THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF POVERTY: MERCHANTS AND THE BATTLE OVER
PUSHCART PEDDLING ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE
Slide 2
THE PLAN Lower East Side reformers and officials, as well as
private developers and city planners wanted to usher in what they
called the East Side of Tomorrow. All they planned to do: abolish
pushcarts, raze (demolish) tenements, widen streets, build housing
for the middle class & wealthy, and create the East River Drive
Along with this came an effort to de-ethnicize the area, reforming
the behavior of its Jewish and Italian residents, in particular. In
the midst of all the attempted reform, many residents would refer
to the past days as the good old days of poverty, referring to the
idea that though the goal was to improve business, the reform
efforts actually reduced a lot of immigrant income.
Slide 3
BUT, LIKE, WHATS WITH THE PUSHCARTS? A main point of the
reformers campaign was to replace the pushcarts with clean and
sanitized indoor retail markets. Though, pushcarts provided a lot
of work for East Siders. Peddling provided a cheap, familiar place
for residents to shop. It was also means for income during hard
times for many residents. Reading states that in 1930, around
47,000 family members depended on pushcart earnings, with the
pushcart business generating around $40-50 million yearly.
Slide 4
THOSE SO-CALLED MERCHANTS Local Lower East Side merchants, the
ones not having to deal with poverty, viewed the course as a public
nuisance and a source of public embarrassment. They didnt want the
carts out there to represent the various ethnicities of the Lower
East Side. They found themselves offended by the various work
ethics of the Jewish and Italian population of the area: seeing
them as a civic menace and disgrace. Belief that they were not
erase ethnicity, just sanitizing it. Hoped to replace local color
with conventional prosperity.
Slide 5
MEMORIES GOOD FOR BUSINESS? Nostalgia was good for business,
but street life was harder to control than nightclubs, cabarets,
wine cellars, etc. Pushcart business was considered a successful
Wildcard factor of economy. The so-called merchants underestimated
the power of nostalgia. There was a growing longing for the good
old days of poverty. What the merchants of the East Side failed to
recognize was the symbiotic nature of their relationship to the
peddlers. They underestimated the power and appeal of a growing
nostalgia the old East Side streets and the increasing development
of the Lower East Side as a site of cultural pilgrimage.
Slide 6
SO, LIKE, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE CLASS????????
Slide 7
THE MARKETPLACES Represent and define the community. Since we
study The Peopling of NYC, it is important that we recognize the
significance of the marketplace as an identifier for the
population, the city, the food, etc. Whether it is a food market,
textile market, etcetera, it is a part of the community it resides
in, as well as a part of its residents lives. We study Peopling
through the lens of food, and a communitys food markets determine
which ethnicities are in a community, the class of people in a
community, depending on the type of dish how long people have been
in a community. As the second reading states, Markets connect the
natural world to the urban environment, and the two-way connection
raises hope in both communities that will develop economically.
Markets exist in a community as a tradition, a pastime, a business,
a source of sustenance, etc. As markets develop, so does a
community.
Slide 8
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1)In your opinion, what markets define
your community? Is your community not specifically defined by
markets? If so, how or how not? 2)Discuss how markets contribute
both economically and socially. 3) Does nostalgia hold some type of
value in todays markets? Why or why not?