![Ajax the Great with his sword pin](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6616/images/ajax_with_sword.jpg?itok=8NzrCDPG)
Van Milana
Grandson of sword swallower Joseph "Ajax" Milana and DeWise Purdin "The Handless Sharpshooter"
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6606/images/michael_cooper_hyeyoung_kim_coney_island_history_project.jpg?itok=QXG6FTT-&c=4eff42af27da53f561ae5554b735d90f)
Hyeyoung Kim and Michael Cooper
Composer and lyricist of Luna Park, a musical, on chronicling the partnership of Thompson and Dundy
![Photo © Amy Nicholson / filmsbyamy.com](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6556/images/don_ferris_1_by_amy_nicholson.jpg?itok=1vG4MUxk&c=7f4140ac98680befdc35695f5f837f9c)
Don Ferris
Carpenter, mechanic, and showman who started his career operating roller coasters and road attractions
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6371/images/karendawnblondell.jpg?itok=BIvhZyHn&c=cd9fbe00954e8626f91b17027281dbfe)
Karen Dawn Blondel
Environmental justice organizer who was born in Coney Island and raised here in the 1960s and '70s
![Photo © Jay Roberts. Courtesy of Deena Metzger](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6348/images/deena_outside_by_gate_smiling.jpg?itok=h4mllHcs)
Deena Metzger
Writer, poet and healer who grew up in a Yiddish literary family in Sea Gate during World War II
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6442/images/2017-10-27_010.jpg?itok=YLEKdv5q)
Jay Green (Gerald Greenberg)
Three-time International Jugglers Association champion and resident of Southern Brooklyn
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6353/images/33963_ca_object_representations_media_716_original.jpg?itok=5CNd0zxp&c=d500e22b2a68b2fe3a425669cdc3e550)
Marian Carbone and Anna Jackson
Memories of riding the Parachute Jump and Steeplechase horse race ride in the 1950s
![Daze in his studio. Photo © Coney Island History Project](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6393/images/2017-08-28_005.jpg?itok=zo2I2TpF&c=4eff42af27da53f561ae5554b735d90f)
Chris "Daze" Ellis
Artist whose Coney Island-themed work includes solo and community murals at Coney Art Walls
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6347/images/2017-09-17_006.jpg?itok=e2g4fsmM&c=4eff42af27da53f561ae5554b735d90f)
Teresa Genaro
Reflections on the history of horse racing in Coney Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
![Andy Fuhrman](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6202/images/andy-vinotabi.jpg?itok=7CYxqmii&c=04ab4ddc1ce6faedb9a6aa296b0cff11)
Andy Fuhrman
Memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses and on Mermaid Avenue in the 1950s and '60s
![Irene Karas](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6197/images/irene_karris_5810.jpg?itok=bveDy30v&c=4a89c0dcb924551246e7edafb7550336)
Irene Karas
Sea Gate resident on her girlhood memories of Coney Island and passing them on to her daughter
![Photo courtesy of Naum Barash](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6207/images/dsc_5466.jpg?itok=-Kknyv-w&c=29549df82c2d30c72b1caf059c6c4361)
Naum Barash
A Coney Island Polar Bear recounts his 50 years of winter swimming in Ukraine and Brooklyn
![](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/5934/images/coneyisland_0.jpg?itok=ihZ_zQOZ)
Susan Meyer
Memories of growing up in the 1940s and '50s in a tight-knit Jewish community in Coney Island
![Photo courtesy of Gabriel Alegría](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/6283/images/gabrielalegria.jpg?itok=eJg4gPoe)
Gabriel Alegría
Jazz musician and bandleader of the Afro-Peruvian Sextet has lived in Coney Island for the past decade
![Photo courtesy of Eric Safyan](https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/oral_history_thumbnail_bw/public/interviews/5821/images/eric_safyan_1_0.jpg?itok=p3tj-UFV&c=0a69988fbddb35e0592185427acca9b1)
Eric Safyan
Architect who grew up in Coney Island in the 1980s and designed the renovated Ruby's Bar & Grill