“Don’t TOUCH the snake,” he warned us, not venturing to tell us what would happen if we did pet the creature on his neck. “One DOLLAR for a snapshot.”

Within the buzzing, electric carnival tent we know as Brooklyn you never have to stray far to find the ringmaster. In the peculiar and curious realm of Coney Island there are a handful of characters that fill that role, one of them being the ubiquitous Snake Man—a born hustler with the gift of gab and a reptile the length of a Lincoln Town Car. Throw in his sarcastic, verbose parrot and you have a celebrity that will instantly snap up those dollar bills that were initially predestined for hot dogs, cheese fries, Wonder Wheels, lukewarm Buds, and freaks that most certainly need shooting.

—Anthony LaSala

Seth Kushner is a freelance photographer and works for a large variety of clients including The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Vibe, YRB, and Business 2.0. The author of The Brooklynites (powerHouse Books, 2007),  Kushner was chosen by Photo District News as one of their “30 Under 30” in 1999 and was a winner in their Photo Annual Competition in 2002 and 2006. Kushner’s work is syndicated by Retna LTD. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

 

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