counting backwards

Goodbye, Astroland Park →

For the first time in years, I went to Coney Island over Labor Day weekend. When I was a kid, it was my favorite place in the world. I was happy to see that the place was pretty much unchanged from what I remember it. Now it cost $20 to park, but I can forgive that, I guess (especially since I found a free spot about five blocks away). I sat on the beach and had a beer and a hot dog at Nathan’s. I even rode the Cyclone for the first time, because the last time I’d been there, I was too young to go on the ride (that’s how long it had been). I walked around Astroland, and remembered all the times my cousin and her husband snuck me and my sister out to Coney Island when she babysat us, even though my parents didn’t allow her to take us that far. We had to lie and say we went to the South Beach amusement park on Staten Island. I remember riding the log flume, eating at Nathan’s and having shrimp cocktail.

Change is good. But I’ll miss the old park, even though we only just got reaquainted. Now luxury towers and a swank new amusement park will invade the space, pushing away all the shady and freaky people. It’ll be safer, cleaner, and a whole lot more boring.