Lauren Vespoli is an independent journalist and audio producer based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vox, GQ, Atlas Obscura, and on 90.9 WMPG FM. Previously, she was the senior editor at Amtrak's onboard magazine, The National. She's a 2021 graduate of the Maine College of Art's Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and a 2013 graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in history and creative writing.
Interviews
Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s
Born in 1938, Larry Marquit grew up on Laurel Avenue in Sea Gate when some of the streets and sidewalks were cobblestone. He shares memories of World War II, day camp, movie theaters, and his first jobs as a boy shining shoes in a barbershop and...
Memories of growing up at Villanova Court, a bungalow resort in Coney Island, in the 1950s and '60s
Born in 1952, Ben Roubin shares memories of growing up at Villanova Court, a summer bungalow colony between the Boardwalk and Surf Avenue in Coney Island next to Sea Gate. From the mid-1950s through 1968, his family co-owned and operated the resort...
Record producer and audio engineer who produces live shows at Coney Island Brewery
"The" Jerry Farley is a record producer and audio engineer who has produced shows in Coney Island at Peggy O'Neills and now at Coney Island Brewery, where he stages a monthly punk/metal night and other live events. Born in Dyker Heights in 1978, as...
Growing up in Coney Island and Gravesend in the 1990s and 2000s
Eric Sanchez was born in 1987 when his family lived in Coney Island. He later moved to 2121 Shore Parkway, a building in Gravesend which had a great view of Coney Island, Cropsey and Bay 49th, and Neptune Avenue and West 15th Street. As a teen, ...
Memories of living in the newly opened Luna Park Houses in the 1960s
Carol Barry and her family were original tenants of Luna Park Houses. They moved to the newly opened high-rise housing complex in 1961 from a tenement on West 30th Street in Coney Island. She shares memories of living at Luna Park from age 15 until...
Memories of Ocean Tide Baths and Coney Island
Jane McNeive Ennis, 91, grew up in Bay Ridge and recalls going to Ocean Tide Baths as a teenager in the 1940s. She has fond memories of renting a season locker at Ocean Tide with three girlfriends and painting and decorating the locker which was the...