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 on the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, United States. Opened in 1923, the boardwalk runs along the Atlantic ...

in the

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

neighbrohood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 Childs Restaurants was one of the first national restaurant chain, dining chains in the United States and Canada, having peaked in the 1920s and 1930s with about 125 locations in dozens of markets, serving over 50,000,000 meals a year, with over ...

on the Coney Island Boardwalk. 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 is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...

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 ended ...

, 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 New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

. 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 large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

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 ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera comedy and reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011, starring the members of The Tenderlo ...

on July 1, 2016. This was followed by performances by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

and

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

on July 3 and the

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

(with special guest

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the ...

) on July 4. Other acts that performed at the amphitheater during its inaugural season included the Hollywood Vampires,

Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (musician), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Mikey Craig (bass guitar), and formerly included Jon Moss ( ...

Travis Scott Jacques Bermon Webster III (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott has had five number-one hits on the U.S. ''Bil ...

, 311,

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...

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

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

References

External links

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