This Tuesday, August 6th, is National Night Out, an annual event that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Coney Island's 60th Precinct, PSA #1, and Transit District 34 are hosting this year's block party on our block - West 12th Street between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk. Enjoy music, free food, bounce houses, vendors, giveaways and more from 5-8 PM. The Coney Island History Project will open our exhibition center for the event and give away souvenir buttons while supplies last. The 60th Precinct National Night Out is sponsored by Deno's Wonder Wheel and Investors Bank.

Red, white and blue-clad visitors at the Coney Island History Project on July 4th. 

In the tradition of Coney Island's sidewalk photo studios of the past, visitors to the Coney Island History Project are invited to take free souvenir photos with Cy, the Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, and Coney Island's only original Steeplechase horse. Browse through our Flickr album to see photos from the Coney Island History Project's 15th anniversary season and previous years.
 

Mermaids still keep watch over Mermaid Avenue.

Woody Guthrie's 1950 song "Mermaid's Avenue" suggests that there's never been a mermaid on Mermaid Avenue, or at least that he's never seen one:

But there’s never been a mermaid here
On Mermaid Avenue
No, I’ve never seen a mermaid here
On Mermaid Avenue
I’ve seen hags and wags and witches;
And I’ve seen a shark or two
My five years that I’ve lived along
Old Mermaid’s Avenue

But Woody was mistaken. Just a few blocks from his home on Mermaid Avenue six stone mermaids could be found peering down from the roof of a one-story brick retail building, keeping watch over their namesake avenue. I remember the mermaids well from my childhood. At that time Mermaid Avenue was still a major shopping district with a lot of interesting architecture, but most of the buildings would be lost to urban renewal in the 1970s. 

The History Project recently received a request asking if the mermaids were still there:

"I remember a building on Mermaid Avenue on the southwest corner, and it was a one story commercial building.  The facade was a series of mermaid busts that ran along the building just below the roofline. What was interesting about these mermaids was that they were bare breasted, and they were all pinching their right nipples. My question is, would you know if there was any significance to the mermaids' pose, and is it possible that there are any photos of the building available."

Yes, the mermaids are still there! A little weathered and partially covered by signs and wiring, they still watch over the street that Guthrie once called home. All but one has lost her tail and, as far as the unusual pose, perhaps they are just a little bit shy and are trying to cover up. Here are some recent photos of the sculptures. We won't reveal the location as it's more fun to discover them on your own.

– Charles Denson

A beautiful mermaid above a beauty shop on Mermaid Avenue.

The only Mermaid Avenue mermaid that still has her tail.

A mermaid strikes a pose on Mermaid Avenue.

Among the additions to the Coney Island History Project's online Oral History Archive are the following audio interviews recorded by Charles Denson, Jiangxin Jin, Julia Khanina, Kaara Baptiste, Ruonan Zheng, and Samira Tazari. Please listen, share, and if you or someone you know would like to record a story, sign up here.

Bensonhurst native Ralph Avella was 16 years old when he became the youngest member of the Coney Island Parachute Jump's operation crew in 1961 after graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School. This interview is probably the best description ever of how the Jump operated and what it was like to ride it.

Crystal Isley shares memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses in the 1980s and '90s. After a happy childhood growing up in a close-knit community, things started to change and ducking from gunshots became normal. "Either people saw Coney Island as the end-all, be-all, or they wanted more. I was one of the people who wanted more," recalls Crystal, who now lives on Ocean Parkway but says Coney Island will always be her home.

Yi Xin Tong is an artist from Mount Lushan, China, where he grew up learning calligraphy, poetry and fishing from his grandfather. At Coney Island Creek, which he describes as "the place that I can feel closest to home in New York," Yi Xin spends his time fishing for striped bass and flounder and creating videos. He recorded two interviews: one conducted in Mandarin and a second in English.

Khonya Epstein, 91, author and leader of the Holocaust Survivors Group at the Marks JCH of Bensonhurst, is a Ghetto Survivor and World War II Veteran. A native of Mogilev, Belarus, he tells the harrowing story of how he escaped the Nazi massacre of the Jewish ghetto and joined a partisan brigade at age 13. This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian and includes a Russian transcript and an English translation.

Connie Scacciaferro, 86, remembers going to Coney Island Beach as a child in the 1930's and a teen in the '40s. Among her childhood memories are her youngest sister getting lost and finding her eating ice cream at the police station; a cousin being saved from drowning by her father and uncle; and rides on the L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway and the Cyclone.

Jewel Hough lives in Brighton Beach and has been working at Coney Island's Deno's Wonder Wheel Park for the past 18 years. She describes her favorite rides ("The Tilt-A-Whirl, I love it!") and the process of making cotton candy and candy apples at Deno’s Sweet Shoppe.

Ahmed Hussain, 24, has spent every summer since he was eight in Coney Island helping out in his family's stores in the amusement area. What he enjoyed most about growing up in Coney was his friendship with the operators of Faber's Fascination Arcade and Shoot Out the Star, whom he describes as his mentors.

Alito Hernandez shares memories of learning to breakdance as a young boy in the 1980's and the history of Fresh Kids crew in Coney Island. “They would break till dawn when I met them. I was a baby. I was inspired by them," recalls Alito, who says the Polar Express was the crew's stomping grounds and they practiced at Our Lady of Solace schoolyard.

Olga Lozar is a Sea Gate resident and Coney Island Polar Bear Club member. She talks about the pleasures of winter swimming and first learning to swim in the alpine lakes of the Caucusus Mountains. This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian and includes a Russian transcript and an English translation.

Song Xin is an artist who used traditional Chinese paper cutting techniques to create Tree of Life, a public art work in the Bay Parkway subway station in Bensonhurst. “The place is a new immigrant hub. I am one of them," says the artist, who moved to New York from Beijing in 2000. This interview was conducted and recorded in Mandarin and includes a Chinese transcript and an English translation.

The Coney Island History Project has over 330 oral histories archived online.  Most are in English, with long-time or former residents, workers or visitors.  In recent years we began recording interviews with immigrants and foreign-born New Yorkers both in English and other languages including Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and Turkish who live or work in Coney Island and adjacent neighborhoods in Southern Brooklyn.