Trump to Murder Coney Island's Cousin: Steel Pier in Atlantic City

It took us a while to get to this, but we noted the bitter irony when we read on the Kinetic Carnival blog that Donald Trump is closing a cousin of Coney Island--the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. Trump Entertainment owns the 100-year-old amusement pier and is going to turn it into a mixed-use development including stores, restaurants and hotel rooms. (Sound familiar?) The Philadelphia Inquirer offers a good article about the Pier's history and its impending demise.

Why the irony, though? Because The Donald's father, Fred C. Trump, was the moving force behind the destruction of Coney Island's landmark Steeplechase Park in 1964. Trump père wanted the land for housing that was never built, and when there was talk of landmarking the spectacular pavillion he saw to it that it was demolished before any such thing could happen. (Again, ring any bells in a general way?) Trump even threw a rock threw the glass facade to symbolically start the demolition of a structure widely considered to be one of the world's finest examples of Beaux-arts architecture. The only thing left of Steeplechase today is the beloved Parachute Jump and the name "Steeplechase" attached to a soccer field.

Kinetic Carnival writes of the intended victim of Trump fils:

Opening in 1898, the Steel Pier delighted crowds for decades with big-name entertainers ranging from Al Jolson to Frank Sinatra, daredevil stunt performers and hard-to-believe animal acts that included the diving horse and Rex the Wonder Dog, a water-skiing canine in the 1930s. One memorable oddity was the diving bell, which took thrillseekers underwater in murky seas. W.C. Fields got his show-business start as a minstrel at the Pier. It also hosted many big musical acts and had five entertainment theaters in its prime.

Like father, like son.

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