rising over the ghosts of the one concession that did not take the one-year extension. The new Coney’s Cones is nothing to write home about. [more]

The former Thunderbolt roller coaster on Coney Island, which was torn down in 2000

The vacant Coney Island site that for years housed the famed Thunderbolt roller coaster has come back on the market, and the city is interested in adding part of it to its growing amusement district, according to the Wall Street Journal. The three-acre lot, which is on West 16th Street across from the Brooklyn Cyclones’ MCU Park and is owned by Kansas Fried Chicken founder Horace Bullard, originally hit the market last year, but a buyer never emerged. Now, with the nearby Luna Park heading into its second season and Coney Island’s revitalization looking more like a reality, Bullard is trying his luck again. [more]

The eight businesses fighting eviction from the Coney Island Boardwalk charged yesterday that amusement park operator Zamperla duped them into thinking they stood a chance at keeping their spots last year, when in reality the company had always planned to take over. According to the Daily News, the charges came yesterday as a court battle between the merchants — including Ruby’s Bar and Shoot the Freak — and Zamperla was postponed again. Attorney Marc Aronson, who is representing the merchants, called Zamperla’s promise to allow those who submitted good business plans to stay on the Boardwalk “a show and a sham… their mind was already made up.” [more]

The Coney Island boardwalk businesses suing to block their evictions by new operator Zamperla are seeking $250,000 each in settlement talks with the city, according to the Post. The Italian company, which was picked by the city to clean up and redevelop the boardwalk, issued eviction notices Nov. 1 to the eight businesses, including Shoot the Freak and Ruby’s Bar & Grill. According to one anonymous, but opinionated, city official, “the tenants are holding the boardwalk hostage in order to get a big payout and then walk away.” [more]

The owner of Coney Island’s “Shoot the Freak” is planning to sue boardwalk operator Zamperla USA for wrongful eviction after the company bulldozed and boarded up his business yesterday without warning. Anthony Berlingieri, who also operates the nearby Beer Island bar that faces the boot from Zamperla, told the Post he was in “shock” yesterday after returning to the site of his legendary paintball game and finding only the signage — crooked and broken — remaining. ” class=”read-more-link”>[more]

The family that has operated the famed Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island for 34 years is hanging up its hat, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Carol Albert, whose family has managed the coaster since the mid-1970s, said that rapidly increasing costs have forced her to lay off employees and close up shop. The city Parks Department said it plans to seek bids to operate the 83-year-old ride, with its future ownership in jeopardy. “A refurbished Cyclone will be open this summer,” the Parks Department said in a statement. [more]

Italian entrepreneur Valerio Ferrari — who runs Coney Island’s Luna Park and controls the businesses along the boardwalk — wants to bring a fancy sit-down restaurant to the boardwalk. “Why can’t you sit down with your newspaper and enjoy a coffee and the great view of the beach?” he asked the Brooklyn Paper. “There needs to be a sit-down restaurant.” Ferrari, CEO of Central Amusement International, has a deal with the city which allows him to broker leases for businesses on the boardwalk between West 10th Street and Stillwell Avenue, giving him the power to decide which of the 11 operating businesses can stay once the leases are up on Dec. 31. Ferrari said the fate of the businesses — who were all asked to submit business plans justifying their existence — will be revealed by the end of the month. “Some will stay, some will go,” Ferrari said, but he would not reveal any details, though local owners are eager to find out. [Brooklyn Paper]

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“The Freak” and Coney Island

Eleven of Coney Island’s longtime boardwalk businesses — including “Shoot the Freak” and Ruby’s Bar — have been served notices asking them to prove why their leases should be renewed for next summer or risk being ousted, the Post reported. The notices, which demand new business models from each of the owners by Aug. 31, were delivered by Central Amusement International, the New Jersey subsidiary of Italian amusement park operator Zamperla, which runs the new Luna Park in Coney Island. Those who miss the deadline “will be considered… not interested” in returning to Coney Island next summer, the letter says. Next summer, Zamperla plans to open a “Scream Zone” with two roller coasters and other rides on an empty Stillwell Avenue lot it leased from the city. Still, a Zamperla spokesperson said the company is not attempting to “clear house.” [Post]

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