Postcard from the Slope

NEW NAME AND RENOVATION FOR NELLY BLY

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20050911lex_0095Once again Jeanne Ramirez, Brooklyn corespondent for NY1, delivers the goods. Here with a story about what’s going on at Nelly Bly Amusement Park.

The sign is spray painted black, and the gates are locked shut at Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Bensonhurst at a time when it would normally be kicking off a new season. But while it is the end of an era for Nellie Bly – after nearly 4 decades – a new, improved park will soon open in its place.

20050911lex_0089"It’ll be a little oasis right along side the belt parkway," says Martin Garin.

Garin is the new operator, after winning a bid from the Parks Department earlier this year. He has an extensive background in amusements, having run the old Adventurer’s Inn Park in Queens back in the 60’s and 70’s and most recently the New Jersey State Fair at the Meadowlands.

The Parks Department not only wants a total renovation of this site but also wants it to be up and running by Memorial Day weekend. Garin says he’ll make the deadline but only open partially.

"The time involved to do all of this stuff is enormous, and we’ll get it done," he says. "We’re going to operate the children area in the beginning, and then later on we’re going to gear ourselves for the adult area."

Garin plans to introduce adult rides to the park and change the name to Adventure Amusement, or maybe Jolly Roger. He also plans to restore a handful of kiddy rides he bought from the former operators, the Romano family who founded Nellie Bly.

The Parks Department says financial difficulties forced the Romanos to get out of their 10 year lease just 3 years in. Attendance wasn’t the problem, the rising cost of running the park was. But this native New Yorker says he’s ready for the challenges; he just signed a 20 year lease.

"Brooklyn is a very community type place and the word gets around. And I think that once they understand that we’re going to provide them with what they want and there’s nobody else around, we’ll do well," he says.

In addition to new rides, Garin says there will be new parking, new lighting and new fencing, and he says his new park will charm a new generation of Brooklynites.

– Jeanine Ramirez

photo: Alexis Robie

8 thoughts on “NEW NAME AND RENOVATION FOR NELLY BLY”

  1. If there is any person that knows how u can get the discount tickets..or how to get the bracelet.Please write to me..I am there all the time..I live on long island now..but I take my children to nelly bly (adventureland) The people that work there..told me to look for whatever places there may be that carry the discount tickets or bracelets..I spend a lot of money there..and they told me that there are people that frequently come there w the passes and bracelets.I hope someone has some info for me..Thanks..Lynne

  3. i love this park. i been going here since i was like 3 and i love the new name and new oners.i like it because i know ur family well the boys and 1 girl let me tell you what happen and i hope its Billy who is viewing this. well anyway on April 17, 09 i went on the bumper cars and it was fun and it was fun because i met these kids and they had a braclit dat said BILLY and they said u owned it or woked there and i only remember 1 name and it was John and he was u know cute and me and my sister were sicked. and i know he liked me because every ride i went on they followed and i thout it was cute and i also remember when they were on the swing ride me and my sister were dancing and i acually said bye 1000 times and i also blue kisses at him ooooo i miss him and the problem is i live in statin island and i miss him!!!!!!!! so PLEASE if he reads this or someone e-mail me well let him e-mail me
    -Laura

  4. My family used to go all the time. Does anyone know what the name of the donkey was?

  5. I was a frequent visitor to Nellie Bly as a child until we moved to the Washington Metropolitan area. I still have black and white photos of my cousin and I in the fifties riding the “planes” and shooting the “guns”. Fun.

  6. I was there once several years ago. I wonder if he will keep the train ride, the fun house and the haunted house?

  7. I remember going to Nellie Bly Amusement Park when I was a child in the 50’s and 60’s. I brought my own four children 20 years later – we took advantage of P.O.P. Thursdays. My grandchildren have been enjoying the Park through recent years and my daughter is hoping to have her little boy’s birthday party there this summer. We sure hope that will be possible. We haven’t lived in Brooklyn in over 15 years but that hasn’t stopped our frequent summer visits to the amusement park. Lots of great memories there for our family.

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