The Pushcarts of the Lower East Side (Rewind)

Once upon a time, the streets of the Lower East Side were lined with pushcarts and salespeople haggling with customers over the price of fruits, fish and pickles. Whatever became of them? New York’s earliest marketplaces were large and surprisingly well regulated hubs for commerce that kept the city fed. When the city was small, they served the hungry population well. But by the mid 19th century, mass waves of immigration and the necessary expansion of the city meant a lack of affordable food options for the city’s poorest residents in overcrowded tenement districts. Then along came the peddler, pushcart vendors who brought bargains of all types — edible and nonedible — to neighborhood streets throughout the city. In particular, on the Lower East Side, the pushcarts created makeshift marketplaces. Many shoppers loved the set-up! But not a certain mayor — Fiorello La Guardia , who promised to sweep away these old-fashioned pushcarts that packed the streets — and instead house some of those vendors in new municipal market buildings. For those immigrant peddlers, the Essex Street Market — in sight of the Williamsburg Bridge — would provide a diverse shopping experience representing a swirl of various cultures: Eastern European, Puerto Rican, Italian and more. But could these markets survive competition from supermarkets? Or the many economic changes of life in New York City? Originally released in November 2020. This show was re-edited and remastered by Kieran Gannon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You can listen to The Pushcarts of the Lower East Side (Rewind) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Pushcarts of the Lower East Side (Rewind) is an episode from The Bowery Boys: New York City History by Tom Meyers.

This episode is 00:58:22 long.

This episode was published on Apr 10, 2026.

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