The Athens of the East River

December 21, 2007 by
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

After taking Thursday to unwind after my rather unpleasant experience at the hands of local constabulary, I am back at the keyboard to pass along this week’s piece of Greenpoint gold from the days of old. Before I proceed, however, I would like to thanks to the people at Curbed and Gothamist; my buddy Kevin over at Forgotten-NY, Icky in Brooklyn, Found in Brooklyn, Picture New York, Subchat, NYCPhotoRights, New York Magazine, The Angry New Yorker and last, but hardly least, The Gowanus Lounge for getting the word out about what was by far one of the most asinine, infuriating and degrading experiences I have ever had in my life. If what I beheld Wednesday is “New York’s Finest” god help us all.

But let’s get back to today’s story: after being ousted as Alderman, our very own Peter J. McGuinness set his sights on becoming the Sheriff of Kings County. Just as the catch phrase “Courtesy Professionalism and Respect” is a mere formality to our police force, Pete felt waiting to be elected before calling himself Sheriff was a mere technicality. He was also quite the gourmand, as you will learn from this article from the August 8, 1935 edition of the New York Times. Enjoy!

8/9/1935 New York Times

As it would turn out, Mr. McGuinness’s presumptuousness was well merited: not only did he win the election by a landslide, but he received over 10,000 letters of congratulation to boot. This was more than any other elected official in New York City, Fiorello La Guardia included. I can only hope Pete kept his campaign promise about improving the fare at the hoosegow; it’ll give me something to look forward to the next time I go out to take pictures.

Miss Heather

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