In November 2022, I traveled around Blissville in western Queens with my friend Mitch Waxman, who I call the King of Newtown Creek. He is a historian and preservationist who has led dozens of walking tours and boat tours with the Newtown Creek Alliance and other groups, some of which I have participated in. Desiring a change of scenery, he and his wife Catherine since moved to Pittsburgh, but not before he rang up and proposed one last tour around the Creek area. We drove around in his SUV, got out and walked around Calvary Cemetery, and wrapped up at Bantry Bay on Greenpoint Avenue. I have a full accounting of this trip on this FNY page.
Among the denizens we visited was Steve Brodie (1861-1901) who is more famed for what he didn’t do than for what he did. He is well-known as a fabulist for claiming to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, July 23, 1886 and of course lived to make the claim. (Though others have truly accomplished the deed, Brodie never did.) He was able to make a living off the claim for many years at speaking engagements and circuses, telling the tall tale. He needed the money, as he had been a profligate gambler but not a very successful one. Brodie later opened a saloon on the Bowery and when he died at the young age of 39, he was said to be worth $100,000… real money in those days. Westerns actor Steve Brodie adopted his screen name from the real Brodie.
Another story, though, holds that Brodie was egged on by Bugs Bunny. The incident happened in “Bowery Bugs.” …
Here’s a condensed version…
Check out the ForgottenBook (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013). I also have a chapter in the anthology “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg” (Reaktion, 2007). As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
10/20/26