MAX
COURIER L M BR B G IFE, MAY 3–9, 2019 25
COMING SOON: A new entertainment venue with room for
4,000 revelers will open this summer in the People’s Playground,
at Bowery and W. 15th streets. DEG Presents
New venue hopes
to bring musical
legends to Coney
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The People’s Playground
is about to get a lot more
fun.
A new seasonal entertainment
venue will open
this summer just steps
from the Coney Island
seashore. Amuse at the
Coney Island Art Walls
— located at Bowery and
W. 15th streets — will
revitalize the neighborhood’s
outdoor art space
with a variety of events
under the summer sun,
according to the honcho
behind the plan.
“We felt it was a great
opportunity to combine
our resources,” said Eddie
Dean, who owns
concert and venue promotion
company DEG
Presents. “We’re mainly
coming in to fi x it up
and make it a little nicer.
We want to be able to do
some lifestyle events,
foodie events, cultural
events, and paid concerts
as well.”
Amuse will occupy
the 50,000-square-foot
Thor Equities-owned
lot, which is nearly the
size of a football fi eld
and features a wall of
street art from a cast of
rotating local and international
artists, behind
Nathan’s Famous on
Surf Avenue.
The entertainment
space will feature a
tent with room for 4,000
revelers to mingle and
take in musical performances
away from the
sun’s glare, along with
an outdoor seating area
where Kings Countians
can sip on custom cocktails
and chow down on
food from a variety of local
vendors, according to
Dean.
But the event producer
said the main attractions
will be inside
the tent, where he hopes
he can convince music
legends to play.
“Hopefully we can get
some really big artists to
come and perform,” he
said.
Amuse will host
events between Memorial
Day and Labor Day
weekends, and the festivities
will feature a combination
of free events
and ticketed concerts,
with the fi rst act — a concert
and barbecue — set
for June.
Dean added that Sodom
by the Sea is the perfect
place to host the new
space, since it is known
throughout the Big Apple
— and the world — as
a destination for entertainment
and summer
fun.
“If anybody knows
me they know I love Coney
Island,” he said.
“The amount of history
and the art — it’s like a
movie set to me.”