OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
COURIER LIFE, JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021 25
BY ROSE ADAMS
Mermaids made a long-awaited
return to the shores of Coney Island
when a new mural featuring a seadwelling
siren was unveiled along the
Riegelmann Boardwalk.
The painting is the fi rst mermaid
mural to face the ocean directly from
the beloved walkway, said Sheepshead
Bay artist said.
“There hasn’t been a mermaid mural
actually on the boardwalk,” said
Mastrion, who clarifi ed that there’s
a mermaid painting on the side of
Tom’s Restaurant and others that
have faced side streets.
The painted mythical creature, located
on the gates on Ruby’s Bar and
Grill, will stand beside another mural
depicting Coney Island’s original
amusement district, currently in
the works. The large-scale, carnivalthemed
mural will be painted in the
style of an old photograph, said the
artist.
“The scene is going to be a cityscape
of old Coney Island to honor the
amusement parks,” said Sheepshead
Bay artist Danielle Mastrion. “It’s going
to have elements of each park.”
The project is Mastrion’s latest
endeavor to brighten up Brooklyn’s
summertime refuge, which comes after
several other painting projects —
such as a large fi sh mural she painted
on the boardwalk, a painting depicting
the face of a woman in Luna Park,
and several murals inside Deno’s
Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.
Most recently, the area’s businessboosting
Alliance for Coney Island
hired Mastrion to paint the gates of
storefronts along Surf Avenue. When
she was working on the project, the
owner of Ruby’s Bar and Grill approached
her and asked if she could
paint Ruby’s gates as well.
“I said, ‘Wow, this woman’s really
talented, maybe I’d be lucky enough
to have her do something at Ruby’s,”
said owner Michael Sorrell.
Sorrell and Mastrion decided on
the mural of the amusement park cityscape
together, but Mastrion chose
to paint a mermaid on an adjacent
gate on her own.
“I was pretty honored that he gave
me creative freedom,” Mastrion said.
Sorrell also asked Mastrion to retouch
some lettering artists Hawley
Hussey and Naomie Ross painted on
one of the gates more than 10 years
ago that read, “Coney Island.”
Those letters were originally part
of a bigger message reading “Save
Coney Island” that Ruby’s commissioned
in 2009, around the time that
the owners of Luna Park threatened
to close the 87-year-old establishment
along with other boardwalk businesses.
Sorrell said he wanted to preserve
that memory now that Coney Island
is under threat again — this time, by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now we’re in a time when Coney
Island is in fl ux, in disrepair. If you
go into Coney Island, you’ll see that
gates have graffi ti on them,” he said.
“We wanted to keep the spirit of Coney
Island alive.”
The two murals, which will be
completed within the next few weeks,
will hopefully bring some light amid
the diffi cult times, Sorrell added.
“We wanted to do something that
will be a big draw to the history of Coney
Island,” he said.
In the swim
New Coney Island mural brings
colorful mermaid to the boardwalk
FISH TALE: Danielle Mastrion restored the “Coney Island” lettering on the gates of Ruby’s
Bar and Grill and painted the boardwalk’s fi rst mermaid mural. Photo by Jim McDonald