Before the consolidation of the five boroughs into New York City, Long Island City was an independent municipality infamous for illegal gambling, payoffs and saloons that never closed. L.I.C was run by one of the most colorful characters in New York history, Tipperary born mayor Paddy “Battle Axe” Gleason. The last mayor of Long Island City, Gleason used to hold court seated in a barber chair outside the Miller Hotel on Borden Avenue telling L.I.C citizens, "Don’t call me mayor; Just call me Paddy." Idolized by L.I.C’s children, Gleason almost bankrupted the municipality building them the stately P.S 1 school. Join Queens historian Mitch Waxman and Brooklyn historian and author of the Irish in New York Geoffrey Cobb for a walking tour recounting Gleason’s colorful exploits and L.I.C’s Irish roots.

TOUR GUIDES

Geoffrey Cobb, from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, is a history teacher at the historic Erasmus Hall. Mr. Cobb writes for the Irish Echo, Irish America magazine and the New York Irish History Roundtable, where he is Vice President for Local History. Mr. Cobb is the author of four books on the history of North Brooklyn as well as The Irish in New York: Profiles of Irish New Yorkers Who Have Shaped The Empire State.

Mitch Waxman was raised in Brooklyn, attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and worked for many years as a comic book writer and artist. He also worked in advertising production and as a photo retouching specialist for several advertising agencies. He has always had a certain fascination with historical material. Mitch started the Newtown Pentacle website in 2009 to document his adventures along the Newtown Creek (and in the greater harbor and city beyond). He has served the City of New York as a Parade Marshall three times, has been named the Newtown Creek Alliance’s group historian, is a Steering Committee member of the Working Harbor Committee, and offers regular walking, bus and boat tours of the Newtown Creek Watershed. He resides in Astoria, Queens, with his wife Catherine and their little dog.

Tour Begins at New York Irish Center & Ends at Bantry Bay on Greenpoint Avenune

Duration 90 Min

$25