Childs Restaurant Building | |
---|---|
Location | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
Coordinates | 40°34′31″N73°58′47″W / 40.5753°N 73.9798°W |
Width | 63 km (39 mi) |
Established | 1917 |
Website | http://ConeyIsland.com |
The Childs Restaurant Building on Surf Avenue is a New York City designated landmark on Surf Avenue at West 12th Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn. It was completed in 1917 for Childs Restaurants, an early restaurant chain and one of the largest in the United States at that time. Its design, by John Westervelt, Childs' in-house architect, shows "elements of the Spanish Revival style." [1] The company built a much larger Childs location on the Coney Island Boardwalk in 1923, but continued to operate the Surf Avenue location until 1943.
In later years, the building was used for other restaurants and nightclubs. In 2007 the property was acquired by Coney Island USA, a local arts organization that is headquartered in the building, which currently houses a theater, a bar, and exhibition, and office space. [2] The building was designated a New York City landmark in 2010. [1]
The building sustained considerable damage in Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012. With the help of many volunteers, Coney Island USA repaired the worst of the damage and reoccupied the building by spring of 2013. [3]
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to the north and includes the subsection of Sea Gate on its west. More broadly, the Coney Island peninsula consists of Coney Island proper, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. This was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island, but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula, connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill.
Dreamland was an amusement park at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, which operated from 1904 to 1911. It was the last of the three original large parks built on Coney Island, along with Steeplechase Park and Luna Park. The park was between Surf Avenue to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It was arranged roughly as a horseshoe, with a pier facing south toward the Atlantic Ocean. Dreamland contained several attractions that were larger versions of those at Luna Park, and it included a human zoo, several early roller coasters, a Shoot the Chutes ride, and a replica of Venice. Dreamland also hosted entertainment and dramatic spectacles based on morality themes. Several structures, such as the Pompeiian, Electricity, and Submarine Boat buildings, were dedicated to exhibits.
Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Sheepshead Bay is abutted by the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Homecrest to the west; Midwood to the north; and Gerritsen Beach to the east.
Steeplechase Park was a 15-acre (6.1 ha) amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Steeplechase Park was created by entrepreneur George C. Tilyou in 1897 and operated until 1964. It was the first of the three large amusement parks built on Coney Island, the other two being Luna Park (1903) and Dreamland (1904). Of the three, Steeplechase was the longest-lasting, running for 67 years.
The Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station is a New York City Subway terminal in Coney Island, Brooklyn. It is the railroad-south terminus for the D, F, N, and Q trains at all times and for the <F> train during rush hours in the peak direction.
The Cyclone, also called the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it opened to the public on June 26, 1927. The roller coaster is on a plot of land at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street. The Cyclone reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and has a total track length of 2,640 feet (800 m), with a maximum height of 85 feet (26 m).
Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The company's headquarters are at One Jericho Plaza in Jericho, New York, part of Oyster Bay, New York.
Ocean Parkway is a 4.86-mile (7.82 km) boulevard in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is inventoried by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) as New York State Route 908H (NY 908H), an unsigned reference route.
The Avenue H station is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at Avenue H between East 15th and East 16th Streets near the border of Midwood and Flatbush, Brooklyn. The station is served by the Q train at all times.
Charles I. D. Looff was a Danish master carver and builder of hand-carved carousels and amusement rides, who immigrated to the United States of America in 1870. Looff built the first carousel at Coney Island in 1876. During his lifetime, he built over 40 carousels, several amusements parks, numerous roller coasters and Ferris wheels, and built California's famous Santa Monica Pier. He became famous for creating the unique Coney Island style of carousel carving.
Frederic Charles Hirons was an American architect, based in New York City, who designed the Classical George Rogers Clark National Memorial, in Vincennes, Indiana, among the last major Beaux-Arts style public works in the United States, completed in 1933.
The Riegelmann Boardwalk is a 2.7-mile-long (4.3 km) boardwalk along the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1923, the boardwalk runs between West 37th Street at the edge of the Sea Gate neighborhood to the west and Brighton 15th Street in Brighton Beach to the east. It is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Childs Restaurants was one of the first national dining chains in the United States and Canada, having peaked in the 1920s and 1930s with about 125 locations in dozens of markets, serving over 50,000,000 meals a year, with over $37 million in assets at the time. Childs was a pioneer in a number of areas, including design, service, sanitation, and labor relations. It was a contemporary of food service companies such as Horn & Hardart, and a predecessor of companies such as McDonald's.
Totonno's is a pizzeria located at 1524 Neptune Avenue in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. It was established in 1924 by Antonio "Totonno" Pero.
This is a timeline and chronology of the history of Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's boroughs, and was settled in 1646.
The Childs Restaurant Building on the Boardwalk is a New York City designated landmark on the Riegelmann Boardwalk at West 21st Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It was completed in 1923 for Childs Restaurants, an early restaurant chain and one of the largest in the United States at that time. It was designed in a "resort style with Spanish Revival influence" with colorful exterior terra cotta ornamentation that references its seaside location, with depictions of Poseidon, sailing ships, and sea creatures. It was a very large restaurant, with three stories and a roof garden.
The Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island is an outdoor live entertainment venue within the Childs Restaurants building on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. The venue opened in June 2016.
The B&B Carousell is a historic carousel at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York City. It was built by Coney Island-based manufacturer William F. Mangels c. 1906–1909, with wooden horses carved by Marcus Illions. The carousel has been relocated and refurbished several times over its history. The B&B Carousell has been located in Luna Park since 2013.
The Shore Theater is a former theater in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. The seven-story neo-Renaissance Revival building, with office space as well as a theater, is located at the intersection of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, across from Nathan's Famous and the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station. Completed in 1925, it was one of several structures that was intended to boost the development of Coney Island as a year-round entertainment destination. After being abandoned in the 1970s, it stood unused for several years before being redeveloped into a hotel in the late 2010s; however, as of 2022, the building is still closed and undergoing construction.