The remains of the Thunderbolt in 1995 (photo: Gyrofrog )
Remember it in Annie Hall?

Once upon a time, the old resort would rise like the proverbial phoenix from each conflagration more spectacular and grander then ever. It was an age of great showmen and great charlatans.

The final long sad decline has seen the number of amusements dwindle while the empty lots increased.

Change was desperately needed. Hopefully that change would be a mix of the old and new, keeping a bit of the colorful past alive while building a new modern amusement park. Sadly that is not to be the case.

Enter developer Thor Equities with their planned $2 billion Coney Island makeover, a proposal to convert the amusement park into a year-round stop with a swanky Vegas-style hotel and glitzy indoor attractions.

"Coney Island is going to be put to sleep." stated Brooklyn native Louie Scarcella in a recent newspaper interview. "Coney Island's heartbeat will no longer beat."

Henderson's

Among the buildings slated for demolition is the remains of Henderson's.

Often erroneously referred to as a "dance hall", it was actually one of Brooklyn's top vaudeville houses showcasing the stars of the Keith-Albee chain.

It was on a supporting bill, in 1908, that Harpo Marx made his stage debut when he joined his brothers' vaudeville act.

Pushed farther into the past, Brooklyn's legit houses and variety stages are largely forgotten today, remembered only by graybeards and historians (sometimes one-and-the-same).

Existing within living memory, it is the neighborhood movie house that many people turn to for nostalgia. On the internet. there are various blogs and websites where people post their memories and often dubious histories of the local Bijou.

And while concern has been expressed about the fate of Loew's Coney Island, no one seems to care about Henderson's or the old two-a-day when the likes of Sophie Tucker strode the boards.