th
th
# 60 • MAY 17 , 2015
# 60 • MAY 17 , 2015
the store businesses are: most
of them are owned by families
and passed on from generation to generation: some families have been here since late
1890, the early 1900.
to take over the business.
My dad had been President of
the Association from the late
50s to the late 80s, and when
he gave up being President
the Association started doing
not that much. The street was
like there was no promotion, it
wasn’t active at all. So we had
meetings, we reorganized the
association and about 8 years
ago I became President.
The 9th Street Italian Market
is about to celebrate its 100th
birthday. It is America’s oldest
outdoor market! Please tell us
something about this fantastic
place, from the origin through
the decades
stands: they are on wheels
that are at the curb facing the
sidewalk, from the street while traffic flows behind them.
They are on the east side of
the street: years ago they switched side every six months
but it was too difficult and so
The market now runs about they decided to have stands
8/10 blocks in length and 3 on the east side and parking
blocks in width and it has a va- on the west side of the street.
riety of different businesses. Most of those stands are for
The most part of the busines- fruit and vegetables, and the
ses that stand out are the curb some stands sell food, and
others sell flowers.
There’s a few coffee shops with
an area for people to sit, tables
and chairs to have coffee, lunch and whatever. There’s awnings over the stands which
get roll up at night … and this
area is the most visible part of
the market: when you come
down the street that’s what
you see. Then of course there’s permanent awnings over
the sidewalks and that’s where
8 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
In the 1890s Frank Palumbo
opened up a boarding house to take in immigrants that
were coming here from Italy,
as a place to stay. Many people came, many families: they
needed food. So, one by one
the stores opened up: at first
they were fruit and vegetables
stands, then somebody opened a butcher shop and then
others. Gradually they started
taking in a person, somebody who emigrated from Italy,
around the WW1 era, giving
them a place to stay, to learn
and train how to do the job.
So, in the early 1900 a lot of
people, especially from Sicily
like my grandfather (from Messina), came here and got together with other “paisanos”:
my grandfather started working in a butcher shop, while
my grandmother’s family, who
were from Palermo, had a food
stand. That’s where my grandparents met and eventually
when they decided to get married, and that happened to several other Italian people who
met in the 9th street market. So
the man of the shop where my
grandfather was working told
him: “Man, this place of the
street is for sale, you go and
buy it and you start your own
business”: that too happened
to many people. Family members started to join their business when they were young:
my brother and I started when
we were 5.
America used to have a lot of
markets like this, in the Little
Italy spread all over the US ci-
ties. Why do you think this one
survived, while others had to
close? What made it so special?
I think it survived over the years for two reasons. The first is
because many stores passed
from generation to generation staying in the family; the
WE THE ITALIANS | 9
www.wetheitalians.com