Mermaid Spa founder talks about bringing the Russian banya tradition to Coney Island
This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian. Read Mark Markov's transcript and translation below. Интервью было проведено и записано на русском языке. Читайте транскрипт и перевод Марка Маркова которые расположены ниже.
A native of Kyiv,...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island homeowner recalls fleeing Vietnam with his family in 1981 and settling in New York City
This interview was conducted and recorded in Cantonese Chinese. Read Audrey Tam's transcript and translation below.
本采访以粤语进行并记录。阅读下面的Audrey Tam的笔录和翻译。
Among the more than 800,000 refugees who fled Vietnam in the years after the fall of Hanoi and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Mermaid Avenue pharmacist dispenses news and advice to new immigrants
Ho Cheung Li's J & R Pharmacy is on Mermaid Avenue at the corner of West 23rd Street in Coney Island. He and his family live upstairs. Li emigrated from Hong Kong when he was in his 20s and spent more than four years in school to regain his...
Content type: Oral History Item
"The Elvis of the East" and founder of Brooklyn Chinese-American Assn. Chorus
Cornel Chan (陳均能) immigrated to the US in 1972 from Hong Kong, where he enjoyed a successful career as “The Elvis of the East” singing American songs on radio, TV and in clubs. With younger singers from abroad gaining popularity and his young sons’...
Content type: Oral History Item
From Tbilisi, Georgia to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
This interview was conducted and recorded in Russian. Read Mark Markov's transcript and translation below. Интервью было проведено и записано на русском языке. Читайте транскрипт и перевод Марка Маркова которые расположены ниже.
Tatyana...
Content type: Oral History Item
Pakistani immigrant and Lincoln High School graduate recounts living on West 15th Street
Junaid Anwar recounts times living on West 15th Street in Coney Island, where he moved as a 14-year-old along with his mother and brother to join their father in America. Although a Pakistani immigrant, he quickly adapts to the American way of life ...
Content type: Oral History Item
Osaka-born artist creates sideshow curiosities in his Coney Island home
Born in 1960, Takeshi Yamada is an artist from Osaka, Japan, who moved to Coney Island in 2002. "I didn't choose Coney Island. It chose me," he says. He is frequently seen in a black tuxedo strolling around the neighborhood with his sea rabbit Seara...
Content type: Oral History Item
Ran penny arcades in Coney Island for over 20 years
Stanley relates a fifty-year history of penny arcades in Coney Island. He and his brother ran a few of them, including Playland, and knew the locations and owners of many others.
Content type: Oral History Item
Worked at the B&B Carousell
Kevin speaks lovingly and sadly of the 49 years he lived in Coney Island, remembering his dear friends and employers at the The Bishoff & Brienstein Carousell (the B&B for short) and regretting what is to become of his home under the new...
Content type: Oral History Item
Experiences at the Mermaid Parade
Naomi M, an 11 year old Brooklyn native, shares a story about an experience she had at the Mermaid Parade one year.
Content type: Oral History Item