We're thrilled to share the news that the Astroland Rocket in Deno's Wonder Wheel Park is now open daily from 12 till around 8 PM. You can go inside, sit down, and watch The Rocket Has Landed, a film by Charles Denson. The Coney Island History Project's permanent exhibit of history panels, which was installed last year, is on view in front of the Rocket. The Astroland Rocket is located in the lower park across from the Bumper Cars.

"Outer space simulators have played a prominent role in Coney's amusement history,” said Charles Denson, director of the Coney Island History Project. His 2015 film tells the story of Coney's fascination with intergalactic travel. “It began when Thompson and Dundy brought 'A Trip to the Moon' to Steeplechase Park in 1902 and culminated in 1962, with Astroland's Moon Rocket."

The Coney Island History Project's exhibition center next to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park's West 12th Street entrance is open on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 1-7 PM through Labor Day. Stop by and take a selfie with Cy, the Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, and Coney Island's only original Steeplechase Horse. Also on view is this season's special exhibition, The Riegelmann Boardwalk: Past, Present, and Future, and Coney Island’s oldest surviving artifact, the 1823 Toll House sign. The sign dates back to the days when the toll for a horse and rider to “the Island” was five cents. Admission to the History Project is free of charge!

The History Project also has an outdoor exhibit of history banners below Deno's Wonder Wheel and the Phoenix Roller Coaster. The exhibits are free and on view through October 29 during park hours.

Charles Denson made this video, Jimmy Prince Way, to honor Jimmy’s street naming. This interview with Jimmy Prince (1932-2021) was recorded at his home in 2016, seven years after he retired from Major Market. "Mr. Major" remained as busy as ever in the community after the store closed, and also volunteered at the Coney Island History Project exhibit center on weekends.

The corner of Mermaid Avenue and West 15th Street was co-named Jimmy Prince Way on July 8, 2023. Hosted by Coney Island Council Member Ari Kagan, the ceremony was attended by the Prince family and numerous community leaders and friends. Coney Island History Project board members Adele Cohen, Bonnie Kong, and Dan Pisark are pictured below with Charles Denson's photograph of Jimmy, "The Prince of Mermaid Avenue," in the doorway of his store.

"Jimmy Prince was the kindest man in the world and the brightest light in Coney Island, a man who personified compassion, love and respect. There was no one else like him. He was born in 1932, the same year that Major Market opened on Mermaid Avenue and he began working at the market in June 1949 at the age of 18. Eventually he owned the store, and kept it open seven days a week, twelve hours a day until 2009. Jimmy became 'Mr. Major,' and his store became the heart of Coney Island, a refuge during hard times, where people came to find warmth and solace and nourishment. He was always positive and believed that Coney Island would survive." -- Charles Denson, "Remembering Jimmy Prince," May 25, 2021.

More than 450 oral histories are available for listening in the Coney Island History Project’s multilingual online archive. Among the additions in June and July are the following interviews recorded for us by Julia Kanin, Lauren Vespoli, and Tricia Vita.

Ben Roubin shares memories of growing up at Villanova Court, a summer bungalow colony in the West End of Coney Island. From the mid-1950s through 1968, his family co-owned and operated the resort, which had about fifty apartments steps away from the beach. It catered to middle-class New Yorkers, and featured a patio, lounge chairs, handball and basketball courts, and outdoor movie nights. "We played stickball right there on the patio," Roubin says, "if you hit the ball past the boardwalk onto the beach, it was a triple; and if you hit it all the way over the fence into Sea Gate, it was a home run."

Born in 1938, Mort Shatzkin grew up working in one of Coney Island’s most beloved eateries, Shatzkin’s Famous Knishes. “You had a lot of freedom growing up as a youngster in Coney Island,” he says. From boyhood, he was paid an hourly wage for helping out at the knish stores founded by his grandparents and always had spending money. He describes making the traditional potato and kasha knishes, which were fried, and the volume of business on fireworks nights in the 1940s and ‘50s.

"I could tell I'm a Coney Islander now because I really love this neighborhood," says Sofya Dudnik, an embroidery artist and Coney Island resident who emigrated from Moscow in 2010. "I think it's one of the rare gems in the city and maybe in the whole United States. It's like a historical landmark for me." In her oral history interview, Dudnik talks about her childhood diaries, what inspires her to create art, and Coney Island.

Please listen, share, and if you or someone you know would like to record a story via phone or Zoom, sign up here. We record oral histories in English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and other languages with people who have lived or worked in Coney Island and nearby neighborhoods or have a special connection to these places.

Among the free events to enjoy in Coney Island all summer long are karaoke nights and fireworks shows! The Alliance for Coney Island presents fireworks every Friday night at around 9:45 PM. Karaoke on the Boardwalk sponsored by Deno's Wonder Wheel Park starts at 7 PM on Fireworks Fridays in front of the park. The weekly shows continue through September 1st.