Memories of growing up a block from the ocean and being head of Lincoln High School's Art Squad
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville is a graphic designer, artist and educator who graduated in 1959 from Lincoln High School, where she was mentored by Leon Friend, the much lauded chair of Lincoln's art department. She recalls her work as head of the...
Content type: Oral History Item
Retired arcade operator's memories of when Coney Island's amusements were open in the wintertime
On a sunny day in January on the Boardwalk, Stanley Fox, whose family operated arcades in Coney Island from 1949 through 1981, recalls the names of businesses that were open in the winter back in the day: The Oceanside, Playland, Stauch's and Faber...
Content type: Oral History Item
Owners of Bensonhurst's SAS Italian Records, founded in the 1960s
When Ciro Conte founded Bensonhurst's SAS Italian Records in 1967, he named it after his children: Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte. Fifty-one years later, in 2018, the siblings share vivid memories of growing up in the store, which they still...
Content type: Oral History Item
Boyhood memories of Ocean Tide Baths and the B&B Carousell's Lincoln horse
"Anyone who knows me fairly well has been to Coney Island with me," says Arthur Nintzel, who grew up in Brooklyn on East 37th Street at Nostrand and Flatbush Avenues. On a visit back to Coney Island with his daughter, Arthur Nintzel shared boyhood...
Content type: Oral History Item
Milton Berger's nephew describes adventures at Steeplechase Park with Coney's great showman
Rob Weissbard reminisces about his uncle, Milton Berger, the legendary long-time press agent for Coney Island's biggest attractions. When Berger died at age 81, an obituary in the NY Times dubbed him the “Flamboyant Soul of Coney Island” and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up on West 16th Street between Mermaid and Neptune in a cold water flat in the 1940s and '50s
Carmela recalls growing up in Coney Island on West 16th Street between Mermaid and Neptune Avenues in a cold water flat with a coal belly stove and an ice box. She lived there until 1959, when she got married and moved to her husband's neighborhood...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on Coney Island's first block and working in the Cyclone photobooth's darkroom
Brooklynite Mindy Gress and her family moved to Coney Island when she was 3-1/2 years old and she has lived here ever since. "I'm living in Coney Island till I die," says the resident of West 5th Street, who describes her street as the first block...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lifelong stickball player and Coney Island lifeguard for 48 years
Born in 1949, Ron Vernon grew up on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island playing stickball and since his retirement to Florida has played in the Palm Beach County Stickball League, which has eight teams. For him and 120 other guys, it's like being 15...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on Brighton First Court and a summer job renting beach chairs in Coney Island
Bill Zeidenberg grew up in the 1950s and 1960s at 212 Brighton First Court, just east of Ocean Parkway, the dividing line of Coney Island and Brighton Beach. He shares vivid memories of his summer job working for the M. & C. Chair Operating...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up on West 36th Street in Coney Island's West End in the 1930s
Edith Storch, 90, grew up in the West End of Coney Island at 2762 West 36th Street near Canal Avenue. She shares memories of her immigrant parents, shops and street vendors, a nickelodeon on the pier at West 37th Street on the Bay, and Coney Island...
Content type: Oral History Item