Mother and son remember the Laughing Lady at Coney's Magic Carpet Fun House
Taty Alicea and her son Ralph Alicea share fond memories of Coney Island's famous Laughing Lady, a popular mechanical attraction that was part of the Magic Carpet Fun House and is greatly missed. "Wherever Matilda is, she's not home," says Ralph....
Content type: Oral History Item
The story behind the Boardwalk Lido Restaurant and the family who operated it from 1927 until 1960
Steve Arniotes and his family operated the Lido Restaurant and Bar on the Coney Island Boardwalk from 1927 until 1960. Steve and his brother were lawyers and both became judges. Arniotes describes his family roots and what it was like to operate a...
Content type: Oral History Item
Mary Hood came to Coney Island as a child and worked on the Bowery well into her 90s
95-year-old Mary Hood (a.k.a. Mary Fish) was a regular at the bar at Peggy O'Neill's. She was either working long hours as a ticket taker at the Eldorado Skooter or she was drinking into the wee hours. It was hard to pin her down or to keep up with...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of a Yiddish literary household in 1940's and 1950's Coney Island and Sea Gate
Eva Zucker grew up in Coney and Sea Gate in the 1940s and 1950s in a literary household. Yiddish was her first language. She recounts memories of her father, the Yiddish poet A. Lutzky, who made a living writing Saturday poems for the newspaper Der...
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
Fond memories of Coney Island
Joseph Svehlak recalls two generations of stories from Coney Island. His mother grew up in lower Manhattan as a first generation American born to European parents in the early 1910’s. On Sundays after church, her father would take her and her sister...
Content type: Oral History Item
Grew up in a Coney Island bungalow
Tommy Smith grew up with thirteen brothers and sisters in a Coney Island bungalow. Their father worked at a number of bars around town and Tommy began working around town at an early age too. He learned to make egg creams and frappes at Dick'...
Content type: Oral History Item
Remembers visiting Coney Island as a girl
Shirley Helems (ne DeCarlo) remembers visiting the beach and Steeplechase Park as a girl. Her mother would bring Shirley and her sister by bus and even brought the girls' grandparents' from Italy when they visited.
Content type: Oral History Item
Holders of Coney Island History
82 year-old Ben Grisar and his wife Vivian both grew up in Coney Island. Ben's grandfather owned many businesses in Coney Island including partial ownership in Dreamland Park, which was destroyed by fire in 1911. He shares his personal memories...
Content type: Oral History Item
Brother and Sister from Coney Island
Sid and Lynn recall moving in 1955 from the Lower East Side of Manhattan down to 33rd St. in Coney Island where their family had always spent their summers. Sid says he felt as a child like he owned Coney Island and as they grew up, the Finkelsteins...
Content type: Oral History Item