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COURIER L 14 IFE, JANUARY 10-16, 2020
hikes.
Carlin, who goes by Lola
Star, said she initially faced
a nearly 500-percent rent increase
when the amusement
park’s operator announced
the hikes in November, two
months before the tenants’
eight-year leases were set to expire.
On Dec. 5, Carlin claimed
that the rent increase had
been knocked down to nearly
400-percent — still above her
ability to pay.
“I would have to close,” she
said at a Dec. 5 rally protesting
the proposed increases. “I have
no choice. I don’t know any
business that could pay that
much.” Carlin did not answer
how much she paid in rent.
All the other tenants are in
the process of fi nalizing their
eight-year leases, sources said.
One affected business owner,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said his rent increase
was reasonable.
“I believe the deal was
fair,” said the owner, who previously
claimed he was facing
a 25 to 75-percent rent hike, not
the fi ve-fold increase Carlin
reported. “I would’ve liked to
pay less, but I believe it was a
fair deal.”
CLOSING: Lola Star (center) will shut down her Coney Island souvenir
shop because of massive rent hikes. Photo by Rose Adams
Lola Star’s impending closure
isn’t the fi rst time the
amusement district’s operator
forced out local businesses. In
2010, Zamperla, the Italian corporation
that operates six acres
of the People’s Playground on
behalf of the city, tried to kick
out all eight boardwalk businesses,
including Ruby’s and
Paul’s, but ended up ousting
only fi ve after facing public
pressure.
Local advocates blasted
Zamperla for its allegedly unethical
business practices,
claiming that the corporation
asks tenants to sign non-disclosure
agreements and fork
over 10-percent of their profi ts
every month.
“It’s one thing for private
landlords to have non-disclosure
agreements, but it’s another
thing when the city and
the City Council issues nondisclosure
agreements,” said
civil rights lawyer. Norman
Siegal at the Dec. 5 rally. “What
do you have to hide?”
However, an anonymous
business owner claimed on
Jan. 2 that he never signed a
non-disclosure agreement, after
he declined to comment on
the matter in November.
“There was never any nondisclosure
agreement with
anybody,” he said.
Representatives from
Zamperla, the Mayor’s Offi ce,
and the Economic Develop-
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 and then we will see
what bites.”
DENO’S
Continued from page 1
LOLA STAR
Continued from page 1
Some grotesque statues found at the new lot purchased by the owners
of Deno’s Wonder Wheel. Photo by Corazon Aguirre
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