From Tbilisi, Georgia to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian. Read Mark Markov's transcript and translation below. Интервью было проведено и записано на русском языке. Читайте транскрипт и перевод Марка Маркова которые расположены ниже.
Tatyana...
Content type: Oral History Item
Pakistani immigrant and Lincoln High School graduate recounts living on West 15th Street
Junaid Anwar recounts times living on West 15th Street in Coney Island, where he moved as a 14-year-old along with his mother and brother to join their father in America. Although a Pakistani immigrant, he quickly adapts to the American way of life ...
Content type: Oral History Item
Osaka-born artist creates sideshow curiosities in his Coney Island home
Born in 1960, Takeshi Yamada is an artist from Osaka, Japan, who moved to Coney Island in 2002. "I didn't choose Coney Island. It chose me," he says. He is frequently seen in a black tuxedo strolling around the neighborhood with his sea rabbit Seara...
Content type: Oral History Item
A member of the Iceberg Athletic Club from 1971-2007
Joe Lazzaro, born in 1927, was a member of the Iceberg Athletic Club, a group of Coney Island cold-water-bathing enthusiasts, from 1971 until the club disbanded in 2007. He continues to spend time at the beach every day, often accompanied by his...
Content type: Oral History Item
Incubator baby
Roslyn Tromer was one of Dr. Couney's "incubator babies". Dr. Martin A. Couney was a neonatologist during the early part of the 20th century who saved many premature infants through the use of incubators. In order to increase...
Content type: Oral History Item
A lover of Steeplechase Park
Paul says Steeplechase is in his blood. He would go there with his family from 1955 to 1963 when the pool closed. When he went back in '66, he realized how much he missed it and began collecting Coney Island artifacts. To date he has collected...
Content type: Oral History Item
Owner of Philips Candy Store
A Coney Island classic, Philips Candy Store, has moved to Staten Island but owner John Dorman recalls his decades open for business in the Stillwell Avenue train terminal. The shop originally opened in 1930 in that location, but Dorman began working...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lifelong Coney and Sea Gate resident
Anne has lived in Coney Island or Sea Gate all her life, except for six years in Sheepshead Bay. She remembers many details from the past, including the social clubs, the Mardi Gras parade, the baby parade, Mermaid Avenue, the Yiddish theater, Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item
Owner of Williams Candy and past owner of Fascination Arcade
Peter Agrapides owns and operates the Williams Candy shop next door to Nathans. He began working in Coney Island in 1949 and also owned the Fascination game arcade on Surf Avenue next to the old Loew's (Shore) Theater.
Content type: Oral History Item
Took the 13th Ave. trolley
Dave Galler grew up at 72nd Street and 12th Avenue in an area known as Dyker Beach, between Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, in the 1940's. He still remembers the details of the train and trolley routes he took to get to Coney Island. The...
Content type: Oral History Item