Memories of growing up in a Jewish household in Coney Island
Born in Coney Island, Susan Hochtman Creatura lived in Coney Island Houses when it was new and she was a little girl who enjoyed the novelty of riding the elevators. Her parents marveled that this New York City housing complex for working class...
Content type: Oral History Item
A Coney Island native's memories of running amusement games
Eliot Wofse grew up in Luna Park Houses across the street from the amusement area, which he calls his playground. His elder brothers worked as game agents and regularly sent him off to play, for free, at Steeplechase Park and Playland Arcade. At...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lifelong Coney Island resident and author of Living Life Like It's Golden
Dionne Brown, who has lived in Coney Island all her life, also works here. She grew up in Surfside Gardens and attended Surfside School (PS 329), Bay Academy, Lincoln High School, and Kingsborough Community College. A love of reading was instilled...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up in Coney Island in the 1970s and '80s and coming back to photograph it
Barry Yanowitz grew up in Coney Island where he could see the Cyclone and hear the screams of riders from his window. "The Cyclone was it," he recalls. "The secret thing that me and friends of mine had who lived in the area that I felt like the rest...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of working as a police officer in Coney Island in the 1980s and '90s
Gravesend native Donna Bianco became a police officer at age 22 after a female cop, one of the few she knew, registered her for the test and she scored well. She was assigned to Coney Island from 1986 through 1993, when the neighborhood was crime-...
Content type: Oral History Item
Clothing company CEO George Rudes grew up in the shadow of the Half Moon Hotel
George Rudes lived in Coney Island from 1930 until 1948 when he went off to college. He lived next door to the Half Moon Hotel on West 29th Street. His father, Leo Isaac Rudes, was president of the synagogues on Mermaid Avenue and the one on West...
Content type: Oral History Item
Storyteller, cartoonist and designer whose graphic novel Prince of Cats is partly set in 1980's Coney Island
Brooklyn resident Ronald Wimberly is a storyteller, cartoonist and designer whose graphic novel Prince of Cats is partly set in Coney Island. His retelling of Romeo and Juliet mixes comics, hip-hop and Shakespearian poetry. Wimberly describes the...
Content type: Oral History Item
Co-owner and operator of Gregory & Paul's for more than 50 years
Gregory Bitetzakis and his partner, Paul Georgoulakos, have operated a half dozen restaurants in Coney Island for more than half a century. Although they are best known for their two stands on West 8th Street at Surf Avenue and on the Boardwalk,...
Content type: Oral History Item
Girlhood memories of visiting Great-Aunt Molly who lived in the house under the roller coaster
Linda Kramer Evans shares fond memories of visiting her Great-Aunt Molly Moran who lived in the house under the Thunderbolt roller coaster. During the 1950s, Evans and her parents and brothers would visit Coney Island on Sundays from their home in...
Content type: Oral History Item
Boyhood memories of visiting relatives at the house under the Thunderbolt roller coaster
Every summer during his boyhood, Harold J. Kramer would travel from Chicago with his family to visit his great-aunt and great-uncle in Coney Island. Molly and George Moran owned and operated the Thunderbolt and lived in the house under the roller...
Content type: Oral History Item