Chairman of Coney Island Prep on growing up in Coney Island and the charter school's first 15 years
Josh Wolfe shares memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1980s and early '90s, including passing under the boardwalk to go to the beach, getting fired from his first job as a teen, attending Mark Twain for junior high, and riding the Cyclone...
Content type: Oral History Item
Filmmaker and archivist whose parents collaborated on the film Little Fugitive in Coney Island
Mary Engel is an award winning filmmaker and runs the Orkin/Engel Film and Photo Archive. She is the daughter of Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, who co-wrote and directed Little Fugitive, which was filmed in Coney Island and released in 1953. The...
Content type: Oral History Item
Growing up in Greece and living in Coney Island's Luna Park Houses since the 1970s
Born in 1941 in Greece, Stella Bacolas shares memories of growing up there during World War II. "I tell my grandchild now, I didn't have my own bed until after I was 15, when I got to the United States." After settling in Bensonhurst, she moved to...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up in Coney Island and the family business, Shatzkin's Famous Knishes
Mort Shatzkin’s family owned one of Coney Island’s most beloved eateries, Shatzkin’s Famous Knishes. They operated stores at various locations in Coney Island from the 1940s through the 1970s, and Shatzkin's Coney Island Knishes at Kings Plaza ...
Content type: Oral History Item
Twenty years at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Karaoke on the Boardwalk
Ronald Kannatt, who is affectionately known as "The Prince of Coney Island," has been singing and dancing at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's Karaoke on the Boardwalk for the past 20 years. His signature song is Prince's "Jungle Love." Kannatt shares...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of living in Coney Island from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s
Born in 1940, Jerry Omanoff lived in Coney Island from the late 1940s to the mid-60s. His family lived first in a bungalow on West 32nd Street, then in an apartment in a three-story house on West 33rd Street, and finally in Sea Gate. He shares...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1940s and going back four times a year
Stanley Shapiro and his family lived at 2841 West 20th Street in Coney Island when he was a boy in the 1940s. "My heart is in Coney Island," says Shapiro, who goes back four times a year to walk the length of the Boardwalk and have a Nathan's hot...
Content type: Oral History Item
An actor's memories of growing up in Sea Rise apartments and a souvenir of the Wonder Wheel
Born in Brooklyn in 1988, Emmanuel Elpenord is an actor who grew up in the Sea Rise apartments in Coney Island's West End. He describes the unique design of the high rise building, where he played games with boys from his floor on the terrace...
Content type: Oral History Item
Twenty-five years at Gregory & Paul's and Paul's Daughter on the Coney Island Boardwalk
This interview was conducted and recorded in Spanish by Mónica Cordero Sancho. Read Mary Conlon's transcript and English translation below.
Gabriel Valencia lives in Coney Island, where he has worked at Gregory & Paul's eatery, now called Paul...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island homeowner for 19 years enjoys organic gardening and walking on the boardwalk
This interview was conducted and recorded in Mandarin Chinese. Read Yolanda Zhang's transcript and translation below:
本采访以国语进行并记录下来。以下请阅读张月恒的笔录和翻译。
Linda Zhang was born in 1967 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China....
Content type: Oral History Item