The Last Days of the Fulton Fish Market

Old New York institutions are, of course, always moving, changing and getting run over; it's the nature of the city to be constantly abandoning its past. Nonetheless, the fact that the odor-iffic old-school Fulton Fish Market will be leaving Lower Manhattan in June seems a major shift.

Gothamist won't rhapsodize poetic about the early-dawn shipments of stripers and the colorfully-gritty fishmongers with their personalized hooks and deft filleting; the Times piece this morning did that well enough. But one major, and unfortunate, effect of the market's relocation to the Hunt's Point Market in the Bronx will simply be to remove from Manhattan yet another raw, tactile connection to the sources of the things that surround us. As the Meatpacking district has gentrified over the past decade, meatpackers themselves have, in large part, packed up their cow carcasses and headed for Jersey. The loss of these types of markets, as well as the fact that borough has spent decades turning spacious industrial buildings into high-end lofts, means that there are fewer and fewer places to go that evoke the feel of the city's working past.

Even as the fish market is relocated and the South Street Seaport area begins to smell better, something will definitely be lost. Specifically, it's a shame that characters like "Johnny Dirtyface," (mentioned in the Times piece for famously treating a knife wound with half a bottle of whiskey before drinking the rest of the bottle and returning to work) won't be lurking around lower Manhattan anymore.

Photo of Fulton Fish Market from Lizo Yusheng

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

March 23, 2005 1:57 PM

Comments [rss]

moma dawg

November,2004 was my only trek from Wisconsin to New York City. The Fulton Fish Market was right outside my hotel door. I was captivated! Now, I savor photos of the market, manhole covers, Carmine's Restaurant, construction workers, bridges and the innards of the Staten Island Ferry. That is the grit I came to see, not the designer labels, or glitzy Times Square.

Which is the real New York City, both? I'll take the old brick streets and "mom and pop" places. Maybe I'm not your typical tourist.

Tim N.

And Michael, take heart. The subways are a mess!

Tim N.

Gothamist's point about losing connection to where our stuff comes from is well taken. As a fourth-generation NYer, change is certainly the lifeblood of the city, and it's not the FFM is moving to Maine, but still, something will be lost by its moving.

Ric Burns doc is great, as are the Mitchell books ("McSorely's Wonderful Saloon" is also excellent). For another visual point about what we're talking about, check out "New York Changing." A photographer went around the city taking updated shots of Beatrice Abbott photos. Beautiful work, and it's interesting to see what's changed (and how much hasn't).

hijiki

\\\\\\ has it all figured out. thanks for the brilliant insight, genius.

ixtayul

Talk about characterless and charmless checkout the New Fulton Fish Market.

http://ixtayul.blogs.com/metroplus/

Michael

New York is not what it once was.

No more 42nd Street.

No more Fulton Fishmarket

No more Meat Packing district

Harlem is becoming a shopping mall

The grit is almost gone

Tompkins Sq. Park is safe

The old rail yards will soon be gone when the Jets or whoever builds over them

Say goodbye to what's left of Hell's Kitchen

\\\\\\

Hmmm, I think the people who like the new New York are those yuppies and wussy midwesterners who only suck out culture anyway.

New York is dead, people. Nothing new or challenging is ever going to come from the city again, because the very people who once produced the creative edginess can't afford $2,000/month to live in a shit-hole warehouse.

So, where do you guys think the new cultural center of the US is going to be?

Captain Midnight

I'll never forget how it was back in the 70s before Pier 17 became a mall. Call me strange, but I like grittiness in my New York.

toyochin

MT, that's actually Ric Burns, Ken's brother and sometime collaborator.

I caught parts of the docu on PBS a while back and I've been meaning to check it out. I just put it on my Netflix queue -thanks for the reminder, MT.

The PBS page for the film is pretty good too.

Marilyn

Thanks MT, I'll check it out.

Cranky New Yorker

MT, if you haven't already (and you probably have) read "Up in the Old Hotel" by Joseph Mitchell. Great stuff, you'd like it.

cb/CityRag

there's nothing like tripping your ass off on mushrooms at 4:00 in the morning and heading down to the Fulton Fish Market! i'm sorry furture generations will miss this.

MT

New York is still charming. Like you say, it's very much in our DNA to move forward. I think everyone who lives here should watch the New York documentary by Ken Burns. It gives perspective on the city and it's constant evolution into history that is truly enlightening. You may think the city is losing something forever, but after watching that documentary I realized that the city continuously comes full circle. As much as we change, the city is still undeniably New York at its core. It's really an amazing process.