Pasado y futuro de Coney Island

(Alguien puso una banderita en la casa abandonada). (Todas las fotos que veis en este post son sacadas de internet).
En cuanto al rollercoaster de Annie Hall, no es el Cyclone, sino uno igual de antiguo o más que era el Thunderbolt. Me he enterado buscando lo de la casa que dices. Y sí, había una casa, como veis en la foto, que fue un hotel antes, el Kensington Hotel.Pero cuando ya no era hotel le construyeron la montaña rusa encima! jajajaj, la casa la usaron los que llevaban la montaña rusa, pero no para vivir, parece, sino sólo como oficina, aunque otras informaciones dicen lo contrario.
(El cartel de neón del Thunderbolt lleno de maleza)
Y sí, fue demolido en el 2000. En mi guia, del 2004, hablan de que se pueden ver los restos, pero por he visto fotos recientes y ya no queda nada en la zona. Se hizo discretamente, sin avisar públicamente de la demolición para evitar manifestantes. Ah, Astroland, el parque, ha sido vendido a finales del año pasado a un promotor inmobiliario. Pero ni el Cyclone ni la Wonder Wheel entraban en la compra! Se ve que el que lo ha comprado ya es dueño del terreno justo que hay delante del parque, y el parque queda justo delante del playa.
(Fotos de la demolición.La de la izq es del interior de la casa, de hecho)
Lo que veis abajo es el Parachute Jump, que es la tercera atracción típica del parque, aunque hace años que ya no funciona. Se supone que era una atracción de caída libre.Y por alguna razón la han pintado naranja, según dicen en mi guía.

"One of the coaster's most famous aspects had nothing to with the ride it gave, but with the house (formerly the Kensington Hotel) that sat under the first and third turns. Although I am not sure of the date, the Moran family. George and his son Fred both ran the roller coaster for many years of its life. In the "American Experience" documentary Coney Island: a documentary film, Mae Timpano (Fred's widow) described her years living under and working at the Thunderbolt, "We used to find teeth in the yard. We used to find wigs, glasses, guns. Everything we found in the yard…nobody came back for them, though." She lived with Fred under the house (an image popularized [and distorted]) by the Woody Allen film "Annie Hall." The house was uniquely used by the builders because it was incorporated into the coaster's structural support system."

"Yes, there actually used to be a house under the now-demolished Thunderbolt roller coaster in Coney Island. Actually, the house, which used to be the Kensington Hotel, was built in 1895 and the Thunderbolt was built over it! The situation was memorialized in Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall. The last owner of the housewas the coaster's owner, Fred Moran; a friend, Mae Timpano, occupied the house till 1988 when the property was sold to developer Horace Bullard. A caretaker occupied the house until amost the day of demolition! The Thunderbolt closed for business in 1983"

"Coney Island’s Astroland amusement park was sold this week to a real-estate developer who plans to tear down the family-run carnival to make way for a $1.5-billion fantasyland of hotels, movie theaters, neon-lit shops, beachfront luxury condos and even a few new rides.
The Albert family operated Astroland for 44 years before selling the land to developer Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities for an undisclosed sum.
Sitt plans to use the two-acre site for a hotel and other attractions, including a 150-foot water slide, a multi-level carousel and the city’s first new roller coaster since the Cyclone was built in 1927.
The Cyclone itself, which is owned by the Parks Department but run by the Albert family, was not part of this week’s sale.
Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park was also not included in the sale. That park is the biggest of the remaining funlands in Coney Island, but it sits right between land already owned by Thor Equities and the Astroland site bought this week.
Many believe that Deno’s is next on Sitt’s “to buy” list.
Sitt has spent a reported $100 million acquiring land throughout the once-vibrant “people’s playground” of Coney Island — an area he now wants to turn into a mini-Las Vegas."