(no subject)

They tore down Astroland this weekend. The lease was up on Saturday, and the owners were tasked with removing everything off the property.

The Cyclone will ride on, protected as it is by its Historic Landmark status. It will just operate next to an empty lot. Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Astroland's next-door neighbor, will open this season, as will Ruby's, the restaurant on the boardwalk. That's the good news.

The Astroland Tower remains standing and probably will until someone ponies up the money to either restore or demolish it. It is unlikely that Thor Equities, which owns the Astroland site and forced the park out, will demolish the tower any time due to the costs involved. That's one of the reasons why the old Thunderbolt roller coaster stayed around for as long as it did, mind you. It was just too expensive to demolish unless you're Rudy Guiliani.

The Astroland Rocket was removed intact and is going to a new location. The Flume still stands, but you can bet that'll go too.

Everything else in Astroland, though, is gone. Thor Equities is the new Robert Moses, and I don't mean that in any positive way at all. There's nothing positive I can say about Thor, except that I'm positive they're a bunch of crooks. To hell with them all and may Joe Sitt lead the way.