Jerry Omanoff

Born in 1940, Jerry Omanoff lived in Coney Island from the late 1940s to the mid-60s. His family lived first in a bungalow on West 32nd Street, then in an apartment in a three-story house on West 33rd Street, and finally in Sea Gate.  He shares memories of all the blocks being like little towns, going to the movies at the Surf Theater and winning a yoyo contest. His first job was shining shoes on the boardwalk at age ten.  As a teen, Omanoff realized for the first time that he was poor and that Coney Island was not the whole world when he began socializing with kids from other neighborhoods.