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
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
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
Memories of the Bobsled, Caterpillar and Parachute Jump
Joan grew up in Brooklyn and describes it as a magical place where neighborhood people all knew each other and the smell of tomato sauce was in the air on a Sunday. In the summer, her father worked in an arcade near the Parachute Jump. She recalls...
Content type: Oral History Item
Mr. Cyclone 2010
Joshua, posed here with Miss Cyclone Angie Pontani, took a break from his busy schedule the day he was voted Mr. Cyclone 2010 to talk with us at the History Project. He explains the highlights of the competition and some of the things he'll...
Content type: Oral History Item
Grew up in Coney Island
At 57 years old, Lauragay remembers many particulars of Coney Island from her childhood and teenage years, including exact addresses and years in which events took place. She remembers, for example, Ocean Tide and Ravenhall pools, Mary's and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Member of the Seven Immortals
John recalls being a member of The Seven Immortals, a Coney Island gang, back in the 1970's. He talks about joining forces with the other gang in the area, Homicides Inc., to defend Coney Island from gangs from other neighborhoods. John's...
Content type: Oral History Item
Beth Allen recounts her origins as an "incubator baby" in Dr. Martin Couney's sideshow
Beth Allen was born 3 months premature in 1941, weighing 1lb 10 oz. Desperate to save her and with few other options - hospitals of the day had no facilities for premature infants - her parents placed her in the care of Dr. Martin Couney, a neonatal...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island resident and member of the 1960's girl group, The Cookies
Margaret Ross Williams moved to Coney Island in the mid-1950s. As a teenager she became a singer in the girl group, The Cookies, along with Earl-Jean McCrea and Dorothy Jones. The Cookies were Brill Building regulars and the girls recorded songs by...
Content type: Oral History Item
Photographing his Coney Island neighborhood for 50 years
Abe Feinstein moved with his wife and children to Luna Park Houses in 1962 and lived there for 31 years. Working at a camera store, he could get discounts on film and processing, which enabled him to take as many photos as he wished. He had a habit...
Content type: Oral History Item