Text size:

Coney Island icon caught in tug-o-Wheel with city

By Ryan Chatelain, amNewYork Associate Editor | ryan.chatelain@am-ny.com

May 22, 2008

Denos Vourderis made a promise to his girlfriend in 1948: "You marry me, I buy you the Wonder Wheel."

After saving up enough money from his hot dog cart, Vourderis made good on his vow to wife Lula in 1983, when he purchased the beacon of Coney Island. Vourderis, who died in 1994, restored the iconic yet deteriorating Wonder Wheel and led the charge when it was designated a landmark in 1989.

As Coney Island opens this weekend for the summer, Denos' sons, Dennis and Steve, are fighting the city to retain ownership of the 88-year-old ride and about half of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.

"It's important to keep his dream going," said Dennis Vourderis. "This is something that grew from being a little hot dog stand into an empire."

In an effort to protect Coney Island's amusement area, the Bloomberg administration is proposing to designate 9 acres as parkland and find a "world class" operator to develop a city-owned, year-round amusement park.

The plan would have Deno's keeping an acre north of the Wonder Wheel, but it would give up its Kiddie Park as well as the famed Wonder Wheel. In response, the Vourderis family has hired an attorney to look into the matter.

"They don't need to protect it from us. We made it a landmark," Steve Vourderis said.

The city, which is currently preparing for public hearings on their plan, said it would buy the property it needs from landowners at fair market value.

Lynn Kelly, president of the Coney Island Development Corp., which is charged by the Bloomberg administration to protect the amusement district, argued that the Wonder Wheel is better off in the city's hands as parkland.

"Landmark designation isn't a guarantee," Kelly said. "If we don't change the zoning now and make the surrounding area parkland, in a few years someone could say, 'I want to put a giant high-rise building right next to the Wonder Wheel,' block it off and marginalize what's left of the amusement area."