The Fun Stops Here

After checking my various e-mail accounts and the social sites that I occupy my time with, I checked out CNN.com. In bright bold letters I read, "Coney Island's Astroland To Close For Good."

Carol Albert, the owner of Astroland for the past half-century, had given up efforts to negotiate a two-year lease agreement with Thor Equities, which owns the land on which the amusement park stands.

I sat dumbfounded as I read that because Thor Equities had not given her a reply about granting an extension by the Thursday deadline, she was giving up. They were going through the exact same issue last year and now Astroland will close if a miracle doesn't happen. According to CNN.com, she sold the land to Thor Equities for $30 million dollars, and is prepared to remove and auction off the rides.

I shook my head in disbelief, remembering the way it was the last time I had been. A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were at Astroland and so much had been removed already. The bumper cars were getting dismantled, the go-carts were gone along with the batting cages.

Several of the rides were shut down and we felt we were walking through a ghost town. It was like a part of the park had died weeks ago, before it was made official. It was a small comfort to me to know that the Cyclone and Dino's Wonder Wheel would be untouched, since they are technically landmarks and can't be torn down.

We had gone to Astroland nearly every summer since we started dating. Our first ride on the Wonder Wheel was hysterical because I'm terrified of heights and couldn't stop freaking out.