June 4, 2009 by Tricia
Capt. Bob's Coney Island Tour Guide Badge. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr
Captain Bob’s tour of Coney Island meets every Saturday & Sunday, rain or shine, at 12 and 2 in front of Nathan’s on Surf and Stillwell. The man whose photo is on the badge is George C. Tilyou, the founder of Steeplechase Park and the creator of the Funny Face logo on Captain Bob’s T-shirt.
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Great image! A badge that rests proudly on one of Coney’s current living legends.
Thanks, Omar. It was a lucky capture. Capt Bob was sporting this new Funny Face Tee
I love this shot : )
I was thinking today of my Coney Island friend Captain Bob. He used to come into the Surf & Turf for his almost-daily bowl of hot lobster bisque which I always offered him on the house. The last few times we spoke he was coming in with sketches of his dream of building a big float for the mermaid parade. He wanted me to help him build it. He gave me the sketches. But soon after I unfortunately migrated for the winter down to Florida and ended up anchored down here. Have I Perhaps I missed hearing anything about his mysterious disappearance? I was wondering if anyone knows what happened to him or his whereabouts. I figured if anyone one knew it would be you..
in 2010 Captain Bob had a stroke that affected his ability to speak and communicate and he was seen less and less frequently in Coney Island. I believe the last sightings were in 2012. Last year I made efforts to locate him after receiving info from a friend who happened to mention that he had been listed by Bob as the person to contact in case of emergency. I learned the name of a couple of facilities where Bob was after he disappeared from Coney. Unfortunately my queries got not further than that due to privacy laws. His drawings were magical. I remember one that he did of the Cyclone as an entry for a T-Shirt contest. Wish I had it!
I’ve also wondered whatever happened to my friend Captain Bob. My husband and I used to work on Wall Street in New York City and we met him on the bus on our way to work. He worked downtown in several restaurants passing out menus on the streets. When you got to know him better you realized he was a very intelligent, worldly person who had travelled extensively and just knew about many subjects. We always looked forward to seeing him on the bus when he would greet us with a warm smile and tell us of a movie he had seen the night before and give us a review of whether it was worth seeing or not. His favorite topic of course was Coney Island and the Mermaid Parade and we spoke aboutthe upcoming preparations where he was making his outfit of King Neptune. I changed jobs and never saw him again and I’ve always wondered what became of him since he was up there in age. I miss my friend… If you ever find out his whereabouts or other news can you please let me know? Thank you, Maria
Capt. Bob !!! Wow, I was lucky to know Capt. Bob for at least ten years.I was born and raised in Coney Island, and worked group games on Bowery St for many years. I was also President of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. I believe I meet the Captain in the summer of 2002. We were both sitting at Steve’s Grill,at Stilwell and the Boards. This I believe is the true crossroads to the world.At that time the Grill was the CIPBCs summer headquarters Captain Bob was a regular there as he was new to Coney Island. True, he was a very intelligent man and somewhat of a seaman. We would talk for hours at the Grill Shop. It was not long before we were best of friends. The Captain always had a smile on his face and had many many friends in Coney. All the guys at the Grill loved him. There was Gary, Harry the Fisherman, Paulie, Tony Cigars and of course Philly, the Mayor. Gary and many of our friends are long gone. Oh, I cant forget Popeye and Frankie Oil. Up until 2010, I saw the Captain three or four times a week. After Polar Bear swims on Sundays he came with some of the swimmers to the International, a Russian resturant in Brighton, long gone, for lunch. We always had a great time. And of course he did his tours and he used many of us as he conducted his tours on the boardwalk. The last time I saw Capt bob was around 2011. I was working as a dockbuilder. I was burning steel on the train track at I believe Newkirk ave. It was hot and noisy. I was on the N/B track. I looked up and to my left and there he was on the S/B platform. I took of my burning glasses and made eye contact with him. I screamed out his name and the F train pulled into the station. That was the last I saw of him , he had that smile on his face. As of this typing I contacted Diane and John. They were regulars on the boardwalk. Diane worked at Rubys. I was just told that John,
her husband saw the good Captain TWO years ago in Manhattan at 6Th Ave and 32 Street with his nurse. Thats great news. I could write about the Captain and Coney Island forever. Steve from the Grill Shop, RIP, gave the Captain a small room in the rear of the Grill House. Captain said his address was One Atlantic Ocean. If I hear more I will post. Please be safe…. Louie