Community

As trains roar by overhead, Bernard Lifschultz, 88, sits behind a glass counter, selling eggs, codfish and pig snouts, as he has done for six decades.

 

Lifschultz is the proprietor of the oldest shop at La Marqueta, a Puerto Rican market that was once a thriving commercial center of inexpensive fresh vegetables, live poultry and other ethnic ingredients used in traditional recipes.

 

Tucked underneath the Metro North viaduct on Park Avenue at 115th Street, the market once spanned six blocks.

 

"It was jammed,” said Lifschultz. “Five buildings from 110th to 116th streets were fully occupied. There were 200 merchants."

 

Now there are only eight. The rest of the stalls remain shuttered and unoccupied. Visitors to the market are few. Most of the remaining vendors have been there for many years and rely on their long-time customers to keep them afloat.

 

Over the years, civic leaders have proposed various plans to revitalize the market, but none have come to fruition, aside from a facelift to the building in 1996. In 2003, the city put the non-profit East Harlem Business Capital Corporation in charge of a proposed $20 million renovation project. Those plans fell apart this past November, when the city's Economic Development Corporation, responsible for overseeing the project, opted not to continue working with the non-profit, which was behind schedule and had not raised enough money.

 

East Harlem's City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, who had originally pledged $1 million to the redevelopment, will be working on new plans for the market, but she has not yet outlined what those might entail.

 

With the project once again in limbo, Lifschultz and his fellow vendors are growing increasingly frustrated with the city's lack of progress and communication about the project.

 

“Developers have come and gone,” Lifschultz said. “We don't know what's gonna happen now. We have no idea and they don't consult us or ask.”

 

The market was first opened in 1932 by Mayor LaGuardia and did well for decades, but the advent of supermarkets, a debilitating fire and a series of break-ins in the 1970s drove many shoppers elsewhere.

 

“People came from everywhere to buy fresh, tropical vegetables, but then the supermarket killed it,” said Tita Dalmau, 81, who has been selling her notions, candy, ribbons and trinkets at a stall in the market since the 1980s. “You could find everything from milk to perishables.”

 

Vendors also blame the city for contributing for La Marqueta's downfall, saying it has not done enough to rent out stalls to new vendors or to publicize the market.

 

 “Nobody knows about this place,” said Lifschultz. “Old timers say, 'I never knew you were still open!'” He says the city should spread the word by advertising in Spanish.

 

Civic leaders have also had their share of ideas about how to revitalize La Marqueta. The plan by the East Harlem Business Capital Corporation included hosting an artist's market and a public plaza for cultural events such as dance and theatrical performances, poetry slams and film festivals. Lifschultz thinks that is the wrong approach.

 

"A boutique or social gathering place will never work,” said Lifschultz. “People come here to buy food cheap. I sold eggs and only eggs and was able to undersell the supermarket with a good product and a cheap price. That's what this place is meant to be. Unless we revert to that set up, I don't think it will ever be successful...

 

“If you fill up the place with merchants who know how to sell, this place will thrive."

 

Although La Marqueta now caters to Puerto Rican tastes, the original vendors were Jewish, which was one of the predominant ethnic groups in the neighborhood at the time it opened, along with the Irish and Italian. This changed over the years, with the influx of Puerto Ricans in the 1950s. Lifschultz is the last remaining Jewish merchant from the early days, and said he never wants to leave.

 

"I enjoy working here. The primary reason I love it is the talk. I'm here more than at home! I know people here. I grew up with them.”

 

Lifschultz wants to work as long as he can, but health problems may finally force him to close down his shop. He may never get to see La Marqueta boom again.

 

 “My wife and I are both not well,” Lifschultz said. “It won't be much longer.”