One Last Chance to Catch the Old Coney Island

This summer may be your last chance to experience the old Coney Island.  The Coney Island Seven--the famed stretch of concession stands and restaurants--will disappear after this summer.  Ruby's, Paul's Daughter, Beer Island, Cha Cha's, the Grill House, Gyro Corner, and Coney Island Souvenirs are set to close in November.  The businesses have been bought by the company Zamperla and leased out to to the Sodexo Corporation for ten years.   A string of restaurants and sports bars will replace the current businesses in hopes of attracting a more upscale clientele.  Additionally, the city plans to replace the boardwalk with concrete and imitation wood and the Village Voice's ten-year-old Siren Festival has been canceled.  The festival has been renamed 4 Knots and moved to South Street Seaport, dealing a crushing blow to summer business on the boardwalk.   As major reconstruction approaches Coney Island's fate now seems sealed.