Grashorn Building, April 19, 2003. Municipal Art SocietyGet set for another year of competing Coney Island freak shows
Operator John Strong confirmed today that he has a new lease to return to the seaside district this summer, but in new digs – the ex-Grashorn’s Hardware site on Surf Ave, which dates back to the 1880s and is Coney Island’s oldest building.
Strong, who leased part of the former Astroland site from developer Joe Sitt last season before it was sold to the city, also cut his new deal with Sitt.
Sitt, who declined to confirm today if the deal had closed, brought Strong to Coney Island last year and renamed the Astroland property “Dreamland Park.”
“I’m happy to be coming back to Coney Island,” said Strong, who said business was “great” there last year – even though most of the rest of the traveling amusements at the park last year were a huge flop.
But Strong doesn’t boast being the only show in town. He’s up against the popular Coney Island USA Circus Sideshow, headed by Dick Zigun, the so-called Coney Island mayor.
Strong says he’s so in love with Coney Island that he is trying to lease more Sitt-owned land on Stillwell Avenue. He said he wants to expand his freak show and also use the additional space for a circus and the return of go-cart tracks to the underused site.
Strong claimed that he currently is the highest bidder for the site – even higher than Zamperla USA, which is expected to be tapped by the city to operate a six- acre amusement park in Coney Island on property that includes the old Astroland site.
Sitt in November agreed to sell the Astroland site and some other Coney Island property he owns to the city, so it could go forward with plans to build a new amusement park and other attractions.
Strong’s Coney Island freak show made national headlines last year by unsuccessfully trying to stop a five-legged puppy from getting corrective surgery.
He infuriated animal-rights activists by getting into a legal fight with a Charlotte, NC, woman who swooped in and beat Strong to buying the five-legged puppy. Allyson Siegel had the deformed canine's extra limb removed to keep it from ending up in the freak show.
Strong, who leased part of the former Astroland site from developer Joe Sitt last season before it was sold to the city, also cut his new deal with Sitt.
Sitt, who declined to confirm today if the deal had closed, brought Strong to Coney Island last year and renamed the Astroland property “Dreamland Park.”
“I’m happy to be coming back to Coney Island,” said Strong, who said business was “great” there last year – even though most of the rest of the traveling amusements at the park last year were a huge flop.
But Strong doesn’t boast being the only show in town. He’s up against the popular Coney Island USA Circus Sideshow, headed by Dick Zigun, the so-called Coney Island mayor.
Strong says he’s so in love with Coney Island that he is trying to lease more Sitt-owned land on Stillwell Avenue. He said he wants to expand his freak show and also use the additional space for a circus and the return of go-cart tracks to the underused site.
Strong claimed that he currently is the highest bidder for the site – even higher than Zamperla USA, which is expected to be tapped by the city to operate a six- acre amusement park in Coney Island on property that includes the old Astroland site.
Sitt in November agreed to sell the Astroland site and some other Coney Island property he owns to the city, so it could go forward with plans to build a new amusement park and other attractions.
Strong’s Coney Island freak show made national headlines last year by unsuccessfully trying to stop a five-legged puppy from getting corrective surgery.
He infuriated animal-rights activists by getting into a legal fight with a Charlotte, NC, woman who swooped in and beat Strong to buying the five-legged puppy. Allyson Siegel had the deformed canine's extra limb removed to keep it from ending up in the freak show.
from Coney Island news.com
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