Coney Island USA

Horses, hot type, tattoos, sideshows, and graphic design
Lisa Marie Pompilio loves horses, Coney Island, tattoos, and book design. Born and raised in Sheepshead Bay, Pompilio is a fixture at CIUSA's Sideshows by the Seashore, creating magnificent posters and artwork for the organization. Her current...
Content type: Oral History Item
Sea Gate artist, writer, educator and year-round swimmer
Hawley Hussey recounts "getting in the Gate," moving to a beach mansion in Sea Gate in 2001, her Coney Island-inspired art and writings, and swimming year-round.  A member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club as well as an ephemeral upstart group...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island native Adam RealMan Rinn bends steel with his bare hands!
Strongman Adam "RealMan" Rinn grew up in Coney Island, swims with the Polar Bears on New Year's Day, and teaches at the Coney Island Sideshow School.  
Content type: Oral History Item
Artistic Director of Thieves Theatre
Nick is the former artistic director of Thieves Theatre, a theater company that worked with Coney Island USA in the late 80's to mid-90's. One of Thieves Theatre's early projects after moving to New York was to stage an Anti-Mermaid...
Content type: Oral History Item
Former resident theater artist at Coney Island USA
Fourty-four-year-old Joseph, a former "focalizer" for the Rainbow Nation, gives us a spiritual, mystical take on Coney Island. He used to come to Coney with his parents as a young child, lived in Sea Gate from age 10 to 19 and, in the 80...
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