Oral History Archive

Filtering by beaches back to all

Jeanette Bigelson

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

Roy Omori

Growing up Japanese American in Coney Island in the 1950s and '60s

Gabriel Valencia

Twenty-five years at Gregory & Paul's and Paul's Daughter on the Coney Island Boardwalk

Connie Scacciaferro

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

Diana Wiener

Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1940s and '50s and moving back in the mid-1960s

JR Lopez

Memories of growing up on West 35th Street in Coney Island in the 1990s

Karen Wilcox

Memories of living in Luna Park Houses and going to Coney Island bathhouses in the 1960s

Samantha Robles (Cake)

Tattoo artist who grew up in Coney Island's West End

Alicia Angello

Teen memories of Coney Island's Polar Express and Breakdance in the 2000s

John Philip Capello

Mystery artist who carved faces into rocks on the shoreline at Brighton Beach

Amparo Garcia

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

Tymell Murphy

Professional basketball player and author of a book of poems and stories who grew up in Coney Island

Esther Delgado

Growing up in Gravesend and going to Coney Island in the 1940s and living there today

Rena Stutman Rice

Memories of growing up in Brighton Beach in the 1950s and '60s

Ellen Abrams

Memories of growing up on West 29th Street and meeting her lifeguard husband on Coney Island Beach

Tara Altebrando

Author of Dreamland Social Club, a novel set in Coney Island, who got engaged on the Wonder Wheel

Martin Abrams

Brooklynite who was a lifeguard in the 1950s and met his wife of 60 years on Coney Island Beach

Crystal Isley

Memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses in the 1980s and '90s