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It's a bit harrowing for me that the first "history" blurb that I'm writing for a rollercoaster is about the Coney Island Cyclone. I assume for many of these coasters on the trip the only history I'll be writing is "Built in 1987 by Six Flags, the Mind Eraser has been thrilling guests ever since." However, the Cyclone simply does not allow such a short summnation so I am left with writing my first 'history' blurb on the topic of a coaster with one of the richest histories in the country.
The Cyclone debuted in 1927 boasting the longest and highest drops (both at 85ft) of any rollercoaster yet. This is the only 1 of the five coaster Vernon Keenan is credited as designing that remains operational and open to the public today (there are 2 additional coasters by Keenan still standing, but not operating). Having ridden one of Keenan's now demolished coasters throughout my childhood (the Atom Blaster at the now destroyed Rockaway's Playland) I can comfortably say that Vernon Keenan kicks ass. Charles Lindbergh agrees. He described the Cyclone as scarier then flying an airplane.
The Cyclone was built during what is commonly felt to be the "Golden Age of Roller Coasters." During this period there were over 1,500 coasters operating in the USA. The Depression of the thirties changed this dramatically, and though the Depression ended, the country's interest in rollercoasters continued fading. By the 1960s, the Coney Island Cyclone was still standing, a fact which was notable for at this point in time only 200 or so other rollercoasters were still standing with it in all of America.
In 1969, due to a massive avoidance of the once glorious Brooklyn neighborhood because of high crime, well publicized riots and a complete lack of interest in rollercoasters, the Cyclone was closed.
And at this point, the Cyclone got very lucky.
Amusement parks were now just starting to stir to life again (thanks to some guy named Walt), and Astroworld Park set its sights to grave rob the now dead Cyclone and bring it over to Houston, Texas. Happily for NYers, it was decided that moving it would be too expensive.
The next bullet the Cyclone would need to dodge came from the New York Aquarium (which stood next door to the Cyclone), who announced in 1972 that they would be demolishing this beat up beauty so that they could expand their fishtanks. With the 20/20 hindsight of history, I can now consider this to be very good news for the Cyclone, as this announcement propelled a "Save the Cyclone" campaign that would eventually succeed.
The Cyclone was very lucky here on many different counts. I would dare speculate that if noone had announced plans to demolish this classic coaster, then there would have never been a movement to "save it", and no reopening. The most likely scenario would then have the Cyclone falling into disrepair (like its neighbor the Thunderbolt) to the point where (like it's other neighbor the parachute drop) it would be prohibitively expensive to later reopen.
The Cyclone was also quite lucky that it was another public NYC institution that had set it's sites on demolishing it. Whatever your politics, it remains clear that the private sector is much quicker and more decisive when it comes to goals like this, and may slice through any 'red tape' and 'Save the Cyclone' campaigns with potentially lethal ease. I fear its fate had private developers set their sites on having the Cyclone demolished during this delicate time.
Regardless, a "Save the Cyclone" campaign began, and was surprisingly succesful. The city reneged it's condemned status and the coaster was leased to the now growing Astroland park across the street.
Yet another factor in the Cyclone's rather lucky rescue from death was that this now coincided with the previously mentioned renewed interest in Amusement Parks and rollercoasters, pioneered by Disney and it's new imitator/competitor, Six Flags (along with the new coasters by designer John Allen, whose creations were nearly singlehandedly re-exciting the public about rollercoasters).
Coney Island and it's prized Cyclone have been on a steady but slow upswing since then. In 1991 the Cyclone became a National Historic Landmark guaranteeing that we'll at the least always be able to see and photograph it. And though Astroland is no DisneyLand for attendance, the park clearly makes enough money to pay 53 year old repairman Walter William's salary, and in his hands I'm sure we'll be guaranteed to be continued to ride it. Williams had this to say about keeping the Cyclone running:
"I take care of her, I see after her. I fix her, and I make sure she's okay. I love the Cyclone, like you would love your wife."
Well, I love my wife a whole lot. But I also love the Cyclone enough to be very glad that someone like Walter is taking care of it. 77 years old... may you live to see 77 more!
Sources for History
http://history.amusement-parks.com/cyclonepage.htm
http://www.soundportraits.org/on-air/coney_island/transcript.php3
http://www.rcdb.com/installationdetail222.htm
http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/early_1900/history_coney.shtml
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/coney/sfeature/history.html
http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagepkey=694
"In 1948, Emilio Franco, a coal miner from West Virginia, came to Coney with the disease of aphonia. The illness kept him unable to speak. He boarded the Cyclone, as he went down the first drop he screamed, as the train pulled into the station he said, "I feel sick"...then he fainted, realizing he had just spoken".
from Amusement Park History
Two people died on the Cyclone in the 1980s. One man's head struck a wood beam while he was "standing" on the coaster, while another fell off the train altogether after he somehow evaded the restraints and attempted standing during the ride. He fell out on the first hill.from 'Amusement Ride Accident News and Reports.'
Ah... the Cyclone. Is there anyone it can't scare?
In celebration of my 31st birthday for 2003, Cla and I met some friends for dinner at Gargiulo's, a restaurant conveniently located down the street from Coney Island. If you haven't guessed, it was picked for its location.
Dinner, unfortunately, was adequate but very overpriced, coming to around $50 a head with drinks. This was well more money then I would ever ask my friends to spend on my birthday, and I truly need to find somewhere else that's decent that allows people to sit down and eat for future birthdays there.
Nathan's RAWKS, however there is no seating and though I'm strange enough to demand my birthday be celebrated at an amusement park, I do like the tradition of having a sit-down dinner.
The robbery/dinner finsihed, we took our birthday/dinner party to the Cyclone. Ah... the Cyclone. I'm happy to report that the Cyclone only injured one member of our party, a 90lb woman named Michele who had made the mistake of being turned around during the first drop. The tightness and neck pain the next morning left... eventually, and I can only hope that she forgives that mean bastard and rides it with us again for our going away party.
Clarisse and I rode several more times that night. Ten times, in fact and twice in the killer back seat. Really, the back seat only needs to be ridden once in a lifetime, but somehow I find myself seeking out that pain machine again, like a 10 year old inexplicably drawn to a dare he can't resist.
It was later speculated that we should have ridden 31 times, in honor of my birthday. I thought, "Damn, why didn't we think of this sooner!" For it was Midnight and the park was closing. Well, definitely next year, I resolved.
However next year, if fate will have us, we'll be somewhere driving from Elysburg to Briston on August 31 on our way to enjoying the Boulder Dash. But I won't be foiled from a resolution: for our going away trip I'm taking 32 rides on the Cyclone in honor of the birthday I'll be missing there this year. Will it hurt? Maybe, but it will also be hellafun!
I that mean old bastard won't beat us up too much. After all, we'll have 100 more days of coaster riding to go after this!
The most striking feature of the Cyclone is it's decrepitude. Coney Island as a whole feels decrepit, but nothing stands out so much as an icon to this state as the Cyclone. The most common response to the first time rider when presented with the Cyclone is "Oh my God that thing is going to fall apart!"
The Cyclone's famous history, of course, only helps this image and fear further, and patrons used to the ubiquitous order and cleanliness of the corporate chain parks are further frightened by it's entrance area and station platform.
The entrance area to the Cyclone can only be described as... gated. Rusted, bent fences line the area around the gate. The ticket booth has metal mesh for a window, with a usually elderly, always gruff ticket seller brusquely demanding that you not bother him with questions and kindly pay and get your ass moving. You then proceed through rows of gating, back and forth approaching the entrance platform. It is a rare day indeed when there are ever actually people waiting in line through these rows of gate, and one always takes this area fast, spinning ones arms through each turn. There is almost never a wait for the Cyclone.
The station platform itself is remarkably similar to a subway platform in NYC, with potential riders jostling and edging each other out in a similar way for the seats they desire. Like all wood coasters, the station shakes as the train roars past. At the end of the platform a man occasionally can be found operating a rough and loose bag check (it's free), while across the tracks you can often see a fat man chain smoking (is it deliberately, I wonder) in front of a painted sign that clearly states "No smoking."
The rules of the Cyclone are hand painted, old school carnival style and are mostly faded and corroded, adorning the opposite side of where the passengers wait. The young men who work the trains on the Cyclone lack uniforms, in fact they lack any apparent dress code whatsoever, opting instead for the latest hip hop dress that is taking hold of Brooklyn in this 15 minutes of fashion. Hiphop often plays on a transistor cassette player that looks about as old as the coaster, and they will often synchronize their movements to the beats if approving of the song. But don't let their dress and behavior fool you. Unlike their corporate counterparts, these guys have worked this coaster day in and day out for a long time. And unlike there teenage counterparts at Six Flags or Cedar Fair, they very clearly enjoy there job and have fun while doing it. An attendant on the Cyclone has never missed checking a restraint to my eyes. Their fast and loose buoyancy is quite clearly superior to the over-disciplined and dulled expressions of ennui that is evident in most corporate teenage workers.
There's not a computer in sight on the Cyclone platform. You make the coaster go by moving a large stick from one side to the other. Safety restraints are operated in a similar fashion, with a lever on the side that must be kicked for the restraints to be released on each section of cars. As your train pulls into the station, you watch the attendants kick the sides releasing each bunch of cars as they haggle with the passengers (victims?) over an offer of a re-ride for a reduced price that is apparently set by the whims of the men working the station.
If it's a busy enough time that every train is full (like a weekend in the summer), don't bother waiting for a seat like the front or back. The train of people that come in get a choice to re-ride, and if they choose to re-ride they can then pick any seat they want. So for your first ride, pick any seat that's available, then at the end pay for a re-ride and pick the seat you desire. This is quicker and easier then waiting for a front seat that is always full pulling into the loading platform due to re-riders.
The Cyclone ride itself is both better and worse then people often expect. If due to its size, you were expecting a non-thrilling ride, you were wrong. If due to its age, you were expecting the get beat up, your expectations will be met, and exceeded if you dare ride in the back seat.
The Cyclone is unrelenting, brutal fun. At the end of the ride I am often at a loss for breath, and that's even on my eight or ninth ride. The Cyclone somehow never allows itself to be boring, possibly because you are being thrown one way or the other at pretty much every moment of the ride. At the end of a Cyclone ride you are very satisfied, yet you want to go again. The mark of a really good rollercoaster.
I've ridden the Cyclone in almost every seat and of course have on opinion on which is the best. The front should be ridden at least once, but is not the best ride. The best ride on the Cyclone is in the second to last car. One could say that the best ride on the Cyclone is the last car, but the person saying that clearly has bones made of rubber. The last car on the Cyclone is very fun, but it also is very painful. So rough, in fact, that I sometimes have to take an actual break after riding in the very back. Which is essentially why I prefer to second to last car. It's still quite rough and still quite fun. And even though I have to admit that the second to back car is a bit less fun then the last car, it is so much less painful that it more then compensates.
So my advice for your Cyclone rides? First ride, any car available. Second ride, front. Third Ride, last car. Then take a break because you'll need it. Spend the rest of the day riding the second to last car.
I'm very happy with the Cyclone as my home coaster. I could certainly do a lot worse.