Outside talker at the World in Wax Musee and lifeguard in the 1950's and 60's
Mark Breyer grew up in Coney Island in the 1950's and 60's. He worked in a variety of jobs, from dry cleaning boy to outside talker at the World in Wax Musee to lifeguard on the beach. In this interview he recalls fetching fish for the...
Content type: Oral History Item
Began his career as a sign painter in Coney Island
John Rea is currently an advertising professional and adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York, but he began his career as a young teenager working for his father, also John Rea, in the Peluso Machine and Iron Works shop in Coney...
Content type: Oral History Item
Proprietor of Major Markets, Coney Island's oldest butcher shop
Born in 1932, Jimmy Prince, long-time proprietor of Major Markets, Coney Island's oldest butcher shop, shares his memories of the neighborhood through good times and bad. After closing his Mermaid Avenue market in 2009, Jimmy Prince remained...
Content type: Oral History Item
Juilliard trained musician whose family owned Washington Baths
José Beth Smolensky, born in 1927, describes growing up working for the Washington Baths, her family's Coney Island business. Her father, Harry Smolensky had high standards for cleanliness and kept the baths open for a longer season than most....
Content type: Oral History Item
Recollections of summers spent at the Ocean Tide beach club near Sea Gate
Moire Cuite and Elizabeth O'Boyle, two sisters, fondly recount their summers spent at the Ocean Tide bathing club as teenagers in the early 1960's.
Content type: Oral History Item
Fond memories of Coney Island
Joseph Svehlak recalls two generations of stories from Coney Island. His mother grew up in lower Manhattan as a first generation American born to European parents in the early 1910’s. On Sundays after church, her father would take her and her sister...
Content type: Oral History Item
Photographing his Coney Island neighborhood for 50 years
Abe Feinstein moved with his wife and children to Luna Park Houses in 1962 and lived there for 31 years. Working at a camera store, he could get discounts on film and processing, which enabled him to take as many photos as he wished. He had a habit...
Content type: Oral History Item
Longtime resident of Coney Island and former President of the Polar Bear Club
Scarcella grew up in Coney Island during the 1950s and 1960s. His father was a beat cop, and he later became a cop and detective in the homicide unit. He moonlighted as a barker for Spookarama and El Dorado and was the President of the Coney Island...
Content type: Oral History Item
Friends since Mark Twain Junior High years
Steve Garone (pictured above on the right) and Dan Pisark met as students at Mark Twain Junior High School and continued on together through Lafayette High School. Steve grew up in Gravesend Houses and recalls being poor but very happy as a kid in...
Content type: Oral History Item
Bringing the 1960's back to Coney Island
Ron recalls going with both friends and family to Coney Island back in the 1960's. His family always took the same spot on the beach in front of the Wonder Wheel. He remembers amusement rides from that time in great detail, but waited until his...
Content type: Oral History Item