Astroland

Astroland was a 3.1-acre (1.3 ha) amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City first opened in 1962. It was located at 1000 Surf Avenue (at the corner of West 10th Street) on the boardwalk. It ceased operations on September 7, 2008.

History

Astroland was first built as a "space-age" theme park when it opened in 1962, although in later years "a visit [was] more like stepping into the past than the future." Some of the later rides were similar to regular carnival rides, but others offered a kitsch experience that was lacking in modern amusement parks.

In 1955, Dewey Albert and his friends Nathan Handwerker, Herman Rapps, Sidney Robbins and Paul Yampo formed a corporation called Coney Island Enterprises. In 1957, Rapps and Albert announced they would build Wonderland. Through a series of acquisitions, together they built what is today known as Astroland, with rides including the Tower to the Stars or Astrotower gyro tower, the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet emulating a trip to the Moon, the Mercury Capsule Skyride carrying patrons in bubble cars across the park to the boardwalk, and the Neptune Diving Bells, a duplicate of an Atlantic City ride that took patrons 30 feet down into a tank to watch porpoises and fish. In June 1975 Astroland was chosen to be the new operator of the Cyclone, the famous wooden roller coaster, which stood on Parks Department land. On July 12, 1975, an early-morning fire wiped out much of the park, but they were able to rebuild.