Carpenter, mechanic, and showman who started his career operating roller coasters and road attractions
Donald Ferris, who passed away on January 4, 2018, was involved with everything that Coney Island had to offer. From the age of 14 he worked nearly every ride and attraction as well as building or repairing anything and everything. He was a...
Content type: Oral History Item
Environmental justice organizer who was born in Coney Island and raised here in the 1960s and '70s
Born in Coney Island in 1963, Karen Dawn Blondel shares memories of the 1960's, '70s and '80s. Family members, including both sets of grandparents, aunts, and cousins lived in the community in bungalows, apartments, and public housing, and after her...
Content type: Oral History Item
Writer, poet and healer who grew up in a Yiddish literary family in Sea Gate during World War II
Deena Metzger is a writer, poet and healer who was born in Brighton Beach in 1936, moved to Sea Gate when she was three, and went to school in Coney Island. "The land, the water, the sea were formative characters in my life," she says. "When I was...
Content type: Oral History Item
Three-time International Jugglers Association champion and resident of Southern Brooklyn
Gerald Greenberg, whose professional name is Jay Green, was born in 1937 and lives in Southern Brooklyn. A three-time International Jugglers Association champion, he is best known for the innovative props he has created, including the first modern,...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of riding the Parachute Jump and Steeplechase horse race ride in the 1950s
Marian Carbone and Anna Jackson, twin sisters who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, share their memories of 1950's Coney Island. "It didn't cost much. It was a nice day out. What was it? 15 cents on the train," says Marian. "Coney Island was our...
Content type: Oral History Item
Artist whose Coney Island-themed work includes solo and community murals at Coney Art Walls
Brooklyn-born Chris "Daze" Ellis is an internationally known artist who began his career painting subway trains as a high school student and successfully transitioned to canvas in the early 1980s. His series of Coney Island-themed paintings created...
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
Reflections on the history of horse racing in Coney Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
A resident of Brooklyn and a high school English teacher, Teresa Genaro grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, where her family raced horses and going to the racetrack was an intrinsic part of her childhood. The interview was recorded on the ten...
Content type: Oral History Item
Memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses and on Mermaid Avenue in the 1950s and '60s
Musician Andy Fuhrman grew up in Coney Island Houses and on Mermaid Avenue and remembers every store in the neighborhood. Andy was on the football team at Lincoln High School in the 1960s, worked games on the Bowery, and was a pioneering surfer at...
Content type: Oral History Item
Sea Gate resident on her girlhood memories of Coney Island and passing them on to her daughter
Currently a resident of Sea Gate, Irene Karas was born in Belgium and grew up in Bensonhurst and on Ocean Parkway. She recalls excursions to Coney Island beach with her family. As a young girl, Irene would "roam all of the nooks and crannies of...
Content type: Oral History Item