- Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18 1888-July 29 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in the United States. Although he never held elected office, Moses was arguably the most powerful person in New York City government from the 1930s to the 1950s. - Stephon Marbury
Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing point guard with the New York Knicks. Marbury has often gone by the nickname "Starbury", a name created during his youth. Marbury, the sixth of seven children, was born and raised on Coney Island and attended elementary school PS 238 During his teenage years he was often heralded as the next great New York City point guard, … - Gersh Kuntzman
Gersh Kuntzman is a New York City-based journalist. Previously, he worked for the New York Post, writing the column, "MetroGnome",column which ran from 1994-2004. He also had a weekly column for Newsweek online that ran from Jan. 2001-July 2005. Kuntzman authored "HAIR! Mankind's Historic Quest to End Baldness" (Random House) and "Chrismukkah: The Official Guide to the World's Best-Loved Holiday" (Sasquatch Press), and is a frequent contributor to national magazines. - Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Lewis Nadler, sometimes called Jerry Nadler (born June 13, 1947) is an American politician from New York City. A Democrat, Nadler represents New York's 8th congressional district which includes parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. Nadler's district includes most of midtown Manhattan, including the site where the World Trade Center stood. It also includes the lower Manhattan neighborhoods of Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, … - Ric Burns
Eric D. Burns is a documentary filmmaker and writer. Burns has been writing, directing and producing historical documentaries for nearly 20 years, since his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series "The Civil War", (1990), which he produced with his brother Ken Burns, and wrote with Geoffrey C. Ward. Since founding Steeplechase Films in 1989, he has directed several programs for WGBH Boston's American Experience, including "Coney Island" (1991). - Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas, “self-made man”, trained himself to develop his body from that of a “scrawny weakling”, eventually becoming the most popular muscleman of his day. His company, Charles Atlas, Ltd., (founded 1929 and continuing today) markets a fitness program for the “97-pound weakling”, a registered trademark. Born Angelino Siciliano in Acri, in Calabria, Italy, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, at a young age. - Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (May 11, 1911 - November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedy actor. His best-known work is "The Phil Silvers Show", a 1950s sitcom set on a US Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko; the show was also often referred to by this name. The show's chief writer, Nat Hiken, was TV's first writer-producer, and Hiken helped set a high comic tone for the show through his inventive plots and snappy comedic repartee for the characters. - Steve Keiner
Steven (Steve) Keiner is the 1999 winner of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. Keiner's victory was somewhat of an upset, as he had never participated in competitive eating before the qualifiers. Steve is one of only two non-Japanese victors of the contest since 1997. Keiner was unable to defend his title the following year, and lost to the Japanese competitive eater Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai. Keiner currently resides in Egg Harbor, New Jersey. - Gennaro Lombardi
Gennaro Lombardi was an Italian immigrant who moved to the US in 1897 and opened a small grocery store in New York's Little Italy. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, also an Italian immigrant, began making pizza for the store to sell. Their pizza became so popular that Lombardi opened the first US pizzeria in 1905, naming it simply Lombardi's. In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island called Totonno's - Domenic M. Recchia Jr.
Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. is an American Democratic Party politician in New York, and a member of the New York City Council from Brooklyn, representing the 47th Council District, which includes Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Coney Island and Brighton Beach. - Charles I. D. Looff
Charles I. D. Looff was a master builder of hand-carved carousels and amusement rides in America. Looff built the first carousel at Coney Island in 1876. During his lifetime, he manufactured some forty carousels, several roller coasters and Ferris wheels, and built California's famous Santa Monica Pier. He became famous for creating the unique Coney Island style of carousel carving. - Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein (born 1953 in Coney Island, New York) is a wealthy financier and philanthropist. He began his career as a math teacher, before becoming a trader at Bear Stearns, and eventually founding his own financial management firm located on his 80 acre private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He reportedly will not take clients with assets less than $1 billion. Epstein has been known to befriend high profile scientists and politicians such as Leonard Susskind, … - Greg Tannen
Greg Tannen is an American songwriter and performer based out of New York City. He is the grandson of a magician (Louis Tannen) and the son of an amateur jazz piano player. Born in Sydney, Australia, he traveled and lived in various places including Toronto, Colorado, and California, before settling down in Manhattan. During his travels he developed his mixture of folk and rock that can be heard today. - Lamarcus Adna Thompson
La Marcus Adna Thompson (March 8, 1848 - May 8, 1919 in Ohio, United States) is best known for his early work developing roller coasters, and is sometimes called the "Father of Gravity". Although over his lifetime, Thompson accumulated nearly thirty patents related to roller coaster technologies and built dozens of coasters in the United States, he did not invent the device; that credit goes to John G. Taylor who patented it under the name "Inclined Railway". - Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27 1936) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award winning American actor. He was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn and attended Abraham Lincoln High School, where he was "class president" and an academic and athletic achiever. A sports injury left him with no choice but to take an acting class, and at 16 he made his stage debut in the school's production of "You Can't Take It With You". - Curtis Eller
Curtis Eller is an American musician. Eller and his band, The American Circus, perform and record in New York City. Eller is a noted banjo player. His music is diverse; he sings about pigeon racing, performing elephants and Jesus. He started his show-business career at the age of seven as a juggler and acrobat in the Hiller Olde Tyme Circus in Detroit, but has since turned to the banjo. According to the bio posted on his website, Eller's band has appeared at funerals, … - James P. Johnson
James Price Johnson (February 1 1894-November 17 1955) was an African-American pianist and composer. With Luckey Roberts, Johnson was one of the originators of the stride style of jazz piano playing. Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His family moved to New York City in 1908. His first professional engagement was at Coney Island in 1912. In 1911, while he was "still going to school in short pants", … - Jesse W. Reno
Jesse W. Reno (1861-1947) invented the first working escalator in 1891 (patented March 15 1892) used at the Old Iron Pier, Coney Island, New York City. An earlier escalator machine, termed "revolving stairs" by its inventor Nathan Ames, was patented March 9, 1859, but was never built. Reno graduated from Lehigh University in 1883 with an engineering degree. - William F. Mangels
William F. Mangels (1866-1958), amusement manufacturer and inventor, worked at Coney Island and was a major player in the development of American amusement parks at the turn of the twentieth century. In addition to manufacturing carousels and inventing rides including The Whip (ride), he wrote a book entitled "The Outdoor Amusement Industry: From earliest times to the present". - Frank Schubert
Frank Schubert (1915 - 2003) was the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States. Schubert worked for the United States Coast Guard since 1939; at the time of his death he was serving at the Coney Island Lighthouse in Brooklyn, New York, where he had worked since 1960. He maintained the grounds and fog signal, and was credited with saving 15 lives. Schubert remained at the lighthouse after it was automated in the 1980s, and was visited by many lighthouse buffs. - Milton Brown
Milton Brown (7 September 1903 - 13 April 1936, Crystal Springs, Texas) born in Stephenville, Texas was a band leader and vocalist who was one of the founders of Western swing. While selling tobacco and singing in amateur groups, he joined Bob Wills and Herman Arnspiger in forming the group that became the Light Crust Doughboys in 1931, when Burrus Mill and Elevator Company, makers of Light Crust Flour, took over sponsorship of their radio show. - Herbie Kronowitz
Herbert "Herbie" Kronowitz, originally Theodore "Ted" Kronowitz (born ca. 1923), is a retired Jewish American middleweight boxer who fought in the ring from 1941 to 1950. After his boxing career ended, Kronowitz was a highly-regarded referee for nearly thirty years. He resides on the Coney Island peninsula in his native Brooklyn, New York. Kronowitz adopted his brother's name, "Herbie", when he began to box as an amateur at the age of fifteen. - Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Isa Chandra Moskowitz is an American born cookbook author and the co-host of a New York City based cable access cooking show. Born at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, New York on February 3rd, 1973, Moskowitz found herself drawn towards the punk rock scene of the late 1980's. The idealism and open mindedness of the punk community introduced her to and found her embracing first a vegetarian diet, then veganism. - Maurice Zolotow
Maurice Zolotow was a show business biographer. He wrote books and magazine articles. His articles appeared in publications including "Life", "Collier's Weekly", "Reader's Digest", "Los Angeles", and many others. His book "Marilyn Monroe" was the first written on the iconic actress, and it was the only one published while she was alive. - Samuel H. Gottscho
Samuel Herman Gottscho February 8, 1875 Brooklyn, New York - January 28, 1971 Jamaica, Queens, New York, American architectural, landscape, and nature photographer. Samuel Gottscho acquired his first camera in 1896 and took his first photograph at Coney Island. From 1896 to 1920 he photographed part-time, specializing in houses and gardens, as he particularly enjoyed nature, rural life, and landscapes. - Toni Senecal
Antonia "Toni" Senecal (born July 11, 1969) is an entertainment reporter for WNYW-TV Fox 5 News at 10. She worked at WPIX-TV New York's "WB11 News at Ten" for four years, until December 2005. She covers award ceremonies such as the Emmy Awards, Academy Awards, and the Tony Awards. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Senecal moved to New York City to attend college. While an undergraduate at New York University, she dated club impresario Rudolph. - L. Wolfe Gilbert
Louis Wolfe Gilbert (August 31, 1886-July 12, 1970) was a Russian-born American songwriter. Born in Odessa, Russia, he moved to the United States as a young man and soon established himself as one of the most prolific songwriters of Tin Pan Alley. Gilbert began his career touring with John L. Sullivan and singing in a quartet at small Coney Island cafe called "College Inn", where he was discovered by English producer Albert Decourville. - Vivienne Dick
Vivienne Dick is an Irish experimental and documentary filmmaker. She was born in Dublin but moved to the United States in the 1970s. In the U.S., Dick became active in No Wave film culture and produced a series of Super8 short films. Many of her films were staged around well-known New York City sites such as Coney Island, the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center. The films featured punk performers such as Lydia Lunch, … - Steve Ferrigno
Stefano "Steve" Ferrigno (ca.1900 - November 5, 1930) was born in Sicily, it is unknown exactly when he emigrated to the United States, but he became a member of New York's Italian underworld most likely around the 1910's, during his late teens. Ferrigno worked his way up the ranks of the Coney Island, Brooklyn based Neapolitan Camorra crime family led by Pellegrino "Don Grino" Morano and his top Lieutenant, Alessandro Vollero, who led the Navy St. Gang. - Burt Topper
Burt Topper was an American film director and screenwriter best known for cult films aimed at teenagers. Born in Coney Island, New York, Topper moved to Los Angeles at the age of 8, and served in the United States Navy during World War II. He produced films at American International Pictures for Sam Arkoff. Topper died of pulmonary failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. - Vach Lewis
Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis (d. May 14, 1908) was an early New York gangster and member of the Eastman Gang under Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach. Born "Sam Tietch", Lewis performed as a wrestler and strongman, supposedly wrapping iron bars around his neck and arms, at Coney Island side shows before joining the Eastmans. Following Monk Eastman's imprisonment, he sided with Zwerbach during the struggle for leadership of the gang and, … - Louis Pioggi
Louis "Louie the Lump" Pioggi ["Poggi"] (1889 - ?) was a New York criminal and member of the Five Points Gang, known most prominently for the murder of Eastman Gang leader Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach and Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis. Although newspaper accounts report Pioggi (spelled "Poggi") was employed as a clerk in a Coney Island hospital with no criminal record, … - David O'Karma
David "Coondog" O'Karma is a competitive eating champion, entertainer, and writer from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He has held world records in doughnut, hard-boiled egg and corn on the cob consumption. He was a former member of the IFOCE, but started an eaters organization called the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters, (AICE). He started competitive eating at age 15 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, at Church's Chicken on Portage Trail. - Eugene Augustin Lauste
Eugene Augustin Lauste (born 1857 in Montmartre, France; died June 27, 1935 in Montclair, New Jersey) "The Father of Sound on Film", was an inventor instrumental in the technological development of the history of cinema. By age 23 he held 53 French patents. He emigrated to the United States in 1886 where he worked as an assistant to William Kennedy Laurie Dickson at the Edison Laboratories. - Mike Abrams
"Big" Mike Abrams (d. 1898) was a New York criminal and a longtime figure in the underworld of New York's Chinatown. A criminal for hire of the streets of New York's Chinatown, Mike Abrams was one of many employed by the Tongs and others for assault and murder for hire among other criminal activities. He also operated opium dens on Pell Street as well as on Coney Island and, during his later years, took in protection money from similar establishments. - William R. Travers
William R. Travers (July, 1819 - March 19, 1887) was an American lawyer who made a fortune on Wall Street. Along with John Hunter, in 1863 he founded Saratoga Race Course and served as its first president. Saratoga's Travers Stakes is named in his honor and is the oldest major Thoroughbred horse race in the United States. In 1884, William Travers became one of the backers of the Sheepshead Bay Race Track on Coney Island. - Arthur Dake
Arthur Dake (Darkowski) was an American chess master. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada. He was born into a Polish-Jewish family, who immigrated to America before World War I. At age 16 he became a merchant seaman, traveling to Japan, China, and the Philippines. In 1927 he returned to high school in Oregon and learned chess from a Russian immigrant living in a local YMCA. He resumed work as a sailor and landed in New York City in 1929. - Marion Bromley
Marion Bromley "nee" Coddington (10 October 1912 - 21 January 1996) was a pioneer of the modern American tax resistance movement and a civil rights activist. She married Ernest Bromley in 1948. In 1948 Bromley left the staff of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (where she had been A.J. Muste's secretary) to avoid the withholding of taxes on her paycheck. Bromley helped found the group Peacemakers later that year, … - Stephan Bibrowski
Stephan Bibrowski (1891-1932) better known as Lionel the Lion-Faced Man was a famous sideshow performer. His whole body was covered with long hair that gave him the appearance of a lion; this was likely due to a rare condition called hypertrichosis. Bibrowski was born in 1891 near Warsaw in Poland with one-inch hair covering his body. His mother blamed the condition on the mauling of his father by a lion, which she witnessed while pregnant with Stephan. - Elmer Scipio Dundy
Elmer Scipio Dundy was a Nebraskan judge best known as the namesake of Dundy County, Nebraska. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio on March 5th, 1830. He passed the bar and set up practice in both Clearfield, Pennsylvania and Falls City, Nebraska from 1853 to 1858, and from 1862 to 1863. He was a member of the Nebraska Territorial Council from 1858 to 1862. His son Elmer Scipio Dundy better known as Elmer “Skip” Dundy was born in Omaha in 1862.
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