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. LIC 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. Brooklyn historian and author of the Irish in New York Geoffrey Cobb for a walking tour recounting Gleason’s colorful exploits and LIC Irish roots.
TOUR GUIDE
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.
Duration 90 Min - $25