Kathy Duke O'Melia | Coney Island History Project

Interviewer:

Interviewee:

Kathy Duke O'Melia

Interview Date:

August 20, 2016

Themes

Languages

Places

Coney Island Creek

Steeplechase Park

West 31st Street

Periods

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Interview Highlight Bookmarks

Coney Island was the country to me

5th grader commuting from Manhattan by herself

Steeplechase Park's punch ticket

Studio bungalow rented for $200 for the summer

Going crabbing in the Creek

On her first day back to Coney Island since 1959, Kathy Duke O'Melia shares memories of joyful summers spent with her family at a bungalow colony in Coney Island. Located on West 31st Street near Coney Island Creek, the bungalows provided an affordable vacation for her extended family including cousins, aunts and uncles from 1951 through 1958.