The Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island is an outdoor live entertainment venue within the Childs Restaurants building on the

Riegelmann Boardwalk The Riegelmann Boardwalk (also known as the Coney Island Boardwalk) is a boardwalk along the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1923, the boardwalk runs bet ...

in Coney Island,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The venue opened in June 2016.

History

Plans for the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island began in 2012. Construction began in 2015. It was constructed at the location of the Childs Restaurant on the

Coney Island Boardwalk The Riegelmann Boardwalk (also known as the Coney Island Boardwalk) is a boardwalk along the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1923, the boardwalk runs bet ...

. The restaurant was originally constructed in 1923. It was renovated when the amphitheater was being constructed. The rooftop part of the restaurant opened back up in July 2016, followed by the main restaurant in 2017. The impetus for the

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...

of the Childs building largely came from

Marty Markowitz Martin Markowitz (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician who served as the borough president of Brooklyn, New York City. He was first elected in 2001 after serving 23 years as a New York State Senator. His third and final term end ...

, who was Borough President of

from 2002 through 2013. Markowitz had long sought a permanent venue for the series of summer concerts that he had sponsored for 35 years, since his time in the New York State Senate. The plan was approved by the City Council just days before Markowitz left office on the last day of 2013. The redevelopment plan faced some community opposition. Community gardeners who had been cultivating land adjacent to the building for 16 years sued the city in 2014. They asserted that the land had been previously designated a city park, so that the city's taking of the land for other purposes was illegal. In its response, the city stated that the park was decommissioned in 2004. Other critics of the plan were concerned about increased noise and traffic, and pointed out that the area had yet to fully recover from

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

in 2012. Coney Island's community board responded to these complaints by pressing for a "community benefits contract" that would guarantee good jobs for area residents. It also rejected the redevelopment plan, though the board did not have the power to stop the project, and it ultimately proceeded. The first show at the newly opened venue was the Impractical Jokers on July 1, 2016. This was followed by performances by Peter Gabriel and Sting on July 3 and the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

(with special guest John Stamos) on July 4. Other acts that performed at the amphitheater during its inaugural season included the Hollywood Vampires, Culture Club, Travis Scott, 311,

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist M ...

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and g ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

References

External links

* {{Coney Island Coney Island Music venues completed in 2016 Music venues in Brooklyn 2016 establishments in New York City