Oral History Archive

Filtering by beaches back to all

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

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

Sara Schneider

Got a tattoo of the Astroland Rocket in honor of her first date in Coney Island

Chia-Ti Chiu

Teaching Yoga on the Beach in Coney Island

Dionne Brown (D.L. Jordan)

Lifelong Coney Island resident and author of Living Life Like It's Golden

George Rudes

Clothing company CEO George Rudes grew up in the shadow of the Half Moon Hotel

Steve Larkin

Memories of working at a Coney Island beach chair and umbrella rental company as a teen in the 1970s

Patricia Sener

Sea Gate resident and co-founder of CIBBOWS - Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers

Taty and Ralph Alicea

Mother and son remember the Laughing Lady at Coney's Magic Carpet Fun House

Vivian Palo

Loved growing up and raising children in Coney Island

Sherri and Harold Kaufman

High school sweethearts from Coney Island

Anne Greenspan

Lifelong Coney and Sea Gate resident

Minnie Pinkwas

Moved to Coney Island in 1934