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A sure sign that spring is here is the sound of the of the Cyclone roller coaster rattling in Coney Island. The 2012 season officially begins on Sunday and will be operating on weekends until Memorial Day when the seaside amusement areas Luna Park and the Scream Zone open daily.

The New York City Public Design Commission voted to replace a stretch of the Coney Island boardwalk with concrete and synthetic wood, after a tense hearing Monday in which residents and preservationists expressed their staunch opposition to the proposed plan.

New York is a city of specialists from foodies to academics, laborers to shopkeepers. Every Wednesday, Niche Market takes a peek inside a different specialty store and showcases the city's purists who have made an art out of selling one commodity.

Looks like Marty Markowitz’s epic battle against two Coney Island synagogues is over -- for now.

Despite the fanfare surrounding the unveiling of Coney Island's Scream Zone Wednesday, the park's opening has been set for Saturday, officials said.

PHOTOS. Coney Island unveiled its first new roller coaster since the iconic Cyclone opened in 1927 on Wednesday.

The businesses on the Coney Island boardwalk that were asked to vacate last month say they'll be around in the new year and beyond.

Longtime boardwalk businesses in Coney Island are putting up one last fight in an attempt to stay open. Several businesses were recently denied lease renewals by the company that controls the boardwalk and operates the new Luna Park amusement area.

Many longtime shops, eateries and concessions on the Coney Island Boardwalk will close next season.

Would-be clowns didn't run away to join the circus Friday morning - they took the subway to Coney Island. That’s where 17 bright-eyed performers auditioned to be clowns for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. One applicant had just finished a ten-year career with a ballet company.

The Austin garage punk trio play the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island Saturday. Download their fun, jangly tune "Gay Human Bones."

Coney Island's new amusement park opens this weekend.

In 1966 Mao Zedong took a legendary swim in the Yangtze river. The famous swim came on the eve of the Cultural Revolution and was meant to show that Mao was still a leader with great vitality and strength, and among other things, vigorously healthy. And here in ...