Mr. Cyclone Is Back in the Front Car

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( monday, april 12 local color [Mr. Cyclone Is Back in the Front Car]( At 5:30 Friday morning, the roller coaster’s first rider of the season arrived for his 15th opening day. Photo: DeSean McClinton-Holland For 14 years in a row, Erik Knapp was first in line to ride the Cyclone when it opened for the season. The pandemic interrupted that streak, and for 18 months, Knapp, better known as Mr. Cyclone to locals, has pined to return to the red leather seats of Coney Island’s beloved, ancient wooden roller coaster. The Bensonhurst native says he’s ridden the coaster nearly 3,000 times in his 55 years. “When I was a kid we used to ride it 25 times a day, when it was Astroland I had a season pass,” said Knapp. “One season I rode it at least 125 times.” He’s a fixture of the People’s Playground; on steamy summer days, Knapp, who works in vehicle maintenance at a Manhattan garage for the U.S. Postal Service, is usually cruising through the neighborhood streets in his bright-orange dune buggy (painted to match the Thunderbolt), wearing a faded muscle tank and an ear-to-ear grin. [Continue reading »]( Never miss a story from Curbed: [Subscribe now.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [At Home in an Old Hotel in Nomad After 15 years, Julie Chartoff and Irene Glezos finally really renovated their apartment inside the historic Gilsey House.]( By Wendy Goodman [A New Network of Little Free Libraries Stocks Exclusively BIPOC Authors “A lot of people don’t have exposure to Black authors; I didn’t.”]( By Diana Budds [‘Chief Pencil Lady’ Caroline Weaver’s Week in Zillow Saves “My three strongest home fantasies are: buying an old Girl Scout or Boy Scout camp, a Usonian house, or a really, really, really old house in Italy.”]( As told to Jenny Xie [One of the Best Furniture Stores in New York Is Run by a Staten Island Commune “The radical-honesty thing happening in the store was getting in the way of running a store.”]( By Katy Schneider [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( [Subscribe to New York]( [Subscribe to New York]( Getunlimited access]( more great stories from New York, home of Intelligencer, the Cut, Vulture, Curbed, Grub Street, and the Strategist. [SUBSCRIBE NOW]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=curbed) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved