Oral History Archive

Filtering by music back to all

Robert Serrano Jr.

Ride operator at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park for 11 years and Michael Jackson impressionist

Stanley Shapiro

Memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1940s and going back four times a year

Ellina Graypel

Singer, musician and composer who lives in Sea Gate

Cuzzo Sosay

Musical inspiration and meditation at Coney Island

Tara Altebrando

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

Allen James

Coney Islander, musician/songwriter in alt-rock band Newborn, lifeguard

Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte

Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte, owners of 51-year-old SAS Italian Records in Bensonhurst

Sam Moses

Sign-painting legend, musician and Sea Gate resident

Hyeyoung Kim and Michael Cooper

Composer and lyricist of Luna Park, a musical, on chronicling the partnership of Thompson and Dundy

Andy Fuhrman

Memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses and on Mermaid Avenue in the 1950s and '60s

Gabriel Alegría

Jazz musician and bandleader of the Afro-Peruvian Sextet has lived in Coney Island for the past decade

Paul Sanchez

Coney Island singer/songwriter who wrote "A Coney Island Song"

Santos Torres

Coney Island resident for 43 years, community gardener and musician

Commendatore Aldo Mancusi

Memories of Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s and growing up in Brooklyn in an Italian family

Zinovy Pritsker

Musician and founder of a jazz big band recounts his journey from Leningrad to Southern Brooklyn

Connor Frontera

A young harmonica player born and raised in Coney Island

Federico Ausbury and Maira Vergara

Husband-and-wife music duo Federico Ausbury and Maira Vergara of A Flying Dodo Society

Cornel Chan

"The Elvis of the East" and founder of Brooklyn Chinese-American Assn. Chorus