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
Great-grandson of Feltmans Restaurant founder and hot dog inventor Charles Feltman
Charles Robert Feltman, great-grandson of Feltmans Restaurant founder and hot dog inventor Charles Feltman, tells the family history and describes what Coney Island was like in the 1940s. Founded in the 1870s, Feltmans was once the world's largest...
Content type: Oral History Item
David Head tells the story of African-American inventor Granville T. Woods and his electric roller coaster
David Head is a retired NYC Transit worker and former chairman of the Black History Committee for TWU Local 100. Head has championed the accomplishments of Granville T. Woods (1856-1910) and has published a book and is working on a film documentary...
Content type: Oral History Item
Great-grandson of strongman The Great Sandow
Chris's great-grandfather was strongman The Great Sandow, Eugen Sandow, who was born 1867 and died 1925. He describes how many bodybuilders in the 20th century, including the Mighty Atom, modeled themselves after his great-grandfather, who at...
Content type: Oral History Item
Grandson of Coney Island Developer William J. Ward
Jack Ward recounts his family’s long history in Coney Island. He begins with his great grandfather John Ward's purchase of beachfront property at 12th Street and Surf Avenue in 1879 and continues through his grandfather William J. Ward's...
Content type: Oral History Item