Mermaid Theater

Growing up in Sea Gate and Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s
Born in 1938, Larry Marquit grew up on Laurel Avenue in Sea Gate when some of the streets and sidewalks were cobblestone. He shares memories of World War II, day camp, movie theaters, and his first jobs as a boy shining shoes in a barbershop and...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of Coney Island in the 1950s and a family's candy factory on Mermaid Avenue
Liz Unger was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and divided her time growing up between Baltimore, Maryland, and Coney Island. She spent every summer and every holiday staying with her aunt and grandmother, who lived on West 30th Street. Another aunt, uncle...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of being one of the first families to move into Gravesend Houses in 1954 and growing up there
Born in Brooklyn in 1949, Barbara Unterman Jones remembers moving to Coney Island's Gravesend Houses with her family in 1954 when the public housing project was brand new. Her first memory is of the road still being under construction and resembling...
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