Oral History Archive

Alan Kirschenbaum

Memories of growing up in Coney Island Houses in the 1950s and early '60s

Sharon Tera

Sharon Tera's family operated Ethel's Restaurant on the Boardwalk in the 1940s and '50s

Carol Barry

Memories of living in the newly opened Luna Park Houses in the 1960s

Carlos Quinones

Memories of placing the Puerto Rican flag atop the Parachute Jump and driving the Mermaid Avenue bus

Jane McNeive Ennis

Memories of Ocean Tide Baths and Coney Island

Tymell Murphy

Professional basketball player and author of a book of poems and stories who grew up in Coney Island

Mark St Leon

Australian circus historian whose family performed at Coney Island's Luna Park in the early 1900s

Maria Schwab

Growing up in Gravesend and going to Coney Island in the 1960s and living there today

Esther Delgado

Growing up in Gravesend and going to Coney Island in the 1940s and living there today

Rena Stutman Rice

Memories of growing up in Brighton Beach in the 1950s and '60s

Arlene Oken Straus

Memories of living in Luna Park Houses in the 1960s and '70s

Sam Person

Family memories of Nat Faber's Fascination arcade and amusement business empire

Irina Ginzburg (Upa)

Stand-up comedian and founder of the Coney Island Comedy Festival

Laura Numeroff

Children's book author's memories of Steeplechase, the Animal Nursery, and Brighton Beach Baths

Stefon Bristol

Film director and screenwriter who grew up in Coney Island in the 1990s

Roland Summit

Author and historian of carousel horses and carvers and co-founder of the National Carousel Association

Janet Rubino

One of Dr. Couney's incubator babies

Stanley Shapiro

Memories of growing up in Coney Island in the 1940s and going back four times a year