Oral History Archive

Filtering by emigration and immigration back to all
Angela Kravtchenko
Architect who is a Coney Island resident and a community activist
Sofya Lobova
A longtime resident of Haber Houses and leader of the Russian-speaking community
Erum Hanif
Community Board 13 member and CEO of Apna Brooklyn Community Center
Ansen Tang
Director of United Chinese Association of Brooklyn in Bensonhurt, Dyker Heights, and Sheepshead Bay
Irina Ginzburg (Upa)
Stand-up comedian and founder of the Coney Island Comedy Festival
Ellina Graypel
Singer, musician and composer who lives in Sea Gate
Nasim Almuntaser
Brooklyn College history student grew up working in his family's bodega in Brighton Beach
Linda Zhang
Coney Island homeowner for 19 years enjoys organic gardening and walking on the boardwalk
Olga Lozar
A Sea Gate resident who is a Coney Island Polar Bear talks about the pleasures of winter swimming
Xin Song
Artist who used traditional Chinese paper cutting to create public art in Bay Parkway subway station
Yanglun Hsiao
A filmmaker and film editor from Taiwan living in Brighton Beach
Kai Fung
Homeowner in Coney Island's West End for almost 30 years and first member of his family to settle here
Boris Ioselev
Librarian and exhibit curator at Coney Island Library emigrated from St. Petersburg nearly 30 years ago
Naum Barash
A Coney Island Polar Bear recounts his 50 years of winter swimming in Ukraine and Brooklyn
Gabriel Alegría
Jazz musician and bandleader of the Afro-Peruvian Sextet has lived in Coney Island for the past decade
Eric Safyan
Architect who grew up in Coney Island in the 1980s and designed the renovated Ruby's Bar & Grill
Courtney King
Jamaican-born artist and Coney Island resident
Mohammed Saad Ali
Actor and playwright whose new play A Lonely Night in Coney Island is set on the Boardwalk