Actor, author, and modern-day vaudevillian
Trav S.D., aka Travis Stewart, is an actor, author, cartoonist, comedian, critic, director, humorist, journalist, master of ceremonies, performance artist, playwright, producer, publicist, public speaker, songwriter, and variety booker. Deeply...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island visitor since the 1980's
Olga Guevara visits Coney Island these days with her two children (pictured with her above), but remembers visiting the beach in the 1980's with her girlfriend when they were single. She also remembers coming to Coney Island in the 1990's...
Content type: Oral History Item
Brooklyn College sociology professor
Jerry Krase, professor emeritus at Brooklyn College in sociology, explains how he had a brief brush with the law on the Coney Island Boardwalk in the 1960s.
Content type: Oral History Item
Amusement Ride Operator
Louis Ritter, born in Coney Island on the 4th of July, worked a variety of amusement rides including three carousels and the boardwalk train ride in the 1960s. He also ran a cotton candy stand. When he was a child, people mistook him for John...
Content type: Oral History Item
Long-time manager of Astroland's Kiddieland
Walter "Shorty" Arsenault worked his whole career in the amusement business, starting in Coney Island at the Nellie Bly Amusement Park and then working for many years in Astroland. He managed the section of the park with children's...
Content type: Oral History Item
Biographer of the Mighty Atom
Ed, screenwriter and creator of the 1970's television series "Kung Fu" starring David Carradine, is also the author of "The Mighty Atom: The Life and Times of Joseph L. Greenstein" (The Viking Press, 1979). Ed's family...
Content type: Oral History Item
Visiting Coney Island his whole life
Allen Ashby started coming to Coney Island as a boy in the late 1950's. In the 60's, he came with high school friends and spent most of his time trying to meet girls. Later, he brought his daughters for visits as they grew up in the 70...
Content type: Oral History Item
Planner behind the new Stillwell Avenue subway terminal
Tom is the Deputy Chief of Capital Planning at New York City Transit and was involved in the planning, design and engineering of the new Stillwell Avenue terminal, the largest subway terminal in the world. He explains the concept and what some of...
Content type: Oral History Item
Vacationed in Coney Island
Victor, 64 years old, grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn and came to Coney Island often as an escape because his parents didn't drive. Once a year, however, his entire family would come for a vacation day from eight in the morning until closing...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island businessman
Sal Corona grew up working and playing in Coney Island in the 1950's. His Uncle Pete owned the Peluso Machine and Iron Works shop that repaired and fabricated replacement parts for rides, so he could get on many of the major rides in Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item