The 100 Greatest Brooklynites of All Time: 5 to 1
Born in Oklahoma, Woody was the poet laureate of the dusty west, a folk singer who gave voice in song to Tom Joad-types everywhere. A hater of fascism, he was also a hero of the working class, singing for unions. He wrote “This Land is Your Land,” for Pete’s sake! As well as box sets worth of iconic songs that gave voice to an entire generation struggling for a better life. And when he got out of the army after WWII, he moved with his wife to Coney Island, to a house on Mermaid Avenue, into which baby Arlo and other children were born. He left Brooklyn because of health reasons, returning in the early 60s to be a patient at the state hospital, where he would be visited frequently by a young Bob Dylan, who would assume the folk singer’s mantle.
