Grew up visiting Coney in the 1950's
Maria recalls visiting Coney Island in the 1950's as a child with her parents. They used to rent all of their beach gear from a bathhouse and then get cleaned up again to take in amusements such as Steeplechase Park. Her mother was too afraid...
Content type: Oral History Item
Son of Richard Carillo, Concession Owner
Nicholas Carrillo's father Richard emigrated from Italy and moved to Coney Island in the late 1940's. He introduced a bowling game and Skee Ball to Coney Island. He also used to repair the intricate Sodamat machine, brought to Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item
Retired bus driver
Ronald, a retired New York City bus driver who lives in the Bronx, came to Coney Island on this day with his daughters via the Nostalgia Train, a set of six fully restored 30's and 40's era IND subway trains that the New York Transit...
Content type: Oral History Item
Lived in Coney Island until age 11 and is back for the first time in 25 years
Susan, who now lives in Israel, lived in Coney Island from 1955 to 1966 and this is her first visit back in over 25 years. Her parents would save up to come to the amusement park area only once a year and Susan's favorite part was Steeplechase...
Content type: Oral History Item
Grew up in Coney Island in the 1930s and '40s
Born in 1928, Phil enthusiastically searches his memory for every last detail available to him about growing up in Coney Island. He remembers the Railroad Avenue Trolley "four rides for a dime," pool halls, two murders, black-out curtains...
Content type: Oral History Item
Co-founder of the Brownstone Revival Coalition
Everett Ortner, 87-year old former magazine editor and co-founder of the Brownstone Revival Coalition in New York City, shares his Coney Island experience as a little boy in 1925. Listen to Everett reminisce about trolley rides to Coney Island and...
Content type: Oral History Item
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
Lifelong carousel owner and operator
Jimmy McCullough learned the carousel business from his father, James McCullough, who began his career working on the Steeplechase and Stubbman carousels. Working in Coney Island is a family business going back generations for Jimmy who is a...
Content type: Oral History Item
Loved growing up and raising children in Coney Island
Vivian Palo remembers that as a girl growing up in Coney Island, she would eat breakfast in her swimsuit and then head out to the beach until sunset. Vivian lived in Coney Island until the mid-1970's when crime and the destruction of her home...
Content type: Oral History Item
Queen of Coney Island
Janet Panetta's family had a locker at the Steeplechase Park Bathhouse in the 1950's. She and her sister were set loose to play in the pool and around the park. One summer, Janet contracted polio and remembers being called the Queen of...
Content type: Oral History Item