Brooklyn in the House

One of the great places to come to do work — on knishes or anything — is the Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Collection, second floor of the Central branch at Grand Army Plaza. It’s quiet and lined with volumes about all aspects of Brooklyn life.

I’ve consulted a fair number of titles of all stripes, including Joseph Heller’s Now and Then in which he issues a clarion cry for Shatzkin’s knishes of Coney Island and lists Mrs. Stahl’s as a rival concern favored by those with roots in Brighton Beach. Today I pulled this off the shelf:

Sodom by the Sea: An Affectionate History of Coney Island
By Oliver Pilat and Jo Ranson
Garden City Publishing Company
copyright 1941

Page 242:

In addition to thousands of frankfurters every day, the newcomer [Nathan's]  also dispensed hundreds of gallons of root beer, Coca-cola, soda pop, and carloads of potato chips and knishes, Jewish potato cakes flavored with onion and fried in deep fat.

Yum. That’s your Coney Island knish, all right.