Oral History Archive

Filtering by 1970 - 1979 back to all

Reverend Cliff Herring

The Roller Coaster Reverend shares stories of Cyclone weddings

Monica Ghee

Coney Island native and longtime independent game operator on Jones Walk

Jeffrey Berman

Longtime Sea Gate resident and watercolor artist who teaches at Seaside Innovative Senior Center

Carole Scheer

Her father, Anthony Cosmo Pomaro, owned Cosmo Topper's Beauty Parlor on Mermaid Avenue

Stanley Fox

Retired Coney Island arcade operator recalls his family's 30-plus years in the business

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

Mindy Gress

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

Ron Vernon

Lifelong stickball player and Coney Island lifeguard for 48 years

Edith Storch

Memories of growing up on West 36th Street in Coney Island's West End in the 1930s

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

Jay Green (Gerald Greenberg)

Three-time International Jugglers Association champion and resident of Southern Brooklyn

Chris "Daze" Ellis

Artist whose Coney Island-themed work includes solo and community murals at Coney Art Walls

Irene Karas

Sea Gate resident on her girlhood memories of Coney Island and passing them on to her daughter

Eric Safyan

Architect who grew up in Coney Island in the 1980s and designed the renovated Ruby's Bar & Grill