Coney Island Stories is a podcast produced from oral histories in the Coney Island History Project archive. We record interviews in English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and other languages with people who have lived or worked in Coney Island and adjacent neighborhoods or have a special connection to these places. Founded in 2004, the History Project is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that aims to increase awareness of Coney Island's legendary and colorful past and to encourage apprecia ...
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Eight, the final episode of this season, we’re sharing the stories of narrators who grew up in Coney Island or came here from nearby neighborhoods, in the first decade of the 2000s. The new millennium began with the opening of a th…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Seven, narrators who grew up here in the 1990s share stories of loss and change. They remember living in Gravesend Houses and Sea Rise apartments as well as on West 5th, West 8th and West 19th Streets. The Boardwalk, the Beach, Ast…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Six, Narrators who grew up here in the 1980s, or grew up coming to Coney Island from nearby neighborhoods, share their stories. They remember living in Gravesend Houses and O’Dwyer Gardens, high-rises overseen by the New York City …
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Five, Coney Islanders who grew up in the 1970s share memories of being the original tenants of Carey Gardens and O’Dwyer Gardens, newly built high-rise developments overseen by the New York City Housing Authority. They remember the…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Four, Coney Islanders who grew up in the 1960s share memories of being the original tenants at Luna Park Houses and Trump Village, high rise co-ops that opened in the 1960s. They remember the last years of Steeplechase Park, a risi…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode Three, Coney Islanders who grew up in the ‘50s lived in apartments and over stores on Mermaid Avenue and its side streets. More than a thousand families were able to move into the two brand-new city-owned projects, Gravesend Houses…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. Episode Two, “Growing Up in the 1940s,” features the oral histories of Steve Burke, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Phil Einhorn, Deena Metzger, and Gloria Nicholson. The 1940s started out with the Parachute Jump moving to Steeplechase Park fr…
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Season Two’s theme is “Growing Up in Coney Island” through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. In Episode One, Coney Islanders who grew up in the ‘30s recall hardships as well as simple pleasures. During the Depression, families from other New York City neighborhoods flocked to Coney Island. The rent was cheaper and the beach was down …
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Season Two Trailer: Growing Up in Coney Island
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The Coney Island History Project launches Season Two of our oral history podcast Coney Island Stories on Tuesday, March 8th! This season’s theme is ‘Growing up in Coney Island’ through the decades, from the 1930s to the 21st century. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or at https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/podcast. This program i…
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Episode 11 shares the stories of four dedicated and innovative teachers who founded schools of their own in Coney Island and adjacent neighborhoods in Southern Brooklyn. April Leong in the award-winning founder and principal of Liberation Diploma Plus High School, a small alternative high school in Coney Island. Dr. Tim Law established a program of…
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Episode 10 shares the stories of Coney Island sign painters as well as artists and designers who’ve been inspired by Coney’s celebrated signage, all taken from the Coney Island History Project’s Oral History Archive. The Coney Island style of hand-painted signs was perfected more than a century ago by Wildman and Sons, a shop in the heart of the am…
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Episode 9 features the stories of couples who met, got engaged or married in Coney Island, all taken from the History Project’s oral history archive. Visitors to our exhibition center often tell us that they or their parents or grandparents met or had their first date in Coney Island. Over the years, we’ve witnessed marriage proposals on the Wonder…
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On Memorial Day Weekend, lifeguards will once again be perched in their towers and New York City will celebrate the reopening of Coney Island's beach for swimming. Episode 8 shares the stories of days at the beach from the 1920s through the 1990s taken from the Coney Island History Project's Oral History Archive. The stories include childhood memor…
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Episode 7 features the stories of independent game operators, past and present, from the Coney Island History Project Oral History Archive. Among the games that Peter Agrapides, Monica Ghee, Candi Rafael, and Eliot Wofse have operated over the years are Fascination, Balloon Dart, Glass and Dime Pitches, Milk Toss, Basketball, Fish Bowl, High Strike…
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Episode 6 features the stories of bathhouse owners, workers and patrons from the Coney Island History Project’s oral history archive. Bathhouses were the first businesses in Coney Island. Even before Coney’s first hotel was built in 1829, crude bathhouse shacks were set among the dunes. Before the city built the boardwalk in the 1920s, most of the …
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Episode 5 features the stories of a trio of roller coasters built in the Roaring 20’s and named after violent storms: the Thunderbolt, the Tornado and the Cyclone. While the Cyclone is the only survivor from Coney's golden age, the Coney Island History Project has recorded and preserved memories of people who rode, owned, or worked at these legenda…
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Episode 4 features the oral histories of Mermaid Avenue’s mom and pop businesses founded by immigrants, past and present. Interviews with Steven Feinstein, (Wilensky Hardware), Charles Guariglia (Mermaid Avenue bread route in the 1950's and '60s), Ho Cheung Li (J&R Pharmacy), and Boris Kotlyar (Mermaid Spa) are part of the Coney Island History Proj…
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Episode 3 features the oral histories of artists from Jamaica, Japan, Russia, and China who found a place they could call home in Coney Island and neighboring Gravesend and Brighton Beach. Interviews with Hector George Wallace, Takeshi Yamada, Alisa Minyukova, and Yi Xin Tong are part of the Coney Island History Project Oral History Archive. The or…
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Episode 2 features the oral histories of Coney Island food businesses owned or operated by immigrants from Greece, Mexico, Jamaica and Russia. Interviews with Steve Arniotes (Lido Bar & Grill), Gregory Bitetzakis and Paul Georgoulakos (Gregory & Paul's), Dalia Vazquez and Raymundo Bardominao (Tacos Doña Zita), Basil Jones (Footprints Cafe), and Vik…
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Episode 1 features the oral histories of Coney Island restaurants and food stands founded by immigrants in the first part of the 20th century as told by their mom-and-pop owners and family members. Interviews with Morris Egert, Josephine Gargiulo Cassata (Gargiulo's Restaurant), Antoinette Balzano (Totonno's), Sol Handwerker (Nathan's Famous) and P…
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