Oral History Archive

Cesar Rafael

Coney Island game operator

Lily Binder

Artist and photographer

Arthur Melnick

Coney Island concessionaire

Namomi Gorin

Summer resident of Sea Gate

Naomi M

Experiences at the Mermaid Parade

Reginald Sweeny

Life-long resident of Coney Island

The sounds of a typical day at Major Markets on Mermaid Avenue

Oldest market in Coney Island

Louis Scarcella

Longtime resident of Coney Island and former President of the Polar Bear Club

Jimmy Prince

Proprietor of Major Markets, Coney Island's oldest butcher shop

Daniel Blake (Africasso)

Artist and Champion Break-Dancer

Goldie Durlester

Depression-era resident and survivor of the 1932 fire

Terry Silverman

Cousin of Beth Allen, incubator baby

Lennie Fogel

Son of West End and Sea Gate shopkeepers in the 1940's and 50's

Dnynia Armstrong

Co-founder of the Brooklyn newspaper The Phoenix remembers living in Coney Island in the 1960s

Margaret Ross

Coney Island resident and member of the 1960's girl group, The Cookies

Moire Cuite and Elizabeth O'Boyle

Recollections of summers spent at the Ocean Tide beach club near Sea Gate

Roslyn Tromer

Incubator baby

Neal Kavakos

Memories of Tunnels of Love ride operator John Kavakos