Lifelong stickball player and Coney Island lifeguard for 48 years
Born in 1949, Ron Vernon grew up on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island playing stickball and since his retirement to Florida has played in the Palm Beach County Stickball League, which has eight teams. For him and 120 other guys, it's like being 15...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up Latina in Brighton Beach with a special connection to nature and the ocean
Abby Jordan is a Brighton Beach native whose Salvadorean immigrant parents have been homeowners in the community for over 35 years. After graduating from CUNY Hunter, she worked as a paralegal for an immigration project in the Bronx, a long commute...
Content type: Oral History Item
Homeowner in Coney Island's West End for almost 30 years and first member of his family to settle here
This interview was conducted and recorded in Cantonese Chinese. Read Sylvia Ching Man Wong's transcript and translation below.
本采访以粤语进行并记录下来。阅读下面的王靖雯(Sylvia Ching Man Wong)的笔录和翻译。
Kai Fung, a homeowner on West 35th Street in Coney Island’s West...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on Brighton First Court and a summer job renting beach chairs in Coney Island
Bill Zeidenberg grew up in the 1950s and 1960s at 212 Brighton First Court, just east of Ocean Parkway, the dividing line of Coney Island and Brighton Beach. He shares vivid memories of his summer job working for the M. & C. Chair Operating...
Content type: Oral History Item
Mechanical display creator who redid the tricks for Astroland's Dante's Inferno dark ride in the 1990s
Brooklynite Lou Nasti, the owner of Mechanical Displays in Flatbush, refers to himself as an "artistic mechanical engineer." He has designed, manufactured and installed one-of-a-kind, custom animated characters and displays both locally and around...
Content type: Oral History Item
Sea Gate artist, writer, educator and year-round swimmer
Hawley Hussey recounts "getting in the Gate," moving to a beach mansion in Sea Gate in 2001, her Coney Island-inspired art and writings, and swimming year-round. A member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club as well as an ephemeral upstart group...
Content type: Oral History Item
Harry Delgado, "Stretch," and Larye Mcsheppard share fishing stories
Three fishermen on Coney Island's Steeplechase Pier were interviewed on a sunny day in June. Harry Delgado and "Stretch" live in Coney Island and frequently fish from the pier as well as other local spots. Larye Mcsheppard lives in Queens, and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on West 36th Street in Coney Island's West End in the 1930s
Edith Storch, 90, grew up in the West End of Coney Island at 2762 West 36th Street near Canal Avenue. She shares memories of her immigrant parents, shops and street vendors, a nickelodeon on the pier at West 37th Street on the Bay, and Coney Island...
Content type: Oral History Item
Longtime baseball scout for the Chicago Cubs and Sea Gate resident
Billy Blitzer grew up in Brighton Beach, has lived in Sea Gate for the past 36 years, and is a pro scout for the Chicago Cubs. Baseball has been an integral part of his life since he played Little League at Coney Island's Kaiser Park and with his...
Content type: Oral History Item
Artist and educator who restored the old signs and painted new ones for Paul's Daughter
Brooklyn resident and School of Visual Arts instructor Stephen Gaffney is an artist and sign painter who restored the beloved vintage signs and painted new ones for Paul's Daughter, the oldest operator on the Coney Island Boardwalk. "Some of these...
Content type: Oral History Item