Memories of a gorilla show, a bungalow colony, and an underground city beside the beach
Coney Island native Robert Whitney has lived here all his life and worked in the amusement area for decades. He recalls doing electrical work starting in the 1980s for amusement operators Norman Kaufman, Ronnie Guerrero, "The Twins," and Jeff Brooks...
Content type: Oral History Item
Moscow-born Coney Island resident, writer of creative nonfiction and fiction, and professor of English
Natasha Lvovich is a Coney Island resident, a writer of creative nonfiction and fiction, and a Professor of English at CUNY Kingsborough. Originally from Moscow, her family of Refuseniks experienced what she describes as "the very hard path" to...
Content type: Oral History Item
From breakdancing on the streets of Coney Island with Fresh Kids to Peter Gennaro's Street Dreams
In August 2018, on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary Coney Island Break Dancers Reunion, Alito Hernandez shares memories of learning to breakdance as a young boy in the 1980s and the history of Fresh Kids crew in Coney Island. "My parents moved...
Content type: Oral History Item
Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio Conte, owners of 51-year-old SAS Italian Records in Bensonhurst
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, the siblings share vivid memories of growing up in the store, which they still operate...
Content type: Oral History Item
Working at Coney Island's Deno's Wonder Wheel Park for 18 Years
Jewel Hough lives in Brighton Beach and has been working at Coney Island's Deno's Wonder Wheel Park for the past 18 years. She started out operating rides in Deno's Kiddie Park and currently works in Deno's Sweet Shoppe. Jewel describes her favorite...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of a boyhood helping out in his family's store in Coney Island and learning to play pinball
Ahmed Hussain, 24, has spent every summer since he was eight in Coney Island helping out in his family's stores in the amusement area. What he enjoyed most about growing up in Coney was his friendship with the operators of Faber's Fascination...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up in the Russian community in Coney Island and Brighton Beach
Born in 1986, Brooklynite Sam Shlivko grew up in the Russian community in Coney Island and has lived here ever since. His parents met in Brighton Beach after emigrating from Ukraine and Belarus in the late '70s and Russian was his first language. ...
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
Growing up Latina in Brighton Beach with a special connection to nature and the ocean
Abby Jordan is a Brighton Beach native whose Salvadorean immigrant parents have been homeowners in the community for over 35 years. After graduating from CUNY Hunter, she worked as a paralegal for an immigration project in the Bronx, a long commute...
Content type: Oral History Item
Homeowner in Coney Island's West End for almost 30 years and first member of his family to settle here
This interview was conducted and recorded in Cantonese Chinese. Read Sylvia Ching Man Wong's transcript and translation below.
本采访以粤语进行并记录下来。阅读下面的王靖雯(Sylvia Ching Man Wong)的笔录和翻译。
Kai Fung, a homeowner on West 35th Street in Coney Island’s West...
Content type: Oral History Item