Deli, Wine, and Candy: How One Photo Captures Classic LES Stores at Their Height [HISTORY]
This image has been archived or removed.
This photo from 1954 perfectly encapsulates the immigrant Lower East Side of the middle twentieth century. Everything about it is great, from the legendary businesses to the peddlers and fedora-wearing elder photobombing the foreground.
You’re looking at the northwest corner of Rivington and Essex Streets. Bernstein’s Delicatessen (#110) is sandwiched between Lipschutz Kosher Wines (#112) and Saperstein’s (#108). Also note the ice cream man and his cart stationed on the sidewalk.
Sixty-two years on, none of the stores pictured here survived. The Bernstein’s Deli you see was already here some two decades before this photo was shot. Two years later, owner Solomon Bernstein expanded to include what would eventually become the iconic Schmulka Bernstein’s, which pretty much invented the Chinese food on Christmas phenomenon.
Here’s a bonus shot of Schmulka Bernstein’s on Essex:
This image has been archived or removed.
Schmulka Bernstein’s in 1978, Photo: Museum of the City of NY
At 108 Rivington was Saperstein’s, a sweets and appetizing store that opened here in 1903. The Times noted that the space was perennially “stocked to the ceiling with dried fruits, exotic foods, fresh halvah, and smoked fish.” The business lasted eighty years until second generation owner Solomon Saperstein decided to retire at age 80 in June 1983. There was no one in the family to take over the business.
Economy Candy, founded in 1937 around the corner on Essex, moved here two years later in 1985. Its original function was a discount shoe shop, the candy stand was the biggest draw. Fashion purchases weren’t number one for those hit hardest by the economic downturn. So, founder Morris “Moishe” Cohen, who passed away last year at 92, pivoted the business into a sweets shop.
Sadly, there’s not that much out there about Lipschutz Kosher Wines. We came across a handful of Passover Hagadot that were sold on eBay, but attributed to 119 Norfolk Street (their home as late as 1975).
Help us fill in the blanks with them!
Verlaine, Fat Baby, and the mom-and-pop Farmacia occupy the other spaces now.
This image has been archived or removed.
Recent Stories
Eighteen Groups Sign Open Letter Demanding Transparency over CB3 Removal of Committee Chairs
Eighteen community groups within Community Board 3 on the Lower East Side this week co-signed an open letter to city and state officials urging inquiry into the removal of Alexandra Militano and Carolyn Ratcliffe as chairs of the SLA and Arts & Culture subcommittees, respectively. The shakeup, apparently inspired by a stated “new direction” for […]
East Broadway Subway Tiles Free of Disgusting Deposits
Down in the bowels of the East Broadway subway station, those hideous wall monsters are now a thing of the past. For years, the tunnel tiling devolved into a complete mess. Conditions were ripe for the formation of brown, slug-like deposits that grew ever larger by the week. Until this month, coincidentally the 85th anniversary […]
Chinatown Welcomes New Easy Access COVID-19 Testing Sites
Finally a step in the right direction. Pop-up COVID-19 test sites opened in Chinatown yesterday, providing much-needed alternatives to locals seeking a swab. The sites – one at 62 Mott Street, and the other at Confucius Plaza – offer walk-in swab tests and antibodies tests. Center Laboratories is handling testing and results, which are emailed or texted […]
New Year, Wrong Stamp for USPS Commemorative Postage [OP-ED]
With the Lunar New Year fast approaching, the U.S. Postal Service released its annual commemorative stamp to honor the holiday. Yet, the new postage seriously misses the mark, is wrong on many levels. The Lunar New Year – observed this year on February 12 – is celebrated by several Asian cultures, but it’s difficult to […]
Covid Killed ‘Wall of Sound’ Producer Phil Spector; Revisiting The Ronettes Outside Parisi Bakery
Phil Spector, the legendary “Wall of Sound” producer, music impresario, and convicted murderer, died on Saturday of purported complications from Covid-19 at the Health Care Facility in Stockton (California), after being transferred from prison. He was 81. Incarcerated for murdering Lana Clarkson in 2003, Spector would spend his final years behind bars. Which makes paying […]
