Oral History Archive

Alexander Vindman

Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who emigrated from Ukraine to Brighton Beach as a child

Arthur Galka

Washington Baths pool and the scary movies at the Mermaid Theater

Joe Miller

"Best of the Best" slugger at the Coney Island Batting Range

Jeffrey Brettler

Working the Rides: From the streets of Coney Island to the war in Vietnam

Angbeen Saleem

A poet and roller coaster lover describes her weekly ritual of riding the Coney Island Cyclone

Josh Wolfe

Chairman of Coney Island Prep on growing up in Coney Island and the charter school's first 15 years

Betya Shenker

Memories of World War II in Ukraine and immigrating to Southern Brooklyn

Mary Engel

Filmmaker and archivist whose parents collaborated on the film Little Fugitive in Coney Island

Judith Densky

Memories of growing up in Coney Island and Sea Gate in the late 1940s and 1950s

Larry Marquit

Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s

Stella Bacolas

Growing up in Greece and living in Coney Island's Luna Park Houses since the 1970s

Mort Shatzkin

Memories of growing up in Coney Island and the family business, Shatzkin's Famous Knishes

Sofya Dudnik

Embroidery artist and Coney Island resident who emigrated from Moscow in 2010

Ben Roubin

Memories of growing up at Villanova Court, a bungalow resort in Coney Island, in the 1950s and '60s

Tina Mednicoff Smokler

Growing up in Coney Island and being elected to Leon Friend's Art Squad at Lincoln High School

Ronald Kannatt (The Prince of Coney Island)

Twenty years at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Karaoke on the Boardwalk

Irwin Temkin

Growing up in Coney Island and how learning French at Lincoln High School influenced his life

Diana Wiener

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