Joel Kostman, The Locksmith Who Wrote An Underground Classic, “Keys to the City”

Welcome back to Pizza Quest!

Joel Kostman helped support his family for over 30 years as a New York City locksmith, but that was just his day job. By night, he was (and still is) a serious writer who channeled his locksmithing adventures into a semi-autobiographical fictional cult classic story collection called, “Keys to the City: Tales of a New York City Locksmith.” The New York Times even called him The Doctor of the Deadbolt. As Joel says, “New Yorkers are concerned about keeping people out on a very primal level, whether it’s an abusive spouse or a creep on the corner. They like to talk. I like to listen.” Joel and I are childhood friends and have gone on a number of pizza quests together when I happened to be visiting in Brooklyn, where he once lived. Join us as we recount those adventures, including his role in helping me win a James Beard National Bread Baking Championship, and his most recent exciting news: the possibility of the book being turned into a major television series.

The Doctor of the Deadbolt is in, here on Pizza Quest.