Grew up on Avenue Z in the 1930's and 40's
Jocelyn Cantor remembers walking to the Boardwalk from her home on Avenue Z and spending whole days at Steeplechase Park with her cousin when they were children. When she got older, Jocelyn and a girlfriend recruited some soldiers on leave to...
Content type: Oral History Item
Family owned the Shamrock Irish House and Eldorado Arcade
Sheila and her family owned and operated the largest arcade in Coney Island, the Eldorado. Her father, his two brothers and three sisters opened The Shamrock Irish House, a restaurant/cabaret/open-air bar, in the early 1940's, and her family...
Content type: Oral History Item
Radio broadcaster and Coney Island native
Freda Aron, née Umansky, was born in Brooklyn in 1915 and grew up in Coney Island in the 1920s and '30s as the child of Russian immigrant parents. After attending Bay Ridge Girls High School, she graduated from Lincoln High School's first...
Content type: Oral History Item
Juilliard trained musician whose family owned Washington Baths
José Beth Smolensky, born in 1927, describes growing up working for the Washington Baths, her family's Coney Island business. Her father, Harry Smolensky had high standards for cleanliness and kept the baths open for a longer season than most....
Content type: Oral History Item
Lived next door to Luna Park
Rose Patton, nee Schwartz, lived in Coney Island in 1938 in a house her mother and aunt inherited from their father. Rose's family of four and her aunt's family of three shared the house for about a year before moving back to Brighton...
Content type: Oral History Item