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W.M. Akers

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Metal Detector.JPG
Parachute Jump.JPG
Wonder Wheel 3.JPG
Boardwalk.JPG
Beach.JPG
Metal Detector.JPG Parachute Jump.JPG Wonder Wheel 3.JPG Boardwalk.JPG Beach.JPG

For Coney Island's Mayor, A Long, Ugly Winter

Metal Detector.JPG
Parachute Jump.JPG
Wonder Wheel 3.JPG
Boardwalk.JPG
Beach.JPG
Metal Detector.JPG Parachute Jump.JPG Wonder Wheel 3.JPG Boardwalk.JPG Beach.JPG

Since November, I've been working on a long feature for Narratively about Dick Zigun, self-proclaimed "mayor of Coney Island," and his arts group, Coney Island USA. Best known as the man who invented the Mermaid Parade, Zigun is a charismatic, bombastic and occasionally divisive figure whose life's work was mangled by Hurricane Sandy. I was turned on to the story by Ginny Louloudes, of ART/NY, and spent the next few months hanging around the Boardwalk, interviewing artists, and devouring the unbelievably readable Coney Island: Lost And Found.

Want the lede? I'll give it to you for free. The rest of it, well, you can get that for free too.

Dick Zigun was ready for a two-foot flood. In three decades at Coney Island, every hurricane he had seen blew through like a tourist passing the boardwalk on its way up the coast—and he was not afraid of Sandy. Rather than evacuate, he spent the night at home on West Fifteenth Street, a few blocks from the water, his pick-up parked outside in case of emergency. By the time he realized emergency was here, it was too late to run.
“When the flood came, it came fast,” says Zigun. “When I saw water pouring in under the door, over the sandbags, the water was already knee-high in the street.”
Fearing the flood might knock him over, he waded across the road to take shelter in a friend’s second-story apartment. From the second floor, they watched the water—three feet high and rising. Four. Five.
Dick Zigun, the self-proclaimed “Mayor of Coney Island”
When the tide ebbed after midnight, Zigun, a grizzled fifty-nine year-old, went home to grab something he’d forgotten in his hurry: his cat. He found Buddy floating on his mattress, safe and dry, but “a little freaked out.”
“He saved my expensive goose down comforter,” Zigun says. “He had gathered it up around him, so it wasn’t soaking wet, and he was warm. I grabbed the cat, grabbed my prescription medicine, grabbed my iPhone charger—you know, the essentials of life.”
For a moment, Zigun wasn’t thinking about Coney Island USA, the arts organization, sideshow and museum he founded in 1980. Since then, he has thought of nothing else. Long one of the most visible artists in South Brooklyn, the self-proclaimed “mayor of Coney Island” rules from Surf Avenue, where he has turned a ninety-five year-old restaurant building into the artistic heart of the amusement district. But since the storm, where once stood a bar, a theater and an ice cream parlor, nothing remains but “a big fucking mess.”

At 3,700 words, the resultant story is the longest journalism thing I've ever written, and I think it's turned out pretty well. (The second-longest was the time I spent two weeks pretending to know enough about the legal system to cover a very colorful court battle in Long Island. It sneaked onto the cover of the Observer because it happened to run the week the editor in chief got fired. Timing is everything!)

The pictures above don't have anything to do with the story, but I took them a couple of weeks ago, on my last day doing interviews at Coney. The one of the guy with the metal detector makes me so happy, you can't even imagine.

Have I mentioned lately how hungry I am for summer? I've been checking this website so often, it might as well be my homepage.

Posted in Theater and tagged with Coney Island USA, Coney Island, Dick Zigun, Hurricane Sandy, off off broadway, Museums, Narratively, Portfolio.

February 6, 2013 by W.M. Akers.
  • February 6, 2013
  • W.M. Akers
  • Coney Island USA
  • Coney Island
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  • Hurricane Sandy
  • off off broadway
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Times Square, rain-slick and empty, during Monday night's storm.

Times Square, rain-slick and empty, during Monday night's storm.

Theaters—Off, Off Off and On—Grapple With Sandy

Times Square, rain-slick and empty, during Monday night's storm.

Times Square, rain-slick and empty, during Monday night's storm.

Today I've got what I hope will be the first of dozens, thousands—millions!—of stories on Capital New York, a totally snazzy web site. It's also the first of what will be ongoing coverage on this blog of how the theaters, big and small, of New York City are responding to Monday night's hurricane. There's some good reporting here, and I'm proud of it. Hopefully in the next week I can do more.

The temporary home of St. Ann's Warehouse is on Jay Street, nestled in the heart of Dumbo, just half a block from the East River.
On Monday night, tropical storm Sandy soaked Dumbo, flooding Jane's Carousel and dealing untold damage to the neighborhood's bookstores, galleries and shops. As images of the disaster rolled in, St. Ann's executive director Andrew D. Hamingson scanned the pictures for a glimpse of his theater, and expected the worst.
"I'm a bit of a weather hobbyist," he said by phone yesterday, "so I was keeping a very close eye on the storm. It was a fitful night to say the least."
Tuesday morning, he drove to Dumbo to see the chaos for himself. Across the street from the theater, a parking garage was filled with 10 feet of water. Next door, a coffee shop's storeroom had flooded, creating a mire of very salty cold brew. But at St. Ann's Warehouse, the water had barely lapped at the door.
"I can't even tell you how lucky we feel," Hamingson said. "Actually, we sold six tickets during the storm. Who the hell is buying in the midst of the hurricane?"

There's way more. If anyone has news or stories about the hurricane, or information about theaters that are in trouble, message me on Twitter or email akers.william@gmail.com. Stay dry, folks.

Posted in Theater and tagged with Nuyorican, Times Square, Clips, 3-Legged Dog, Hurricane Sandy, The Heiress, Coney Island USA, Dead Accounts, Capital New York, HERE, Portfolio, Horse Trade Theater.

November 1, 2012 by W.M. Akers.
  • November 1, 2012
  • W.M. Akers
  • Nuyorican
  • Times Square
  • Clips
  • 3-Legged Dog
  • Hurricane Sandy
  • The Heiress
  • Coney Island USA
  • Dead Accounts
  • Capital New York
  • HERE
  • Portfolio
  • Horse Trade Theater
  • Theater
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W.M. Akers

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Front page art courtesy Brendan Leach.