"B&W Hester Street photo from National Archives" By an unknown photographer, ca. 1903 on left; our photo on right, ca. 2010.
This past Saturday marked the return of the Hester Street Fair. Located at the corner of Hester and Essex Street, the fair celebrates the culture and rich history of the Lower East Side neighborhood. At the turn of the century, Hester Street was the site of the busiest outdoor market in New York City. As noted by the NY Times (07/27/1895), "There is hardly a square foot of ground in Hester Street that is not covered with people during the day. The whole place seems to be in a state of perpetual motion, and the occasional visitor is apt to have a feeling of giddiness."
This past Saturday marked the return of the Hester Street Fair. Located at the corner of Hester and Essex Street, the fair celebrates the culture and rich history of the Lower East Side neighborhood. At the turn of the century, Hester Street was the site of the busiest outdoor market in New York City. As noted by the NY Times (07/27/1895), "There is hardly a square foot of ground in Hester Street that is not covered with people during the day. The whole place seems to be in a state of perpetual motion, and the occasional visitor is apt to have a feeling of giddiness."
So we were excited to visit, along with a couple of friends from Canada, the re-launch of the Hester Street Fair. We enjoyed eating our way through the Hester Street Fair and seeing how different this modern-day market compares to that of original.
We found this video online depicting the Hester Street market at the turn of the century. Many Eastern European Jews immigrated to this area, making it the center of commerce for NYC's Jewish ghetto. You can see some of the estimated 1,500 pushcart peddlers who were licensed to sell wares (primarily fish) in the vicinity of Hester Street.
Today, the pushcarts are gone and the fish offerings looked more like the above - fresh lobster rolls from Luke's Lobster and tasty Montreal bagels and lox from Mile End. (Both of these sandwiches were big hits amongst our group - and judging from the lines, were the most popular food items at the fair).
The modern-day market now features local artisans and restaurants from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Instead of groceries, most of the current food offerings were prepared foods - like the bahn mi, summer rolls (both from An Choi) and pulled pork BBQ sandwiches.
We could imagine all of the different types of produce sold at the turn of the century...some of which was probably used in these bright, flavorful vegetarian dishes. The quiche plate from Green Brown Orange was also a favorite of the day - especially for our vegetarian friends.
Everyone enjoyed these organic, hand-rolled pretzels from Sigmund Pretzelshop. We each chose either the salted plain pretzel or the Gruyere cheese and paprika pretzel (both very good!) along with a different dip: whole grain mustard, beet and horseradish (sweet and spicy!), and honey (almost dessert-like).
Trying all of the desserts at the fair started with the mini cupcakes from Kumquat Cupcakery. Bacon maple, red velvet, dark chocolate, peanut butter/banana, and lemon/lavender...at $1 each, these were hopelessly addictive. A few of us washed them down with free Sundrop soda pops while others opted for the Stumptown iced coffee.
As the sun got stronger, we all wanted a cold treat. Some opted for the snow cone with homemade coffee syrup while others had to go with the fresh fruit popsicles (raspberry at left and the sweet and spicy mango chili at right. No one in our party wanted to try the avocado popsicle, which we overheard someone call "guacamole on a stick").
You can imagine how full we were reaching Roni-Sue's Chocolates, but we could not pass up the inventive creations made by friendly owner Rhonda. So, as a parting take-home gift, everyone got a few sweet treats: Smores pie, Peanut butter cookies, BaCorn (caramel popcorn with bacon and chile pinon nuts), and Pig Candy (crispy fried bacon strips dipped in chocolate). And to offset the sweet treats from Roni-Sue's Chocolates, we tried the fresh breads from Pain D'Avignon.
From the Brooklyn Museum, painted by George Luks, Luks pictured the street life of one of the Lower East Side's teeming immigrant neighborhoods.
The crowds then and now were still large...and though we were dressed differently...
Top black and white photo courtesy of Spartacus
...and ate different foods, comparing the old and new Hester Street fairs reinforced what we already knew: shopping and haggling are timeless!
Photo on left courtesy of SCREA news, circa 1901.
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