Shared their 1950's childhood under the boardwalk
Stephanie Norr and Betty Cohn have been friends since age four when their mothers registered them on the same day for nursery school on the lower east side of Manhattan. The women recall coming to Coney Island as children in the 1950's. They...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lived in Coney Island from 1938 thru early 1950's
Harry spent his formative years in Coney Island and has many memories of the sights and sounds from his youth. Before being drafted into the military during the Korean War, he had various part-time jobs including a stint at Silver's Bathhouse...
Content type: Oral History Item
Actor, performer, artist, teacher
Glenn has lived in Coney Island all his life and, concurrent with the interview, performed on the boardwalk on weekends. He passionately recounts many detailed memories, including the Tuesday fireworks, the First Baptist Church, the YMCA, the movie...
Content type: Oral History Item
Family owned Levy's Bar and Grill
Karen Levy Fogel was born in the mid-1940's to a family who owned and operated restaurants in New York City. Her father's family were Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Turkey and her mother's family were Ashkenazi Jews who also lived...
Content type: Oral History Item
87-year-old remembers the Nickel Empire
Joseph Albanese returns to Coney Island after seventy years to talk about his memories of growing up there. He used to steam at the Washington Baths with his family, eat at Nathan's, and go on all the rides (including the train to get there)...
Content type: Oral History Item
Radio broadcaster and Coney Island native
Freda Aron, née Umansky, was born in Brooklyn in 1915 and grew up in Coney Island in the 1920s and '30s as the child of Russian immigrant parents. After attending Bay Ridge Girls High School, she graduated from Lincoln High School's first...
Content type: Oral History Item
Founder of the Sea Gate Historical Society
Pete Spanakos first became familiar with Coney Island in the 1950's when he worked cleaning the beaches. In 1967, he moved into an historic home in Sea Gate built by Chrysler Building architect William Van Alen. Spanakos has a Golden Glove...
Content type: Oral History Item
Retired teacher
Wendolyn, who lives in Haber House Senior Center, is a recently retired teacher from PS 288. When she moved to Coney Island, Nathan's French fries were a quarter. She is a Brooklyn Cyclones fan and takes long walks to Sea Gate. About Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item
Son of West End and Sea Gate shopkeepers in the 1940's and 50's
Fogel grew up in Coney Island's West End and Sea Gate in the 1940's and 50's, attending PS 80 and PS 188. His parents ran several shops in the West End, providing him with an interesting perspective on life in the bungalow colonies...
Content type: Oral History Item