newyorkette

Astroland. (Polaroid by carolita johnson)

Take a book, bring a sweater, and get on the subway (D, F, N, Q) to the newly renovated Stillwell Avenue. Options for the long ride include getting on your knees on the seats and looking out the window while singing “chim-chimeree” and looking for Smoky the Bear on the rooftops (my mother’s ploy for keeping us busy when we were kids—“Ooh, look, it’s Smokey the Bear!” “Where? Where?”), or sleeping upright in your seat once you’ve finished the paper or tired of your book. When you wake up (but do try not to fall asleep before you get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance), get off the train and go straight to Nathan’s where, whether you’re on a diet or not, you must have a hearty meal of a hot dog and those nice thick fries complete with little red plastic pitchfork.

Make sure to finish the fries, each fry is like a little radiator that will keep you warmer that much longer. Get back outside while you’re still hot. It may be spring, but it’s the seaside, and it’s colder there.

It hasn’t been the same for me since the carousel closed (hopefully it will be back, since Bloomberg bought it at auction last year), and it will never be the same after this year: Astroland has been sold and is opening for its last season this Sunday, April 1st.

If you’re feeling extra-hardy, take a walk along the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and have some vodka or a hot meal at my favorite varyniki place: Varenichnaya (or “Bapehuku,” as I used to think it was calledl!)

Gothamist: Astroland gets ready for last opening.

Posted Thursday, March 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am under NYC. Feel free to trackback from your own site. All images on newyorkette.com are the intellectual property of Carolita Johnson, and you must ask (and receive) express permission to use them or reproduce them in any way whatsoever.