My uncle’s brother quoted rent prices to me of “$500 per month” and “free.” I was living in San Francisco at the time, but both of those prices sounded very very right. Within two weeks I had given notice at my corporate marketing job, and two weeks later I had landed in Brooklyn with all of my worldly possessions in four boxes and a list of friends’ couches to crash on until the Coney Island apartment was renovated and ready for tenants.

Recent news about the City of Fire, however, leaves me feeling glad that that apartment has never worked out.

According to the New York Daily News, litter and garbage are piling up all over Coney Island. The turnout for the rides, sun, water, and fun attractions over Memorial Day weekend was so high that the Parks Department decided to remove all the garbage cans throughout the area so that people might traffic more freely.

But people still have garbage, and without garbage cans they’ve resorted to: tossing it on the ground. Coney Island now resembles the scene of a cyclone—not the famous roller coaster or the baseball team, but the kind that Dorothy knows and fears.

Trash cans are set to return within the next week when needed renovations are completed. Let’s hope they come through!

Our beloved borough is more than just a place to live, work, and visit – it’s a place to film! Let’s take a look at three movies set and filmed prominently in Brooklyn.

Saturday Night Fever

In SNF, John Travolta’s character Tony wants nothing more than to transcend his home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for Manhattan (crazy). His costar Donna Pescow, a native to the borough, adapted to her role by retraining herself to speak in a Brooklyn accent. The Bay Ridge pizza shop, hardware store, and dance studio featured in the movie still exist today, although the disco club 2001 Odyssey, which was also located in Bay Ridge, has since been demolished.

Requiem for a Dream

This gritty film spends much of its time in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where Sara, a widow, lives alone in her apartment. Although rather depressing throughout much of the movie, Brooklyn is also the stuff of dreams – when Harry is dreaming of seeing his girlfriend Marion on an ethereal boardwalk, he’s picturing her on Coney Island’s Steeplechase Pier!

The Squid and the Whale

Although the titular oceanic battle is depicted in an exhibit at Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History, The Squid in the Whale is set predominately in Brooklyn. The main family home is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and when the Bernard (Jeff Daniels) leaves his wife Joan (Laura Linney), he moves to an apartment on the other side of Prospect Park.

If you just moved to the Brooklyn area you may be wondering about some activities or hobbies you can get into. Frankly, I think Brooklyn is one of those great cities where just about anyone can find something that interests them.

If you are young person or young couple into trends, you might enjoy trying new restaurants like Applewood, Al Di LA or Franny’s. These are some of the newer and “hip” restaurants in the community that get praise all the time for the food, atmosphere and social scene.

On the other hand, maybe you are into the bar or the club scene. If so, like most other metropolitan areas Brooklyn offers quite a few options to choose from such as Building on Bond, Clover Club, Floyd, NY or Last Exit, which is a fantastic mix between a comfortable downtown bar and a trendy lounge.

For children, Brooklyn has tons of great cultural activities and performing arts opportunities. Consider the New York Aquarium, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Prospect Park Zoo, The Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Lefferts Historic House, and of course Coney Island. At this last stop, your family can enjoy games, rides, food, and the popular Coney Island Museum.

Passengers heading from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan should be aware that transfers between the #2, #3, #4, #5, and (A) trains will not be available at the Fulton Street/Broadway-Nassau Street station in Lower Manhattan due to Phase II construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center.  Passengers may transfer between the #2/#3 trains and the #4 train at Nevins Street, Boerum Hill; transfers between the #2/#3 and uptown (A) trains at Park Place/Chambers Street in Manhattan.

Travelers wishing to make a transfer between the uptown (A) and the downtown #4/#5 must ask the station agent for a transfer ticket, exit the station and reenter at Broadway…

Manhattan-bound (A) trains will operate local service from Euclid Avenue, East New York to Canal Street, Manhattan, express from Canal Street to 59th Street-Columbus Circle, local from 59th to 125th Streets, then express from 125th through 168th Streets for work on the Chambers Street signal modernization, 59th Street station rehab, and a track chip out at 163rd Street.

Brooklyn-bound (A) trains will run local between 168th Street and 4th Street, Manhattan, then over the (F) line between 4th Street and Jay Street, Brooklyn Heights, then resume local (A) service between Jay Street and Euclid Avenue due to the Chambers Street signal modernization.

Due to the modifications to the (A) train, (C) train service will not operate this weekend…

(D) train service will not operate between Pacific Avenue, Boerum Hill and 34th Street/Herald Square, due to construction of the free transfer passageway between the Broadway-Lafayette Street station on the (B), (D), (F), and (V) trains and the Bleeker Street station on the #6.  Alternate service is available via the (N) or shuttle buses in Manhattan.  Service adjustments will take effect tonight at 11:30 p.m. through 5:00 a.m. Monday…

(N) train service will be significantly modified due to various TA and NYCDOT projects.

Coney Island-bound (N) trains will operate via the (R) between Canal Street, Manhattan, and DeKalb Street, Fort Greene, then operate local service between Pacific Street, Park Slope, and 36th Street, Prospect Park, then express between 36th Street and Stillwell Avenue, Coney Island.

Manhattan and Queens-bound (N) trains will operate local beween 59th Street, Sunset Park, and Pacific Street, then operate via the Manhattan Bridge between DeKalb Street and Canal Street, Manhattan.

The adjustments are due to NYCDOT repairs on the 65th Street Bridge, maintenance in the Montague Tunnel, and other maintenance projects…

Manhattan bound (Q) and (R) train service will operate via the Manhattan Bridge between 6:30 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday due to maintenance in the Montague Tunnel…

In addition, a shuttle bus on the (R) will operate between 36th Street and 95th Street, Bay Ridge between 11:30 p.m. tonight and 5:30 a.m. Monday due to NYCDOT construction on the 65th Street Bridge.

For additional information on service adjustments, contact the TA Information Center at (718) 330-1234 or visit www.mta.info.

Between 12:01 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. between tonight and Friday morning, service on the (2) train will operate as express trains instead of locals between Atlantic Avenue, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights-Utica Avenue, stopping only at Franklin Avenue Station.  Direct (2) train service to and from Manhattan and The Bronx will operate to Utica Avenue instead of Flatbush Avenue.  A (2) shuttle train with 30 minute headways will operate between Franklin Avenue and Flatbush Avenue…

Additionally, the (4) train will also operate express between Atlantic Avenue and Utica Avenue.

Brooklyn-bound passengers travelling from Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn to Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza, Eastern Parkway, Nostrand Avenue, and Kingston Avenue stations should get off the Brooklyn-bound trains at Utica Avenue, then board a Manhattan-bound train to reach these stations…

The late-night (G) train service adjustments reported by Brooklyn News last week remain in effect through the rest of this week.  This involves two sections of (G) service – one section will operate between Court Square, Queens, and Bedford-Nostrand, Bed-Stuy, the other between Bedford-Nostrand and Church Avenue, Kensington.  Trains will operate both sections every 30 minutes with passengers required to transfer at Bedford-Nostrand.  This will be in effect between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m…

Riders on the (L) train should be aware of platform boarding changes for late night service.  Brooklyn-bound riders will be required to board on the Manhattan-bound platforms at 3rd Avenue and 1st Avenue stations in Manhattan and at Bedford Avenue Station, Williamsburg, between 12:01 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. through Friday morning…

Manhattan- and Queens-bound riders on the (N) will see service re-routed over the Manhattan Bridge instead of the Montague Tunnel, skipping the Canal Street, Rector Street, and Whitehall Street stations in Manhattan and Court Street and Lawrence Street stations in Brooklyn.  Riders are asked to take the (4) train as an alternative…

And, finally, the (Q) train will be operating in two sections during late night hours.  The (Q) will operate in two sections – one segment will operate between 57th Street/7th Avenue, Manhattan and Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Avenue, Prospect Heights on the 4th Avenue Line (served by the (D), (M), (N), and (R) trains; the other section will operate between the Atlantic Avenue on the Brighton Line (the normal (Q) train station) and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue.  Trains will operate every 30 minutes on the Brighton Line between 12:01 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. nightly through Friday.

This is in addition to the ongoing construction on the Brighton Line, causing intermittant delays on the (B) and (Q) trains and local service on the (B) between Prospect Park and Brighton Beach.

For updated service adjustment information, call the NYC Transit information line at (718) 330-1234 or visit www.mta.info.

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, actor Mark Wahlberg, and actor Will Ferrell at Nathan's, Coney Island, on the set of the movie "The Other Guys" (nypost.com)

CONEY ISLAND - Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement regarding the re-development of Coney Island wasn’t the only big event to hit the south end of the borough yesterday.

Derek Jeter, the future hall of fame shortstop for the World Champion New York Yankees, was on Coney Island yesterday to film a movie starring comedian Will Ferrell and actor Mark Wahlberg called “The Other Guys.”

The plot of the movie involves Wahlberg’s character accidentally shooting Jeter in the leg, thus ruining Jeter’s career (which is probably an idea that more than a few people just two hours south of here were probably thinking of when the Yankees won the World Series last week against the Philadelphia Phillies).

In the movie, Jeter plays a fictionalized version of himself several years after his movie character is shot.  Let’s just say that the movie version of Jeter in “The Other Guys” doesn’t exactly make him out to be the super-star athlete who has thrilled baseball fans (at least those who are not Mets fans) since the mid-1990′s.

The scene in which Jeter, Ferrell and Wahlberg – a Boston native who is not exactly shy about his allegiance to those Red Sox – appeared was filmed at Nathan’s hot dog stand on the Coney Island Boardwalk.

Unlike the aforementioned Bloomberg, who made his Coney Island announcement from City Hall in Manhattan, at least Jeter made an appearance in the borough.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) announced that the City signed a contract with Thor Equities, the company at the center of a controversial plan to redevelop the area, to purchase 6.9 acres valued at $95.6 million.

City Council approved a zoning plan in July that would expand the amusement area to 12.5 acres within a new 27 acre amusement and entertainment district.  Thor Equities had proposed a major mixed-use development which would inlcude retail options and up to 5,000 new housing units.

Bloomberg claims that the proposal would generate $14 billion in economic activity for the City over the next 30 years and that 25,000 construction jobs and 6,000 permanent jobs would also be created as a result of the project.

“Coney Island’s amusement park will be owned by the public, and its future will be in the hands of New Yorkers who have cherished it for generations,” Bloomberg said at a press conference yesterday.  ”What’s more, today’s announcement means that we can move full-steam ahead with our plan to revitalize Coney Island – not only as America’s greatest seaside amusement park – but also as a vibrant community with thousands of new apartments and jobs.”

The New York City Economic Development Corporation released a request for proposal to potnential developers today.  The RFP states that bidders must include an operating plan for – at a minimum – the amusement park at the Astroland site at Surf Avenue between West 8th and West 10th Streets for next summer as well as an “enhanced visitor experience in keeping with Coney Island’s tradition of public access.”

The NYCEDC is also seeing proposals for two parcels of land bounded by Surf Avenue, West 15th Street, West 12th Street, and the Boardwalk.

VIDEO: Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference on Coney Island deal

• Service on the (D) train will operate in local service between 36th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park, and DeKalb Street station, Fort Greene.
• Northbound (D) trains will operate over the (N) line (Sea Beach Branch) between Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station and 36th Street/4th Avenue; southbound (D) service between 36th Street and Coney Island is unaffected.  The re-routing is due to track panel installation north of 62nd Street.  The re-routing takes effect at 5:00 a.m. Saturday until 10:00 p.m. Sunday.
• Service on the (F) train will operate into two segments: Between Jamaica-179th Street, Queens, to Jay Street, Brooklyn Heights and between Church Avenue, Kensington to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue.  The re-routing is effective between 11:30 p.m. Friday through 5:00 a.m. Monday.
• (G) train service will operate in two segments: Between Court Square, Long Island City, Queens and Bedford Avenue-Nostrand Avenue, Bedford-Stuyvesant and between Bedford-Nostrand and Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, Brooklyn Heights.
• (N) train service will operate local between 59th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park and DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene, then operate via the Manhattan Bridge instead of the Montague Tunnel.
• (R) train service will operate in two segments: Between 34th Street-Herald Square, Manhattan, and Forest Hills-71st Avenue, Queens and between 36th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park and 95th Street-Bay Ridge; no subway service will operate between Canal Street, Lower Manhattan and DeKalb Street, Fort Greene.

A shuttle bus will be implemented between Jay Street and Church Avenue stations, serving Jay Street, Bergen Street, Carroll Street, Smith St/9th Street, 4th Avenue/9th Street, 7th Avenue/9th Street, 15th Street/Prospect Park, Fort Hamilton Parkway, and Church Avenue.

The service changes will be in effect from Friday evening through Monday morning.  The changes are in effect due to ongoing construction on the Culver Viaduct and for maintenance in the Montague Tunnel.  The (N) and (R) train adjustments are due to track work at Cortlandt Street, Manhattan.

For additional information and updates on this service adjustments, please call MTA New York City Transit at (718) 330-1234 or visit the official MTA web site: www.mta.info.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) announced plans yesterday to spend $96 million in city funds to expand the iconic amusement park through the purchase of seven acres of a nearby property.

The current owner of the park, Thor Equities, had propsed a massive Las Vegas style hotel/entertainment complex for Coney Island as early as 2005.  A 2005 article in New York magazine describes the project as follows:

The plan includes megaplexes. An indoor water park. A 500-room, four-star hotel—four stars, in Coney Island!—and, at the center of it all, an enormous, psychedelic carousel laced with visual cues to a Coney Island that Timothy Leary could have dreamed up. Equally spectacular, Sitt hopes, will be a blimp that will take off from the complex’s roof, carrying tourists on joyrides over the city as it flashes the resort’s name in giant technicolor letters: THE BOARDWALK AT CONEY ISLAND.

City officials, however, raised objections to the project in 2007, after Thor Equities had sought nearly $100 million in city funding while failing to live up to some of it’s promises, according to this post from the Gothamist blog.

The Astroland amusement park, long a part of the island’s history, was closed last year after the owner and Thor failed to reach an agreement regarding a lease.  The park reopened as Dreamland this past summer, however a dispute over rent again forced the iconic park to close on August 21.  Councilman Dominic Recchia (D) took issue with the business dispute, and, after heated discussions, the park was allowed to open for Labor Day weekend.

The revival of the development project by the Bloomberg Administration should prove a very interesting process, as some critics of the proposal have expressed concerns over the character of the popular summer destination, as one activist did in a recent interview:

Coney Island’s unofficial mayor, Dick Zigun, said in July that at first he was pleased by Bloomberg’s masterplan but felt that the neighborhood was give the “ol switcheroo….” that will end with overdevelopment and what Zigun calls “a wall of highrises.”

Anyone who wants a good example of how development – or lack thereof – can affect a summer-time destination should venture down to Wildwood, N.J., once a prospering beach community on the South Jersey Shore and home to it’s own amusement park complex.  Just walk a block or two away from the beach and you’ll see a community that would make some of Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods look like Westchester County.

Years ago, there was actually a virbant nightlife in Wildwood City; this past summer, many of the popular nightspots remain shuttered, padlocked, and vacant.  While the amusements still remain, the economic development for the Wildwood area hasn’t exactly spread to the outlying neighborhoods.

One can only hope that Coney Island doesn’t meet the same fate…

Tuesday, August 18th 2009, 4:30 AM

Dennis Corines mans the ice cream stand at Denny’s Delight Inc. on Surf Ave., whe snow cones are sold for $1 each.

Siegel for NewsBobby Kohl is ready to chow down on Nathan’s Famous fare. For 93 years, the shop has been a Coney Island landmark.

Siegel for NewsMelchor Herrera holds up a big cheese pie at Pizza on the Run on Stillwell Ave. A slice goes for $2.25.

Besides the beach, Boardwalk and rides, Coney Island has lots to offer, like inexpensive eateries and businesses. If this is your neighborhood or if you would like to live here, look here to find cheap staples in Brooklyn‘s favorite summer hangout.

HARDWARE STORE: Wilensky Hardware, 2126 Mermaid Ave.;(718) 266-7006

Come here to take care of your household plumbing, paint and electrical projects. For those quick fixes, pick up a tube of Krazy Glue for $1.99. Green thumbs can buy packets of seeds for 59 cents each.

HAIR SALON: Timbuktu Hair Care, 1511 Mermaid Ave.;(718) 266-3400

Timbuktu offers a variety of customers an assortment of services. Men, women and children come here for haircuts, relaxing, shaves, braiding, dyeing and perm services. Hair frosting is $10, and a man’s shave goes for $6.

NAIL SALON: JL Nail Academy, 1621 Mermaid Ave.; (718) 714-5097

Come to JL Nail Academy to get the Coney Island sand out from under your nails. Relax with a $6 manicure or $12 pedicure.

GROCERY STORE/DELI: Herradura Grocery Deli, 1627 Mermaid Ave.; (718) 996-8193

Known for its productos Mexicanos, Herradura also stocks basic items like soda, beer and produce. Pickled jalapeños are $1.49 per can and Charras tostadas de maíz are $3.99 per package.

DRY CLEANERS: Best Choice Cleaners, 1506 Mermaid Ave.;(718) 372-8086

Whatever the material – cotton, suede, leather or fur – Best Choice Cleaners will take care of it for you with its speedy same-day service. Get pants, slacks and blouses cleaned for $4.75.

PHARMACY: Mermaid Pharmacy, 2109 Mermaid Ave.; (718) 946-1084

In its 30 years of operation, Mermaid Pharmacy has filled more than 1 million prescriptions – and with free drug counseling, discounts for seniors and a wait time of 30 minutes or less for all prescriptions, it’s easy to see why.

ICE CREAM: Denny’s Delight Inc., 1214 Surf Ave.;(718) 266-9371

Forget the fancy yogurt – at Denny’s, you can cool down with a cherry, grape, blue or lime snow cone for just $1. Soft ice cream cones go for $3 apiece, or you can choose from a selection of hard ice creams, pretzels, funnel cakes or popcorn.

TAKEOUT: Pizza on the Run,2932 Stillwell Ave.;(718) 946-0395

At Pizza on the Run, the service is fast and the slices are big. Get a hot slice of cheese pie for $2.25 and eat it while strolling on the Boardwalk. Or grab a Sicilian slice for $2.49.

HOT DOGS: Nathan’s Famous Inc., 1310 Surf Ave.;(718) 946-2202

A Coney Island landmark, Nathan’s Famous Inc. has been serving up its world-famous beef hot dogs since 1916. Try an original hot dog for $3.41 or a chili cheese dog for $3.85. During the summer months, you can enjoy your meal at Nathan’s outdoor seating alongside Surf Ave.

Via Daily News