Fulton Fish Market

Back to business...



If you can't sleep at night, pay a visit to the Fulton Fish Market, in its last two months at its historical home. I recently visited with David O'Neil, who was instrumental in revitalizing the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

Even at 5:30, when I was still waking up, the fish market was shutting down. There were a number of small vans driving away, which David pointed out as New Jersey buyers who were finished for the day. On a Friday, the fishmongers (I *think* that's the real term) lingered. It's hard to think of the burly Italian macho guys as fishmongers, but they literally just worked on selling fish.

It was great fun to see the guys and the fish. (Really, there were no female fishmongers as far as I could see). The guys willingly posed for pictures in any number of silly ways, holding up odd specimens, showing off knife dexterity, hamming it up with the ladies. The old offices that overlooked the selling floors are still intact and in full use. Actually, not much is wrong with the structure, but it's obvious that the market was built for a bygone era of when fishermen docked and unloaded a fresh catch. So go now, before the fish market moves to the Bronx, so you can see for yourself how New York's waterfronts once served as major sites of commerce.