Ed Koch loved Bay Ridge restaurants, bakeries, luncheons
Jane Kelly, a longtime member of the Bay Ridge Community Council, remembers that Ed Koch was a regular at the organization’s annual President’s Luncheon during his days at City Hall.
“Oh yes, he came to our luncheon often when he was mayor,” said Kelly, a retired Catholic school teacher who has been a member of the council since the 1960s.
During the 1980s, at the height of his tenure as mayor, Koch visited Bay Ridge often, according to civic leaders. The brash mayor frequently ate at local restuarants, met often with business leaders, and held town hall events, where he often sparred with residents whose brashness matched his.
Koch, always a big, booming presence at the community council luncheon, would bound into the Bay Ridge Manor catering hall with his enormous smile and would immediately work the room, shaking hands with everyone and shouting his famous “How’m I doing?’