Oral History Archive

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Rebecca Diamond

A five-year-old describes her visit to Coney Island

Rosalie Diamond

Memories of going to Steeplechase Park as a teenager in the 1950s

Mohammed Saad Ali

Actor and playwright whose new play A Lonely Night in Coney Island is set on the Boardwalk

Joel Zika

The founder of the Dark Ride Project on documenting Spook-A-Rama and other historic dark rides

Al Burgo

Memories of growing up on West 33rd Street in Coney Island and working on the Boardwalk in the 1960s

Vincent Cutrone

Owner of Octopus Garden in Gravesend

Chia-Ti Chiu

Teaching Yoga on the Beach in Coney Island

Susan Hochtman Creatura

Memories of growing up in a Jewish household in Coney Island

Eliot Wofse

A Coney Island native's memories of running amusement games

Dionne Brown (D.L. Jordan)

Lifelong Coney Island resident and author of Living Life Like It's Golden

Barry Yanowitz

Growing up in Coney Island in the 1970s and '80s and coming back to photograph it

Donna Bianco

Memories of working as a police officer in Coney Island in the 1980s and '90s

George Rudes

Clothing company CEO George Rudes grew up in the shadow of the Half Moon Hotel

Ronald Wimberly

Storyteller, cartoonist and designer whose graphic novel Prince of Cats is partly set in 1980's Coney Island

Gregory Bitetzakis

Co-owner and operator of Gregory & Paul's for more than 50 years

Linda Kramer Evans

Girlhood memories of visiting Great-Aunt Molly who lived in the house under the roller coaster

Harold J. Kramer

Boyhood memories of visiting relatives at the house under the Thunderbolt roller coaster

Grace Lo

Homeowner and community activist in Coney Island's West End for almost 30 years