January 12, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAG E 11
Timber!
Park Slope bar
Woodland loses
liquor license
BY BEN VERDE
State booze offi cials revoked
the liquor license of a controversial
Park Slope watering hole
— but not soon enough to avoid
a stabbing just days before the
shutdown took effect.
The State Liquor Authority
elected to close Woodland, the pub
on the corner of Sixth Ave and
Flatbush on Dec. 18 for a laundry
list of infractions dating back to
March 2018, with offi cials citing
violations of the city’s noise ordinance
and inappropriately storing
mimosas, while noting that
the restaurant had become a “focal
point of police attention.”
However, the decision to revoke
the bar’s liquor license
didn’t go into effect until Jan. 3 —
12 days after a Dec. 22 stabbing at
Woodland that sent a man to the
hospital for stitches.
Woodland has been a longtime
source of grief for nearby
residents, and the city’s open
data portal shows a whopping 551
noise complaints between June 2,
2012 and Dec. 15, 2019.
“They’ve been a bad actor for a
really long time, and never really
worked to address the issues,”
said Eric McClure.
Locals shared their complaints
with Community Board
6 and brass at the 78th Precinct,
accusing Woodland revelers of
urinating and defecating in the
streets, vomiting, driving drunk,
and fi ghting, which led police to
routinely station patrolmen outside
the watering hole in 2016.
McClure claims the bar’s liberal
brunch policy, which allowed
free refi lls on mimosas for
an unlimited amount of time for
just $20, was largely to blame for
the chaos. After countless com-
Continued on page 10
Deno’s owners Dennis and Steve Vourderis show off land that will host their expanded amusement park come 2021. Photo by Corazon Aguirre WONDER DEAL Deno’s Wonder Wheel owners expanding into neighboring amusement park
BY JESSICA PARKS
The owners of Deno’s
Wonder Wheel Amusement
Park have purchased
a run-down corner
of Coney Island’s
amusement district, and
the thrill purveyors are
currently planning on
how to reinvigorate the
area with new attractions
— without stepping
on any toes.
“We are seeing what
will be the best fi t,” said
Deno “DJ” Vourderis.
“Something that will
complement our neighbors
and not compete
with them.”
The lot along W. 12th
Street between Bowery
Street and the Wonder
Wheel will roughly double
the size of Vourderis’s
adult section of the
amusement park and is
slated to open during
the 2021 season.
The parcel was formerly
operated by the
aptly named 12th Street
Amusement, which shuttered
roughly two years
ago, leaving the rides
there to rot, according
to Vourderis, who said
that, while many of the
attractions have been
destroyed, he’ll try to
salvage what he can.
“We will save whatever
we can to repurpose
into our existing
park,” Vourderis said.
“But a lot of it has to go
after we inspected them
we saw a lot was far too
gone.”
The Wonder Wheel
premiered as Coney Island’s
then tallest attraction
in 1920, and was
renamed “Deno’s” after
Deno Vourderis’s grandfather,
also Deno Vourderis,
purchased the Wonder
Wheel, along with
the Spook-a-Rama ride
in 1983.
The acquisition
comes amid the Wonder
Wheel’s 100th anniversary,
which Vourderis
will celebrate with special
events all year long,
including a big bash on
Memorial Day Weekend
— the planning of which
supersedes laying out
their expanded amusement
park, according to
the new owner.
“We have some ideas,
but we are still working
on it,” said DJ Vourderis.
”Right now we are
focusing on the 100th anniversary
of the Wonder
Wheel.”
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