C'mon

Yesterday was Astroland's last day, something I don't quite understand. If Coney Island could weather the 1970's when it seemed like nobody came to NYC for any reason other than to commute to work from Jersey, why is Astroland closing now when the city is so full of tourists that I could make bus fare back to Jersey from all their will you take our picture requests?

Gentrification, maybe? Is Astroland too rundown and tacky? Is the boardwalk a passe idea now? Maybe we want a bluer ocean to look at than the Atlantic? I'm sure the future of Coney Island will be more tasteful, less tacky.

Maybe Astroland's decline began when they stopped selling egg creams at Coney Island. They may be there still, but I couldn't find one the last time I was there.

The blogosphere yielded the following information about what's rumored to be Coney Island's future:
Developer Thor Equities plans a $2 billion amusement, retail and residential project along the boardwalk. The plan, which some reports have characterized as "Vegas-style," includes more than 20 new rides.

Besides amusements, it envisions entertainment, what it calls a "family hotel" and indoor water park, retail spaces and residential condos and hotel timeshares.

Timeshares at Coney Island? Sign me up. It's not like I went to Coney Island much. In fact, I've been there more as an adult because when I was growing up it was scary and dirty and nasty and nobody went there. But that changed and Coney Island was a place where people could go for cheap and have fun, and they did.

I just want to know what's next? What icon of Americana is going to fall? The North Pole? What's the world coming to? How 'bout you? What do you miss?