Coney Island - Brooklyn, New York, United States

tripwow.tripadvisor.com - Created at TripWow by TravelPod Attractions Coney Island Brooklyn Home to famous rides like the Cyclone Roller Coaster, the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute Jump, this historic seaside section of Broooklyn is about an hour by train from Manhattan and still boasts a lively boardwalk, beach, and the best hot dogs around. Read more at: www.travelpod.com Travel blogs from Coney Island: - "... So third try was the Brooklyn Cyclones, the local Minor League team, playing at Coney Island in a playoff game, at 5pm ..." - "... And all the time going to Coney Island I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time?" - Van Morrison My friend Matt and I decided ..." - "... The subway goes all the way to Coney Island and as it was a hot day there were lots of ..." Read these blogs and more at: www.travelpod.com Photos from: - Brooklyn, New York, United States Photos in this video: - "Coney Island" by Babieemelly from a blog titled "Life is the Bubbles... Under the Sea!" - "Coney Island II" by Nearhelsinki from a blog titled "It's High Time, Caroline"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO62DtVcWKU&hl=en

Luna Park at Coney Island - Virtual Tour

A virtual tour of the new Luna Park at Coney Island, opening May 29, 2010 and featuring 19 brand new rides designed and manufactured by Zamperla. Paying tribute to Coney Island's spectacular past, Luna Park was developed and will be operated by Central Amusement International.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXa_9fQfin8&hl=en

Hello from New York City (6) - Checking out Coney Island and (amazingly Clean) Harlem

So I am sitting here back in my office and I want to bring our last 2 days in New York City to paper. Considering that the weather forecast for Saturday was pretty bad (rain and maximum temperatures of 13 degrees C), the day turned out much nicer than expected.

Surrounded mostly by Caribbean retail outlets, we got a headstart by walking down Flatbush Avenue in the heart of Brooklyn. At Avenue U we grabbed a bus to the west end of Coney Island and started walking along the boardwalk.

When you come from Toronto you associate the term "Boardwalk" with a nice upscale residential neighbourhood, mature trees, manicured lawns, Victorian houses, well maintained playgrounds, tennis clubs etc. Well, the boardwalk in Coney Island is just a little different.

Essentially it is a very wide beach with a wooden boardwalk, made up of 5 sections of wooden planks laid down in a different orientation, probably 15 to 20 m wide, that is surrounded by a large number of low rental apartment buildings. There are huge parking lots for school buses, and all the buildings are closed off with high fences so residents and visitors only have access through the main streets to get to the boardwalk.

Then you reach the main drag around Key Span Park, home to the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team. Just a bit further east is the Astroland Amusement Park where the more than 75 years old "Cyclone" roller coaster is still giving kids a thrill. Right in front of it are a few huts with food, including the famous "Nathan's Hot Dogs" ("Since 1916", the taste wasn't actually as famous as you might think..), and various fast food and amusement booths ("Shoot The Freak - Live Human Targets" paintball).

The area to the west of this park had a bit of a desolate feel, but from the Amusement Park on eastwards towards Brighton Beach we started to see more pedestrians strolling about, people sitting down and reading on benches... By this time the weather had warmed up nicely and the locals were enjoying the outdoors.

We headed up from the Brighton Beach boardwalk into the local neighbourhood, also called Brighton Beach, or more informally "Little Odessa", due to the large number of Russian Immigrants. The stores, delis and hairdressing shops underneath the elevated subway tracks were humming with shoppers, a very lively neighbourhood.

Then we decided it was time to explore Harlem. Encouraged by our Greeter's comments yesterday, we figured Harlem these days was safe enough to go and explore on our own without any fear for our safety.

Sure enough, just like moles we popped up at Broadway & 145th Street and walked all the way south to 103rd Street and Harlem sure felt pretty much like any other neighbourhood in NYC. The historic apartment buildings looked like they were in pretty good shape, the streets were quite clean, lots of local Black and Latin residents were ambling around on the streets or hanging out with friends in front of buildings, the whole area seemed quite well kept and did not have a dangerous or dingy feel to it. At 3333 Broadway we were awestruck by a public housing project consisting of 5 huge apartment block towers, up to 35 stories high, and we tried to figure out just how many thousands of people would be living in just this one complex. Along this stretch we actually saw lots of older apartment towers, but viewed from the street, everything looked pretty orderly.

Both my husband and I remember New York City very differently. We had both been there more than 10, 15 years ago, and New York City had a distinct edge, tons of graffiti, dirty streets with lots of litter, people occasionally giving you some questionable looks.

The contrast between then and now is amazing. We have literally ridden subway trains, buses and ferries all over New York City, and we were hard pressed to find candy wrappers in any public vehicles, streets were clean, as a matter of fact we saw tons of cleaning crews cleaning up street debris. And most importantly, we always felt safe and comfortable, and we were out sometimes in public transit until close to midnight.

Now that doesn't mean that crime doesn't exist, as evidenced by the little incident on the Staten Island bus on Thursday, but overall, in our opinion at least, New York City seems to have lost a lot of its grime, dirt and threatening air, and we did indeed explore huge areas of Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem, Staten Island and Manhattan, so I figure we have gotten a pretty good overview.

Further south we checked out the Campus of Columbia University and had a nice little dinner in a Mexican restaurant on Broadway, called Nachos. Broadway south of Columbia University has a very upscale feel to it, with lots of designer store windows, French-inspired bistros, whole or gourmet food outlets. Some parts with outdoor patios almost have a Parisian feel to it.

Later that evening at dusk we took a bus down to Columbus Circle where we were awed by Time Warners Corporate Headquarters, which are flanked on the right by the glitzy Trump International Hotel & Tower. Then, after a little walk through southern Central Park, past the glitzy lit up Tavern on the Green (soups from $15 and up....), we were off to pick up a few souvenirs, and we finally managed to find the Ed Sullivan Theatre, where David Letterman entertains his global audience with his late-night sarcasm and wit. Wading our way through a throng of people (mostly tourists) we finally got on a subway near Times Square that was crammed with late night party goers.

About 45 minutes later we plopped into bed, exhausted, from another day with about 4 to 5 hours of urban trekking.

Fear and Loathing in Coney Island

Ty and I lost our minds at Coney Island. Thanks for the wink, Wheezy Waitress: www.youtube.com



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7iIt3Wehtk&hl=en

The Real Deal With Long Island Wet Basements

Any home that you've got can have a wet basement and there are generally two reasons for this; even if you buy the house in an upscale area like Long Island in New York, water can find its way in from two primary sources. The first of these is surface water which includes run off and melted snow. The second type of water that can adversely affect your basement is groundwater. Groundwater can come from a high water table or an underground spring or stream. These problems generally show themselves inside the home in the form of a wet basement that your inspector will detect.

Even if you have a water problem in your basement, that doesn't mean that the basement will be wet all the time. A home inspector will look for clues, and one of these will be in the shape of any furniture sitting on the basement floor. For example, an old wooden chair that sits on the basement floor but shows no signs of water damage usually means the basement doesn't leak. However, if everything is raised up or sits on wooden planks there is a reason to be suspicious.

One of the best places to look for water damage is on unfinished basement walls as they provide clues like water stains or peeled paint. Often, a white salt deposit will be left on the wall which is indicative of previous water damage. While these are the kinds of things that your inspector will point out, it's a good idea that every new homeowner know something about water damage.

It's a good idea to check under appliances which may leak water as well. Check for water stains or rust under the stairs, the furnaces and hot water heaters, behind the laundry tubs, and in cupboards in cold storage rooms. Remember, there's a difference between the water left on the floor from a leaking humidifier and the walls. A finished basement presents a different set of problems when looking for water damage.

Here, you will need to look at the bottom of paneling for dark streaks. Another sign to watch for is rust around nail heads and electrical outlets. As well, you and the home inspector may find cracks in the basement floor. Often, these are due to water below the basement floor and do not affect the structural integrity of the house.

It should be noted that some moisture is found in most Long Island basements. Usually, the source is surface water. As is the case with many other problems, the best solution is to attack the situation at its source and find remedies to change the course of the offending surface water. Often, this will mean that the homeowner needs to change the slope of the land surrounding the house, and this can be done by the procedure known as grading.

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