Oral History Archive

Marina Rubin
Ukrainian emigre writer and author of Stealing Cherries, a collection of flash fiction
Misha Mokretsov
Founder and head coach at New York Fencing Academy in Coney Island
Happy New Year 2016!
New Year's Day greetings and Coney Island memories recorded at Deno's Wonder Wheel
Abiodun Bello
A Coney Island Polar Bear talks about the health benefits and natural high of winter swimming
Cynthia Tyson
A Coney Island resident describes her Steeplechase memories
Basil Jones
Jamaican-born chef at Footprints Caribbean Cafe in Coney Island and originator of Rasta Pasta
Theresa Giovinni
Coney Island resident who moved here as a high school student talks about her neighborhood
Slava Polishchuk
Russian-born artist preserves the past as book and paper conservator at Brooklyn College Library
Mary Loretta Hood
Mary Hood came to Coney Island as a child and worked on the Bowery well into her 90s
Judge Steve Arniotes
The story behind the Boardwalk Lido Restaurant and the family who operated it from 1927 until 1960
Hector George Wallace
An immigrant sign painter recounts his journey from Jamaica and the UK to Coney Island.
Terry Zheng
5D Cinema entrepreneur on Coney Island's Bowery
Boris Kotlyar
Mermaid Spa founder talks about bringing the Russian banya tradition to Coney Island
Eva Zucker
Memories of a Yiddish literary household in 1940's and 1950's Coney Island and Sea Gate
Carol Hill Albert
Subsistence U.S.A. and the Coney Island History Project
Max and Stef
Getting engaged on the Wonder Wheel, the most romantic ride in the world
Carmen Arcendiga
Memories of family picnics under the Boardwalk and making new memories at Spook-A-Rama
Jodie Bell
Jodie Bell discovers a 1950s photograph of her aunt as Miss Coney Island at the History Project