Last year it was announced that the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn," aka the now defunct Parachute Jump in Coney Island, would be getting a multi-million dollar lighting upgrade. The new lighting scheme, made up of a 8,000 LED lights, will debut on the first day of summer (June 21st), with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz on hand to help flip the switch. Markowitz declares: “It brings the bling back to Coney Island."
According to the Daily News, "Markowitz and other pols spent $1.5 million to have the light artist Leni Schwendinger" give the Jump a makeover. Previously, it had just 450 lights, but with the new programmable display it will be so bright it will be seen from space (paging Chris Hadfield).
The 262-foot-tall Parachute Jump is the tallest structure in Coney Island, and was built for the 1939 World's Fair (moving to Coney in 1941). It will now be lit up whenever Luna Park is operating, and when there are special events in the area. It's just too bad that some of that $2 million didn't go towards making it functional again:
