What a shame to have lost yet another wonderful and intensely quintessential symbol of Coney Island past like Astro Land. Thirty years later, he was still piss and vinegar furious about the the injustice of the incident. When it was a touch nearing completion, an officer's wife happened to be touring, saw the horse and he was "ordered" to hand it over so that she could give it to her children. While recuperating there, he built a beautiful wooden rocking horse for my older brothers. It always struck me as looking a bit like an extraordinary drip sand castle, fancy enough to make a fitting palace for the court of Neptune.ĭuring WW2 my Dad was sent to the Coney Island VA hospital at the Half Moon Hotel, US Naval Special Hospital Sea Gate, after getting shrapnel in his shoulder during a shelling. Also fondly remember it always towering behind us each week as we watched the fireworks eating lemon Italian ices.
Crescent moon inn fumy windows#
As a child I loved looking in the glass showcase windows on the boardwalk side to see what new popsicle building fete the seniors in the Jewish Geriatriac Art Center had created.
It was one of Coney Island's last glowing treasures. The Half Moon Hotel really should have had landmark status. I welled up with tears when I visited the old neighborhood, and saw the hideous neo deco monstrosity they raised in it's place.
Crescent moon inn fumy plus#
Some 40 plus years later it is still that same vacant lot. The first major motion picture i ever saw was King Kong Vs Godzilla at the RKO Tilyou. I no longer live in Coney Island but when I see pictures of what is happening to it I get pains as if I lost a friend.
Now there is a high Rise condo in it's place. I remember the work had stopped till they were able to safely remove the beam without having any of the building collapse around it. When they were using the ball part of the upper structure was starting to fall before they were ready to work in that area and a huge steel beam was exposed and dangling. I do recall that there was a snag in the demo. They held off on the demolition until the new MJGC was completed and fully functioning. It had been called that from as far back as I can remember in the 70's. What was not mentioned was that it was called the Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center. It was a sad day when i saw the wreckers ball slamming in to the side of the building. The elegant building was demolished in 1996 before it could be landmarked. After the war the Half Moon became Harbor Hospital and in 1953, the Hebrew Home for the Aged. No one knows for sure whether he was pushed or slipped during an escape attempt. In 1941 the hotel gained notoriety when mob turncoat Abe Reles fell to his death from a sixth floor window while under police protection shortly before he was due to testify in court. The Great Depression killed the Chamber's dream of greatness and the hotel sat exiled at the West End until the beginning of WW II when it was transformed into a naval hospital. Many prominent guests visited the hotel and it remained a popular venue for weddings and banquets. The Half Moon was sited at the outer fringe of the amusement area on the theory that the Boardwalk between the hotel and Stillwell Avenue would fill in with other luxury establishments. It was managed by the American Hotels Corporation and financed by prominent members Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, including William Ward, Charles Feltman, Edward Tilyou, and William Mangels. The Half Moon Hotel, with it's great mosaic dome, opened for business on May 5th, 1927 on the Boardwalk at West 29th Street.
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