Oral History Archive

Filtering by 1960 - 1969 back to all

Patrick Phillips

Memories of working at Astroland's Neptune Diving Bells in the summer of 1964

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

Memories of growing up a block from the ocean and being head of Lincoln High School's Art Squad

Frank Gurrera

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

Khonya Epstein

Author and leader of the Holocaust Survivors Group at Marks JCH of Bensonhurst

Stanley Fox, Part 2

Retired arcade operator's memories of when Coney Island's amusements were open in the wintertime

Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte

Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte, owners of 51-year-old SAS Italian Records in Bensonhurst

Arthur Nintzel

Boyhood memories of Ocean Tide Baths and the B&B Carousell's Lincoln horse

Rob Weissbard

Milton Berger's nephew describes adventures at Steeplechase Park with Coney's great showman

Carmela

Growing up on West 16th Street between Mermaid and Neptune in a cold water flat in the 1940s and '50s

Mindy Gress

Memories of growing up on Coney Island's first block and working in the Cyclone photobooth's darkroom

Ralph Avella

Memories of working on the Coney Island Parachute Jump's operation crew at age 16

Ron Vernon

Lifelong stickball player and Coney Island lifeguard for 48 years

Bill Zeidenberg

Memories of growing up on Brighton First Court and a summer job renting beach chairs in Coney Island

Edith Storch

Memories of growing up on West 36th Street in Coney Island's West End

Billy Blitzer

Longtime baseball scout for the Chicago Cubs and Sea Gate resident

Sam Moses

Sign-painting legend, musician and Sea Gate resident

Van Milana

Grandson of sword swallower Joseph "Ajax" Milana and DeWise Purdin "The Handless Sharpshooter"

Karen Dawn Blondel

Environmental justice organizer who was born in Coney Island and raised here in the 1960s and '70s