Roller coaster restorer and enthusiast
Robert Maxwell came with his wife to visit Coney Island from the town of Amsterdam in upstate New York. They drove down for the day to eat Nathan's hot dogs and ride The Cyclone. Robert estimates that has ridden The Cyclone at least 35-40 times...
Content type: Oral History Item
Coney Island businessman and neighborhood activist
Lou Powsner, a former Coney Island businessman and neighborhood activist remembers his fond and not so fond memories of working in Coney Island. Jennifer Snow, his grand-daughter, talks about the future of Coney Island and having a grandfather who...
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
Winner of the 2010 Coney Island Talent Show
Stephen Lin Bai-An has practiced T'ai Chi, the martial art and system of meditative exercise, since 1965 and taught it for the past twenty years since moving to the United States. The Sheepshead Bay resident is nearly eighty years old and was...
Content type: Oral History Item
Resident of Coney Island in the 1940's
Lorraine Reitman Gorelick grew up in Coney Island in the 1940's. In this interview she recalls drumming up business for her family's rental locker business, as well as her first ride on the Cyclone... at age 3!
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
First visit since 1961
Dennis brought his wife Carol for her first visit to Coney Island in the summer of 2009 when they recorded this interview. He recalls his one previous visit to Coney Island during the summer of 1961 when he was a boy. A friend's family brought...
Content type: Oral History Item
Family of former Coney game and ride owner Jack Merr
Linda Merr, wife of former game and ride owner Jack Merr recalls the one and only time she acted in a sideshow alongside Iron Jaw Joe. Michael Merr, son of Jack and Linda, expresses his opinion about the future of Coney Island.
Content type: Oral History Item
Ran penny arcades in Coney Island for over 20 years
Stanley relates a fifty-year history of penny arcades in Coney Island. He and his brother ran a few of them, including Playland, and knew the locations and owners of many others.
Content type: Oral History Item
Brother and Sister from Coney Island
Sid and Lynn recall moving in 1955 from the Lower East Side of Manhattan down to 33rd St. in Coney Island where their family had always spent their summers. Sid says he felt as a child like he owned Coney Island and as they grew up, the Finkelsteins...
Content type: Oral History Item