Thunderbolt (1925 roller coaster)

The Thunderbolt was a wooden roller coaster located at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. Designed by John Miller,[1] it operated from 1925 until 1982 and remained standing until it was demolished in 2000.[2][3] The demolition was controversial, as the property owner Horace Bullard was not notified, nor had any formal inspection been done on the structure.[4]

This article is about the defunct wooden roller coaster. For the current steel roller coaster, see Thunderbolt (2014 roller coaster).
Thunderbolt
The inactive Thunderbolt in 1986
Coney Island
LocationConey Island
Coordinates40°34′26″N 73°58′57″W
StatusRemoved
Opening date1925 (1925)
Closing date1982 (1982)
General statistics
TypeWood
DesignerJohn A. Miller
Height86 ft (26 m)
Duration1:17
Thunderbolt at RCDB

In June 2013, it was announced that a new steel roller coaster would be constructed on Coney Island named the Thunderbolt.[5] The steel coaster opened in 2014 and uses a completely different design.[6]

It was featured briefly in Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall as the boyhood home of Alvy Singer (Allen's character).[2] The house was a real residence, built in 1895 as the Kensington Hotel. The roller coaster was constructed with part of its track scaling the top of the building.[7][8]

The indie rock/slowcore band Red House Painters 1993 album, Red House Painters (Rollercoaster) features a sepia toned photograph of the Thunderbolt as its cover art. The last film to photograph the Thunderbolt was Requiem for a Dream.

In the 1995 IMAX film Across the Sea of Time, the coaster is featured in abandoned condition.

In the 1998 movie He Got Game, Spike Lee features the coaster in its dilapidated state.

References
  1. Rutherford, Scott (2000) The American Roller Coaster, MBI Publishing Company, Wisconsin. ISBN 0760306893.
  2. Marden, Duane. "Thunderbolt  (Coney Island - George Moran)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  3. "End of the line". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. South Carolina. Associated Press. November 19, 2000. p. 10A.
  4. Dan Barry (October 4, 2003). "About New York; Giuliani Razed Roller Coaster, And the Law". The New York Times. p. B1. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  5. Marden, Duane. "Thunderbolt  (Luna Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  6. Brown, Stephen R. (June 14, 2014). "Coney Island's new Thunderbolt roller coaster officially opens". NY Daily News. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  7. "The House under the Roller Coaster by Steve Zeitlin". www.nyfolklore.org. Archived from the original on April 26, 2002.
  8. Donnelly, Tim (July 28, 2013). "Life Under the Thunderbolt". New York Post. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
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