South Street / Barbara Mensch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mensch, Barbara, author.

Contributor:

Lopate, Philip.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fulton Fish Market (New York, N.Y.)--Pictorial works.

Fulton Fish Market (New York, N.Y.).

Fishery processing industries--New York (State)--New York--Employees--History--20th century--Pictorial works.

Fishery processing industries.

Fishery processing industries--New York (State)--New York--Employees--Biography.

Organized crime--New York (State)--New York--Employees--History--20th century.

Organized crime.

Oral history.

South Street (New York, N.Y.)--History--20th century--Pictorial works.

South Street (New York, N.Y.).

South Street (New York, N.Y.)--Social life and customs--20th century--Pictorial works.

New York (N.Y.)--History--20th century--Pictorial works.

New York (N.Y.).

New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs--20th century--Pictorial works.

New York (N.Y.)--Social conditions--20th century--Pictorial works.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (245 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2007]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

South Street is Barbara G. Mensch's evocative tribute to the lost world of Lower Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market. For more than a century, a colorful, tightly knit community of fishmongers, many of them recent immigrants and children of immigrants, thrived under the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. Resistant to government regulations and corporate encroachment, these men lived in a closed, internally policed world that was deeply hostile to outsiders.As a young photographer in the early 1980s, Mensch bonded with this particular group of "authentic New Yorkers," becoming a confidante for their life stories, which were often filled with hardship, mystery, and misadventures. These striking photographs capture the unique personality and fierce secrecy of their vibrant working-class culture. Combined with lively commentary—reminiscent of Studs Terkel's riveting oral histories—the images offer a rare peek inside a society described by Philip Lopate as "a precious last vestige of historic Gotham."Mensch's story ends with the closure of the docks and the opening of the Seaport mall, a symbolic victory of corporate interests over more than a century of mob rule. Her visual essay recounts the driving forces and the effects of this urban transformation on the entrenched community of fishmongers, creating an enduring historical document. Though the Fulton Fish Market no longer resides below the Brooklyn Bridge, the history and energy of this cherished New York City landmark are beautifully preserved in this book.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

INTRODUCTION. The Fulton Fish Market / Lopate, Phillip

A South Street Story / Mensch, Barbara G.

Glossary

References

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [177]-178).

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9780231511346

0231511345

OCLC:

818856117