Oral History Archive

Filtering by bathhouses back to all

Amparo Garcia

Lifelong Brighton Beach resident shares stories of Brighton Beach then and now

Ida Rosenblum Gambrell

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

Richard Termini

Memories of growing up at Bensonhurst's Termini's Bakery and riding Coney Island's Astroland Rocket

Jane McNeive Ennis

Memories of Ocean Tide Baths and Coney Island

Joyce Chopra

Groundbreaking filmmaker grew up in Sea Gate and on Mermaid Avenue

Alan Fine

Memories of Washington Baths Annex in the 1950s and meeting his wife there when they were children

Natalie Johnson

Memories of having a season locker at Ravenhall and Washington Baths Annex in the 1950s and '60s

Arthur Nintzel

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

Jeffrey Eisenmesser

Former teacher at Mark Twain Junior High School recalls his Coney Island memories

Jan Brown

A Brooklyn native's boyhood memories of Washington Baths and Steeplechase Park

Boris Kotlyar

Mermaid Spa founder talks about bringing the Russian banya tradition to Coney Island

Joseph Svehlak

Fond memories of Coney Island

José Beth Smolensky

Juilliard trained musician whose family owned Washington Baths

Harry Gans

Lived in Coney Island from 1938 thru early 1950's

Marty Reich

Locker Boy at Oriole Baths who hung out at Washington Baths with his friends

Joseph Albanese

87-year-old remembers the Nickel Empire

Melissa Rosson Rappaport

Architectural preservationist

Harold Blumenthal

Offers perspectives on both the heyday and decay of Coney Island