Memories of her grandfather's frosted food business and a renegade ride on the Thunderbolt
Meg Feeley was born in Brooklyn. Her grandfather owned Ben Kallman's Frosted Foods, which introduced frozen corn on the cob to Coney Island as a snack food. Among her memories are a renegade ride on the Thunderbolt on a February night in the...
Content type: Oral History Item
Sand Sculpting Contestant
Joanna Randall took a break from the hot sun where she was working with boyfriend Aaron Sand and their friends Lauren Roberts and Jacob Roberts to complete their entry in the 20th Annual Sand Sculpting Contest. The contest is hosted on the Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item
Summer resident of Sea Gate
Namomi Gorin and her family spent many Sundays in Coney Island as a getaway and an opportunity to spend time with extended family on the beach. She tells stories of her memories of Sea Gate, the beach and rides of Coney Island.
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
An adventuresome youth in Coney Island
Naomi Starss shares this story from her youth about getting in trouble with the police for panhandling with a girlfriend in Coney Island when they were fourteen years old. She describes how they made friends with a good-looking policeman who...
Content type: Oral History Item
Band organ expert
Born in 1920, Max has been in the band organ restoration and maintenance business, which he learned from his father at an early age, all his life. After serving as a paratrooper in World War II, he went back to work with his dad until his death in...
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
Oldest market in Coney Island
The sounds of a typical day at Major Markets on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island. Founded in the 1930's, Major Markets is a throwback to the days when the entire length of Mermaid Avenue, from Stillwell Avenue to Sea Gate, was a bustling retail...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lived in Coney Island since 1961
Dorothy moved to Coney Island in 1961 from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. She has also lived in Brighton Beach and Ocean Parkway and remembers "the west side" near Seabreeze Park (now known as Asser Levy Park). She...
Content type: Oral History Item