New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-12
MOVING A SUMMER HOTEL
THE BRIGHTON BEACH PUT ON WHEELS

DRIVEN INLAND BY THE 0CEAN-THE WAVES GAIN
INC ON COMFY ISLAND.
The contractor who promised to move the Bright
on Beach Hotel back 90 yards or so. safely out
Of reach Of the Coney Island beach-combers,'
has undertaken highly delicate and hazard
Gus engineering Job. The big. rambling loose
ly iointed pile Of weather board buildings IL to
be dropped softly down on hundred or more
freight cars, run in under the supporting ground
work. and the whole structure Is to be towed of
toward the Brighton race track and again dropped
on fresh foundations The freight cars are to
be 1oorcd over with stout beams. which can
be raised or lowered by means Of jacks. and the
hotel is thus to be lifted of or on the foundation
walls as easily as q pleasure yacht Is put In or
out Of q dry-dock
The PIN is admirable enou Oh. the chief question
being whether the big hotel With its irregular wings
and broad verandas. hold together under
the strain Of lifting and reseting The contractor
Is sanguine that 1t can. and for several weeks
has been pushing his preparations for cutting
the building sdrft Nearly all the car tracks
are laid; most Of the cars have been pushed
in among the piles which now prop tho hotel
out of the breakers; many Of the foundation
walls have been cut through. and before tho
end of the month. perhaps. the last support
will be knocked from under. and the big. jolly
hostelry will roll away on wheels.
s0xE or THE SEAS RAvAdEs.
This change of base was not planned moment
too soon {; for another winter would probably have
seen the building floating In bits OF wreckage
out to sea- Since last September the waves
have eaten, at q rough guess, fifteen or twenty
yards In on the beach. Tho broad platform.
where pleasure seekers used to sit. slipping beer
and listening to Cappa's band blow out the
Boulanger march, and other popular melodies, has
been washed away entirely. The coneh-shaped
music stand alone is left prOpped up on hall
dozen tall Uiles out almost beyond the last ridge
OF breakers. The surf PUSHES tar under the
body OF the hotel. and on stormy days beats clean
through to the back walls. part Of the Kitchen
wing is left high and drX. but Just beyond
on the side toward Manhattan Beach. the hugo
waves roll in everywhere among the deserted CATCH
penny booths and forlOrn shooting galleries.
Both east and west Of the f0tel long rows OF
piles have been driven IN along the line OF high
tide, and behind this wooden barrier are piled
stones, sand. planks. and even tree trunks. Inc
upper end OF the C0ncourse. too. has had TO Do
protected by q similar extemporized breakwater
and even now. the waves sometimes hood oyer On
the asphalt driveway HE Two eayng , nG havs
to moved back. too. or abandoned one OF
them is open the year round. apparently, ana inc
proprietor is holding out bravely. though inc
breakers dash in furi0usly under the porches ana
shake the floor of the bar-room. till the glass
deosnters on the sideboard rattle against one
another
force of the sea seems to be turned full against
the half-mile of beach which stretches each
way from the Brighton as starting point None
of the other beaches has suffered icrccptby during
the winter. West Brighton has neither gained
nor lost an inch. and Manhattan is too well
fortified against the waves to show any damage
two or three years ago o powerful breakwat Ter
was wisely put in The Brighton people leu
the water come up under the outer platform;
People liked to sit there and hear the softened
roar of the breakers mingle with the brass bands
music Now the musicians have been put TO
flight and the crowds Of free and easy pl' asnre
hunters, smoking, chatting flirting, drinking
beer and lazily promenadng in the breezes. az
these will have to scatter, too, and the new hotel
far back from the beach. will have to build up
another clientage.
STORMY DAY AT THE BEACH.
The Brighton expects to open next summer as
usual, on its new legs. with increased capacity,
no doubt, and increased attractions: But the
beach will not be the same, end with the now
hotel back by the Brighton Beach race track;
the pistol ranges, weighing machine stands and
beer and soda counters gone, there will be many
surprises in store for the Now-YCrker or brooklyn
man who makes trip to the island when the
boats and trains begin to run again-say May 30:
Yesterday the struggling Sunday trains carried
down Il passenger or two, ana Iour or h'e o,
the West End resorts had thr THI the on
cous.c ond the rain beat stingingly In the faces
Of The pedestrians who had to travel from ono
beach to another. Even the big hotel. half on
the ground, half In the air. had been left empfy,
TO the mercy Of the storm: few. watchmen
were looking after the railroad tracks and the
Others hanging around the new hotel site near
the race course. The Brighton Beach horsemen,
it Is whispered, trle worried at the encroach-
ments Of the sea. There is little danger at pres
emit that the kind Of sport that fourishes there
will be driven off the island But there would
be some consolation In the oceans ravages ag
Brighton II it could swallow mp at one mouthfu!
the spectators, owners and beach-combers' OF
this malodorOus track.