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an enduring historical document.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.
eISBN: 978-0-231-51134-6
Subjects: Art & Art History, History, Sociology, Anthropology
Table of Contents
You are viewing the table of contents
You do not have access to this
book
on JSTOR. Try logging in through your institution for access.