Moderated by filmmaker Heather Buckley, this panel will take you from speakeasies to steam tunnels, mob kitchens to queer sanctuaries, this panel brings together four chroniclers of New York City's beautifully complicated past. Former cop turned memoirist Eddie McNamara stirs up tales from the city’s underbelly with wit and vegetarian meatballs. Historian Hugh Ryan (The Women’s House of Detention) resurrects forgotten queer spaces with archival precision. John Strausbaugh (City of Sedition, Victory City) spins sweeping, streetwise sagas of war and resistance in Gotham. And Laurie Gwen Shapiro (The Stowaway) uncovers the city’s eccentric dreamers and daring misfits. Together, they’ll explore what makes New York a city of endless reinvention—and irresistible stories.

This panel is part of the all day Coney Island Book Fair. Get ready to be shocked, amazed, informed, and amused! Coney Island USA and The Lady Aye are proud to present a day-long event celebrating the literary side of sideshow, burlesque, oddities, and New York City.

During the day, guests of all ages are invited to attend out panels and browse the best book-themed marketplace since the Scholastic Book Fair of your youth.

When evening falls, the curious (ages 18+) can marvel at the minds (and other parts) of the bookish beauties of our all-star variety show.