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
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 the newly opened Luna Park Houses in the 1960s and 1970s
Kathy Fenyves and her family were original tenants of Luna Park Houses' Building 5 with an apartment that looked out on the amusement park. She lived there from 1961, when she was a toddler, until she was 23, and her parents continued to live there...
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
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
Community Board 13 member and CEO of Apna Brooklyn Community Center
Erum Hanif is a member of Community Board 13 and CEO of Apna Brooklyn Community Center, a not-for-profit social service organization with locations in Brighton Beach and Bath Beach. Apna was founded by Pervez Siddiqui, a local pharmacist and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Tattoo artist who grew up in Coney Island's West End
Samantha Robles, a tattoo artist who is known as "Cake," shares childhood memories of growing up in Coney Island's West End and describes her artistic influences. Three generations of Robles' extended family have lived in Coney's "Coconuts Building...
Content type: Oral History Item