Lifelong Coney Island resident
Betty has lived on 32nd Street between Mermaid and Neptune Avenues for 37 years. Before that she lived in a bungalow, from which she had to move when it was being torn down in 1963. The apartment building she lived in next was also torn down. She...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island singer/songwriter who wrote "Save Coney Island" and "Hot Dog Song"
Amos Wengler moved to Trump Village in Coney Island as a teenager in 1962. Today, he is a professional musician best known for his "Save Coney Island Song," which he has performed outside of City Hall and on Broadway. He first performed...
Content type: Oral History Item
Proprietor of Major Markets, Coney Island's oldest butcher shop
Born in 1932, Jimmy Prince, long-time proprietor of Major Markets, Coney Island's oldest butcher shop, shares his memories of the neighborhood through good times and bad. After closing his Mermaid Avenue market in 2009, Jimmy Prince remained...
Content type: Oral History Item
Longtime resident of Coney Island and former President of the Polar Bear Club
Scarcella grew up in Coney Island during the 1950s and 1960s. His father was a beat cop, and he later became a cop and detective in the homicide unit. He moonlighted as a barker for Spookarama and El Dorado and was the President of the Coney Island...
Content type: Oral History Item
A member of the Iceberg Athletic Club from 1971-2007
Joe Lazzaro, born in 1927, was a member of the Iceberg Athletic Club, a group of Coney Island cold-water-bathing enthusiasts, from 1971 until the club disbanded in 2007. He continues to spend time at the beach every day, often accompanied by his...
Content type: Oral History Item
A painter with a Coney Island legacy
Marie Roberts hails from an illustrious Coney Island family. Her grandfather was the Acting Battalion Chief of the Coney Island district and fought some of the most notable fires in Brooklyn history including the Dreamland fire of 1911 that burned...
Content type: Oral History Item