The Flash That Gets The Cash! My article about the history of carnival prizes is published in the September issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to the amusement industry website carnivalwarehouse.com. In the early 20th century, merchandise wheels operated with only one big prize and gave away teddy bears, poodles, kewpies, live canaries, pillows, blankets, lamps, glassware, silverware, aluminum pans, ham and roasters, baskets of fruit and groceries, and chocolates.
Happy National Roller Coaster Day! I recently recorded an oral history with award-winning roller coaster designer Mike Boodley. Fifty years ago this week, when Mike was 17, he broke a world record for consecutive roller coaster rides by riding the Coney Island Cyclone 1,001 times over 45 hours. He shares vivid memories of his August 14, 1975 ride, how it came about, and the people who cheered him on and rode with him.
Other topics in the interview include Mike's boyhood fascination with wooden coasters and dream of designing them; co-founding Great Coasters International; the influence of Coney Island's Tornado and other Prior & Church coasters on his coaster designs; and memories of Astroland's flamboyant publicist Milton Berger, whose career advice when he was a teen stuck with him.
You can listen to the full interview in the Coney Island History Project oral history archive.
Because writing memoir is a solitary activity, one of the delightful surprises of the summer was being selected as a finalist for the Brooklyn Nonfiction Prize and reading my memoir "Epilogue on Jones Walk" in a two-hour finale reading on Zoom. Congrats to the other finalists and to Brittany Knott, the winner, and Mickey Greaves and Ellen Sperling, the runners up.
The video is available for viewing on the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival's YouTube channel. Here is the link to the finale video:
2024 Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize Finale held on June 29th, 2025 - Hosted by Stefanie Joshua-Cordova.
My article about the history of the high striker is published in the July issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website. The strongman game is said to have inspired the phrase "close, but no cigar!," because a cigar was your prize if you rang the bell. First patented in 1885, the high striker was originally a block of wood attached by springs to a clocklike dial. Among the photos in the article are a still from the 1917 silent movie Coney Island starring Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle and a photo of me working the electronic high striker at the Big A Fair with Wade Shows in 2003.
Happy National Hot Dog Day! I recently recorded an oral history with Randy Profeta, the great grandson of Coney Island sign painter Harry Wildman (1875-1930). He shares stories of Wildman & Company's work for Feltmans, Nathan's, Steeplechase and other attractions. In this early photo of Nathan's, you can see the store's logo created by Wildman for Nathan Handwerker, and his signature, which we circled in red. Family lore also credits Harry Wildman with the creation of the Steeplechase Face, the park's grinning logo. In addition to newspaper clippings and an interview with his grandmother, "a lot of what we have is, in essence, anecdotal," says Profeta. "I mean it's information that has passed from generation to generation."
You can listen to the full interview in the Coney Island History Project oral history archive.
My first article for Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website, is published this month. I wrote about Coney Island's William F. Mangels and "The Whip," the first portable thrill ride. If you know of a show or a park that still has a Whip in operation or in storage, please let me know. I'm updating my Whip Census!
My memoir about working the spot joint for Benny Harrison on Jones Walk is published today in Gramercy Review!
"I didn't go to Coney Island looking for the spot game. It found me. I'd all but given up my elusive quest to once again work my game of choice, a game of skill I learned as a carny kid in the 1960s..."
Excited to announce that I'm a LMCC 2025 Manhattan Arts Grants Recipient! The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council supports hundreds of arts projects in all disciplines, serving communities from Inwood to The Battery.
This year, I received funding for my project titled Tell Us Your Stories! Thanks to LMCC's support I will bring this reminiscence, oral history and storytelling workshop to an older adult center in Manhattan later this year.
Feminism lives! The Ten Women Bicycle, a feminist fable and my first ever publication, has inspired a new orchestral work by June Bonacich and will be performed by Community Women's Orchestra later this year. The concert is on the second Sunday in November 2025. The Bay Area nonprofit is celebrating its 40th anniversary and my story was published in Ms. Magazine and as a book with illustrations by Marion Crezée over 40 years ago!
On Saturday, November 16th, I'll once again be hosting Coney Island History Show & Tell, an interactive reminiscence event for the Coney Island History Project. All are welcome to join this free, in-person event at the Brooklyn Public Library's Coney Island Branch from 2:30-4:00 PM.
Do you have paper ephemera, photographs, or objects of historical or personal significance related to Coney Island that you would like to share? Show and tell your story! Listeners are welcome. When I started doing show and tell events for the History Project via Zoom during the pandemic, guests shared their souvenirs from Coney Island's amusement parks and family photos and memorabilia.
At the November 16th show and tell, I'll share small objects from the Coney Island History Project's collection, including a stereoscope, stereoview photos, and keepsakes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I have a certificate in reminiscence and life story work, create storytelling workshops at senior centers, and record oral histories for the Coney Island History Project.
Coney Island History Show & Tell is free of charge. Children under 16 years of age must be accompanied by an adult. You may RSVP by registering in advance via Eventbrite.
The Brooklyn Public Library's Coney Island Branch is located at 1901 Mermaid Avenue at the corner of West 19th Street.