Charles Denson is executive director of the nonprofit Coney Island History Project, which has created an oral history archive and sponsors educational exhibits, school programs and performances. He grew up in Coney Island and began documenting his neighborhood as a boy, a passion that continues to this day. His first book, Coney Island: Lost and Found, was named 2002 New York Book of the Year by the New York Society Library. He is also the author of Wild Ride: A Coney Island Roller Coaster Family! (2007), Coney Island and Astroland (2011), and Coney Island's Wonder Wheel Park (2020). A writer, photographer and art director, he began his career in 1971 as a photographer for New York magazine and has since worked as art director for numerous publications. In 1999 he was awarded a Chronicle journalism fellowship at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013 the New York State Marine Education Association presented the Herman Melville Award to him for his environmental advocacy on behalf of Coney Island Creek.
Interviews
The secret story behind the construction of Coney Island's $350 million Stillwell Avenue Terminal
Anthony D’Amico tells the secret inside story of how Coney Island’s $350 million dollar Stillwell Avenue Terminal came into being. D'Amico was the Chief Financial Officer in charge of funding billions of dollars in MTA mega-projects, including the...
Tales of her father's Mermaid Avenue pharmacy, from the 1940s to 1969
Dr. Ina Bendis's father, Charles Bendis, owned a pharmacy on Mermaid Avenue at West 23rd Street in Coney Island. B&B Drug Company, operated on the Avenue until 1969. Dr Bendis grew up in Coney Island and Sea Gate and tells a loving story about...
Coney Island during the Great Depression and World War II
95-year-old Rita Kaminsky describes growing up in Coney Island during the 1930s and 1940s. Rita was born at home in the family's apartment above her grandmother's store at 2717 Surf Avenue. In this interview she shares memories of life during the...
Jimmy and Tina's Famous Sausage Restaurant
The Smaldone family's Famous Sausage Restaurant began as a hole-in-the-wall food stand below the Atlantis Bar on Stillwell Avenue in the mid-1950s. Italian immigrant Vincenzo (Jimmy) Smaldone and his wife Tina later moved it to a larger space...
A childhood watching boats in the Coney Island Channel led to the founding of a tugboat company
Gerard Thornton's childhood fascination with the maritime industry began when he and his brother Rick would watch shipping traffic from their window in the O'Dwyer Gardens housing project in Coney Island. The Coney Island Channel with its tugs and...
Author of two books about Coney Island basketball
Delbert Prince is the author of two books tracing the history of Coney Island basketball and what the sport meant to the community. Prince grew up in Coney Island and played ball on all the local courts. His detailed personal history includes the...
Washington Baths pool and the scary movies at the Mermaid Theater
Arthur Galka was born in Coney Island and spent his 1950s childhood summers at Washington Baths. He tells tales of the swimming pool watermelon races, Shatzkins Knishes, the Mermaid Theater, and the rivalry with Ravenhall.
Working the Rides: From the streets of Coney Island to the war in Vietnam
Jeffrey Brettler began working in Coney Island at the age of 12 during the early 1960s. He got to know all the ride operators. He shares vivid memories of the colorful characters he met and describes the idiosyncrasies of some of the most beloved...
A life in Coney Island
For more than 60 years Benny Harrison brought fun and smiles to visitors who enjoyed his delightful, artistic creations. During the last ten years Benny’s stands on West 12th Street entertained thousands with a storefront of quirky games and...
Rachel Simon recalls her family's Deli Restaurant on Mermaid Avenue
Rachel Rosenberg Simon's grandparents owned and operated Rosenberg's Kosher Deli Restaurant on Mermaid Avenue from 1917 to 1975. It was considered the finest deli on the Avenue as all the food in the restaurant was homemade. Rachel's entire family...