Oral History Archive

Filtering by 1930 - 1939 back to all

Rita Kaminsky

Coney Island during the Great Depression and World War II

Jeanette Bigelson

At age 103, Coney Island resident shares her memories and secrets to a long and happy life

Frank Gurrera

Machinist at MTA's Coney Island Overhaul and Repair Shop and oldest active TWU Local 100 member

Josephine Gargiulo Cassata

Daughter of Gargiulo's founder was born in an apartment above Coney Island's famous restaurant

Ida Rosenblum Gambrell

Memories of Coney Island in the 1920s and '30s

Juanhua Zhao

Tai chi teacher at Coney Island's Seaside Innovative Senior Center shares her life story

Nancy Gabriel

Memories of visiting Uncle Pete, who ran a food concession at Steeplechase Pool in the 1930s-50s

Greg Birbil

Greg Birbil's father, Paul, was a candy maker who owned the Paradise Ice Cream Parlor on Surf Avenue

Steven Feinstein

Reflections on running Wilensky Hardware, a 100-year-old family business on Mermaid Avenue

Anne Green

Memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s

Yeva Novik

A 90-year-old Coney Island resident recounts her journey from Moscow to Southern Brooklyn

Connie Scacciaferro

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

Toby Deligdish

Girlhood memories of visiting Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s

Norman Finkel

Boyhood memories of visiting Coney Island in the 1930s and getting lost on the beach

Larry Marquit

Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s

Mort Shatzkin

Memories of growing up in Coney Island and the family business, Shatzkin's Famous Knishes

Sofya Lobova

A longtime resident of Haber Houses and leader of the Russian-speaking community

Rachel Rosenberg Simon

Rachel Simon recalls her family's Deli Restaurant on Mermaid Avenue