Connie Scacciaferro

Memories of going to Coney Island Beach as a child in the 1930's and a teenager in the '40s

Interviewer:
Interviewee:
Connie Scacciaferro
Interview Date:
April 5, 2018

Languages

Born in 1932, Connie Scacciaferro grew up in Ridgewood and enjoyed outings to Coney Island Beach as a young girl. "Anybody that could carry a shopping bag when we were little, carried a shopping bag on the train to the beach," she says of taking the Sea Beach line to Coney Island with her parents, sisters and extended family. Connie recalls the beach being so crowded and the sand so hot that she had to walk on the edges of blankets to get to the shoreline. Among her childhood memories are her youngest sister getting lost and finding her eating ice cream at the police station; a cousin being saved from drowning by her father and uncle; and rides on the L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway and the Cyclone. As a teenager, Connie went to Coney Island with a group of friends from various high schools. She talks about the girls bringing sandwiches for lunch and the boys paying for rides; riding the Parachute Jump and the Bumper Cars; and a time when having "the best" bathing suit and wearing a bathing cap was a must for a young woman.