‘AMAZING TO OPEN ’
Coney Island shows love the B’klyn way on 1st day of rides with pols, fanfare after woeful year of COVID-19 closure
Sometimes in life, hope comes in the form of a rollercoaster ride.
Coney Island’s amusement parks welcomed New Yorkers to come out and play Friday after a tumultuous pandemic year that saw the city’s historic center of summer leisure struggle mightily for survival.
COVID-19 closed rides temporarily at Coney last year.
But with New Yorkers finally seeing an end to the pandemic, throngs flocked to the storied Brooklyn boardwalk and its amusements to usher in warm weather, ride the Cyclone, grab a hot dog and breathe a deep sigh of relief.
“Funky Town” blasted from Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog stand as Ewan Niven wistfully recounted how for months he’s been hopping the beach-bound Q train with his subway-loving 3-year-old son James to visit a more desolate version of C.I. — a frozen, fever dream that has started to melt away.
“It was like death. And everything was really quiet,” said Niven.
“And then we came down two weeks ago, and there was a couple of people, like, putting up a sign and painting,” he said. “And coming down this time, and everything is just — the lights are on.”
Niven, a native of Scotland who lives in Prospect Heights, said it would be the first time his boy is tall enough to hop one of the kiddie rides.
“I’ve just been longing to go,” he said. “It just feels good.”
Jack Burkhardt, 11, of Bay Ridge, had his eye on much bigger amusement park game Friday and rode the Cyclone for the very first time.
“I’m really enjoying it because we haven’t been in Coney for a long time,” Jack said.
Politicians — who know a good photo op when they see one — turned out in force too.
Mayor de Blasio, tagged by some as a stick in the mud, leapt on the Cyclone and wouldn’t stop giddily bragging about it on Brian Lehrer’s radio call-in show on WNYC.
Council Speaker
Corey Johnson, who’s running for comptroller, filmed his ride on the historic rollercoaster and jauntily declared it “a good day for New York.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Scott Stringer and Councilman Brad Lander, who’s running against Johnson, also showed up.
Andrew Yang, who’s leading the polls in this year’s hotly contested mayor’s race, bought his son some cotton candy and also made a beeline to the Cyclone.
“You can feel it!” de Blasio said during his visit Friday. “The rides open today. Our hearts open up too because we love this place. We love this place!”
Hope was also in the air for those who operate the beach retreat’s concessions, who were slammed in 2020 by Coney Island’s coronavirus closure.
James Hendrick, 62, who sells cheese steaks and cocktails at a Luna Park food stand, had to move upstate for six months to make ends meet because of the pandemic.
“Last year was devastating,” he said. “There was absolutely no work.”
Now, he’s back in Brooklyn. Things are looking up for others who make money by the boardwalk.
“It’s amazing to open ... It’s a blessing,” said Alessandro Zamperla, CEO of Central Amusement International, which runs Luna Park.
“Last week we had our first job fair, and we hired 300 people,” said Zamperla. “Now, we’re only open on weekends. Once we go through Memorial Day — by that time, we should hire close to 1,200 people.”
Frontline health care workers got the first crack Friday at Deno’s Wonder Wheel, which is celebrating its 101st year after a 529-day shutdown.
As it spun round and round — its beautiful, ancient cars rocking back and forth like the waves — Hendrick made a bold and heartfelt prediction, one that every New Yorker would surely like to see come to pass.
“It’s going to be a wonderful year,” Hendrick said. “It’s Coney Island — it’s the playground of the world.”