Welcome to The Hot Seat, where we interview folks in real estate, architecture, development and the like. Introducing Amy Nicholson, the director of Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride. The documentary focuses on the fight between Zipper operator Eddie Miranda, Coney Island real estate developers, and the City of New York. The film begins its theatrical run today, August 9, at the IFC Center. UPDATE: The IFC has extended Zipper with an additional week on a matinee schedule – 2:15 pm daily starting Friday, August 16th and going through next Thursday, August 22nd.

Brownstoner: Where do you live, and how did you end up there?
Amy Nicholson: I live on West 12th Street in the Village. I got here by way of Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, New York (Soho), Minneapolis, and San Francisco again before I got back here. Once I figured out that this was place I really wanted to live, I hunkered in on West 12th Street. I will leave when I am an old lady.

BS: What first drew you to Coney Island and how did you decide to start filming there?
AN: Well, I grew up in Baltimore and spent my summers at the county and state fairs and also going to local carnivals. There was always a Zipper. It was a mean ride and it was my favorite. I also lived in Ocean City, M.D., during the summers as a teenager and the same beach/carnival culture combination exists there as it does in Coney Island. So the Zipper represents my entire childhood – before computers and iPads there were black light posters, Wacky Packages and rides like the Zipper. When I read in the Daily News back in 2006 that the Zipper was leaving Coney Island, my heart sank. I had to do something.

After the jump, Amy discusses the controversy over Joe Sitt, her thoughts on the redevelopment of Coney, and her favorite moment shooting the film.

BS: What happened in Coney is pretty complicated — a struggle between private developers, longtime business owners, and the city. Can you give a summary of what the movie is trying to portray, the main struggle going on in the neighborhood?
AN: The struggle was definitely between the developer and the city and I think a lot of the smaller businesses got caught in the middle. That’s what happened to the owner of the Zipper. He was blindsided by his landlord who sold to Sitt. Now, to be fair, some people sold and made money, and some got bought out of their leases. Not everyone walked away empty handed. But what I tried to stay focused on was why. Why did this happen to Eddie and his Zipper? Essentially, when an area is targeted for rezoning – which Coney Island was – the land is instantly more valuable. The Bloomberg administration has done this in areas where there is potential for housing and readily available transportation infrastructure. This is to encourage private investment. And it works like a charm – look at Williamsburg.
Things got complicated in Coney Island when Joe Sitt speculated that there would be a rezoning (good guess or someone let him in on it) and paid well over what the land was worth to assemble a big swath. (Hey, if he guessed right, then he would indeed be sitting on land that was worth a lot more once it was rezoned.) Then the city came along and cooked up their plan to monetize some parkland they happened to have been using as a parking lot, lease it to an amusement operator – just one – and carve up the rest of the acreage that was zoned for amusements only. Suddenly Joe Sitt can’t cash out the way he imagined. But the city can’t move parkland to acreage they don’t own. (This is where I picture Bloomberg and Sitt like Dr.Suess’ two Zax facing north and south.) And all the while this is being spun to the public as helpful to the neighborhood and the only way to save the amusement area. It was really pretty crazy.

BS: Joe Sitt is definitely a controversial figure around Coney Island. What’s working about his view of redevelopment in Coney Island? What’s problematic?
AN: My personal opinion is that if everything had gone as planned, Joe Sitt would have flipped his property and walked away. But maybe he has a soft spot for Coney Island and he really wants to fix it up? I personally hate places like Dave & Busters and all the crap you see in Times Square (and everywhere else in the United States), but clearly many people like that type of entertainment. Look how insanely profitable Times Square is. Where it fails for me is that Coney Island was one place you could go to experience something very different. It was the epitome of mom and pop: hand made signs, and crazy stuff like Shoot the Freak that would give Disney a heart attack. I just don’t think those big entertainment/retail chains have any business in Coney Island.

BS: Did your experiences with the film give you any ideas on how to redevelop and reinvigorate Coney Island while at the same time respecting its past and its longtime business owners?
AN: I am not an urban planner or a developer and I certainly have no idea how anyone runs a city as big as New York. I am just walking around like everyone else in my own neighborhood suddenly noticing that we’ve lost two grocery stores, a hospital, an amazing Greek diner that had been there more than 30 years, the local pet shop, plus a great deli. And every other business now seems to be a bank, a frozen yogurt shop or a phone store. It’s really sad. But there was always Coney Island. Joe Sitt was right: No one paid attention to it. (At least no one with any power to change it.) I think that’s what preserved it as one of the last little corners of authentic New York. So I don’t have any real answers — just more questions. If this rezoning was really about benefitting the community, why not give incentives to build on all the vacant land in the greater Coney Island neighborhood? Why not tweak the amusement zoning to allow for more uses without changing the protective nature of it? Why stubbornly insist on the parkland swap when you know a guy like Sitt isn’t going to just back away quietly? And why go to all that trouble, and break everyone’s hearts, and spend all that taxpayer money just to end up with a slightly nicer 10 acres of amusements that is most definitely not year round and doesn’t have the soul of what was there.

BS: What’s in the future for Coney?
AN: For that, you have to go down there and put a quarter in Grandma’s Predictions under the Wonder Wheel. She is always right.

BS: Finally, your favorites: favorite BK neighborhood, favorite ride at Coney Island, and best moment filming Zipper.
AN: My favorite Brooklyn neighborhood has to be Coney Island – I am so attached to it now. My favorite ride at Coney Island was the Zipper. Now it’s a tie between the Eldorado and the Polar Express. And the best moment filming the Zipper has to be when we went to Honduras to find it. The guys who ran it in Coney Island always said it wasn’t a machine, it was a living thing. It was really exciting to see her again after three long years.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment