Oral History Archive

Filtering by Steeplechase Park back to all

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

Barbara Unterman Jones

Memories of being one of the first families to move into Gravesend Houses in 1954 and growing up there

Alonzo Kittrels

Memories of bus trips to Coney Island with the Good Will Family Club from the 1940's through 1961

Jim Lucarelli

Memories of operating Steeplechase Park's Sports Car ride in 1963-1964 and fighting the Ravenhall fire

Richard Glazer-Danay

Artist who grew up in Coney Island and whose artwork celebrates his Mohawk iron worker ancestry

Frederick Brosen

Artist whose watercolors of the Astroland Rocket and Wonder Wheel sign are emblematic of Coney Island

Chris Cuomo

Memories of riding the Steeplechase Horses, Human Roulette Wheel and Parachute Jump 70 years ago

Anne Green

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

George Ancona

The art of growing up Mexican American in Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s

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

Ralph Avella

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

Marian Carbone and Anna Jackson

Memories of riding the Parachute Jump and Steeplechase horse race ride in the 1950s

Irene Karas

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

Susan Meyer

Memories of growing up in the 1940s and '50s in a tight-knit Jewish community in Coney Island

Michael Goldstein (Looch)

Memories of growing up on Mermaid Avenue and working games in Coney Island from age twelve