Twenty years at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Karaoke on the Boardwalk
Ronald Kannatt, who is affectionately known as "The Prince of Coney Island," has been singing and dancing at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Karaoke on the Boardwalk for the past 20 years. His signature song is Prince's "Jungle Love." Kannatt shares...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1940s and '50s and moving back in the mid-1960s
Diana Wiener shares memories of growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1940s and '50s, where she first learned to swim as a "water baby" on Beach 2 AKA "The Lagoon." Wiener remembers World War II blackouts, lookout towers for U-boats,...
Content type: Oral History Item
Architect who is a Coney Island resident and a community activist
Angela Kravtchenko is an architect, a resident of Coney Island, a community activist, and a new member of Community Board 13. She describes how she and her family chose to live in Coney Island after emigrating from Ukraine in the 1990s and living in...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on West 35th Street in Coney Island in the 1990s
JR Lopez shares memories of growing up in the 1990s on West 35th Street in a NYCHA building known locally as the Coconuts Building. His memories of Coney Island include going to PS 188; playing football on the beach and at Lincoln High School and...
Content type: Oral History Item
A longtime resident of Haber Houses and leader of the Russian-speaking community
This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian. Read Julia Kanin's Russian transcript and English translation below. Интервью проведено и записано на русском языке. Вы можете ознакомиться с траснскриптом и переводом Юлии Ханиной ниже.
Sofya...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1940s and '50s and fun summer jobs
Born in 1941, Stuart Waldman grew up in Coney Island on West 32nd Street and Neptune Avenue. He shares memories of school days - PS 188, Mark Twain, Lincoln High School, and Brooklyn College - and vividly describes a series of fun summer jobs he had...
Content type: Oral History Item
Reflections on raising a family and working in Coney Island in the 1990s and 2000s
Sonia Solano reflects on living in Coney Island with her husband since the 1990s, raising their children here, and working in local schools. She remembers happy times and difficult times, including the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. "Coney Island...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of living in Luna Park Houses and going to Coney Island bathhouses in the 1960s
Karen Wilcox and her family were among the original tenants of Luna Park Houses, moving there from the East New York section of Brooklyn in 1962. "We were the first family to live in Apt 15M in Building 4," says Wilcox, who was 11 at the time. "Then...
Content type: Oral History Item
Family memories of Nat Faber's Fascination arcade and amusement business empire
Sam Person shares family memories of Nat Faber's Fascination arcade and amusement business empire. Person worked in Coney Island as a manager at his father-in-law's Faber’s Fascination in 1953 and 1954 when he was in college studying to be a CPA. ...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of Coney Island in the 1950s and a family's candy factory on Mermaid Avenue
Liz Unger was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and divided her time growing up between Baltimore, Maryland, and Coney Island. She spent every summer and every holiday staying with her aunt and grandmother, who lived on West 30th Street. Another aunt, uncle...
Content type: Oral History Item