Planning the Shared Kitchen

Very excited to report that we will begin working with the architect and planner next week to design the commercial kitchen at Moore Street! Everything is finally coming together.

Chef Jacques Gautier of Palo Santo Restaurant in Park Slope will be a featured chef at a food demo offered at the Local Food and Travel Expo on April 14th (see previous post), and he will be using ingredients from the Market in his dishes. I hope to be bringing some goodies from the vendors myself that day.

Construction is moving along nicely, but mostly work you can't see -- plumbing and electrical, but we're on track for an April completion.

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

Moore Street Market Featured in Australian Publication!

Cindy VandenBosch, our intrepid "Immigrant Foodways" tour guide from Urban Oyster, recently had an Australian food writer on the tour, which includes the Market. The writer was so taken, that she wrote a piece that included the Market!

I'm happy to post a link to the article here on the blog.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/lifestyle/a-well-balanced-bite-of-the-big-apple/story-e6frg8jo-1226299422202

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

Local Food & Travel Expo on April 14th

The Moore Street Market will be participating in the 2nd Annual Local Food & Travel Expo, to be held at Skylight One Hanson (the old Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, with the 4-sided clock tower) on Saturday, April 14th.

Please join us and other vendors who will be offering free food and wine samples; free kids' activities; free food demos; and free sustainable travel workshops. There will be a special Made in Brooklyn Marketplace.

The Local Food & Travel Expo is the brainchild of Caylin Sanders, founder of Escapemaker.com, Inc., the online guide to weekend getaways and day trips within a day's car/bus/train ride from NYC. Check out their website at www.escapemaker.com.

BEDC is proud to report that Caylin is a successful graduate of our Entrepreneur Assistance Program, and we are so happy for her success in this field.

Go to the website for more detailed information about the Expo.

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

Update, Week of March 11th

No pictures to post this time. I've been on vacation for a week and a visit to the market today revealed no new significant visual changes -- the work seems to have revolved around the new plumbing, which isn't beautiful, but certainly needed!

The construction walls are still in place around the center stalls, but a peek inside revealed some progress in building out the counters.

So we'll see what this week brings. Until then...

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

More of the "Markets are Marvelous" series...

I found some other photos of NYC markets which I'll share with you.

This is Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, which is now a tenant-run cooperative in the Public Markets system.

More pictures of Wallabout Market in Brooklyn, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from the NYC Municipal Archives

"Old" Washington Market in Manhattan

This is Mulberry Street, on the Lower East Side 



Fruit sellers at an unspecified location

No updated photos to show you today of the renovations -- just some paint drying! But I also wanted to share an old postcard showing the Williamsburg Houses, a NYC Housing Authority development a few blocks from the market. It pre-dates a lot of the other projects, which were built after World War II to accommodate veterans returning home. Williamsburg Houses were actually built in the 1930s and have a distinctive Art Deco character -- they also predated the "bigger is better" philosophy of the newer developments, being much lower in scale and height. But there are a lot of buildings! I'm afraid that the image quality is poor, but you can see that the buildings cover at least 3 square blocks. They probably replaced "Old Law" tenement buildings.

A few "Shout Outs"

I keep forgetting to remind people about the wonderful "Immigrant Foodways" Tour conducted by tour group Urban Oyster every few weeks; the tour ends at Moore Street and Cindy VandenBosch of Urban Oyster is the resident historain of the market and its environs. Check their website, www.urbanoyster.com for scheduled tours of the market and other locations. Cindy and her colleagues also curated the historical exhibit at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's visitor center, which I encourage you to visit.

I also want to give a very belated "Thank You" to the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, which has been a long-time, generous supporter of the Moore Street Market.  Seth Edwards of JP Morgan Chase is the market's honorary "Godfather" and we thank him for supporting our work.

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

In Celebration of Markets!

I've been searching historical photo archives for pictures of NYC markets and street vendors. I've found them in many places -- I guess I'm supposed to credit the source, but these are all from public collections of the Brooklyn and NY Public Libraries for the most part. Some are straight Google searches.

Anyway, I think we're all happy that the market concept is being revived. So here, for those nostalgia buffs, are some photos of markets past.

Borough Park, Brooklyn -- we actually shopped here when I was a child. I think the building is still there.

10th Avenue in Manhattan -- Not exactly the model market, by today's standards!



 Merchants on Moore Street in Brooklyn



"Old" Washington Market in Manhattan

Wallabout Market, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard -- she was beautiful -- demolished for the war effort and expansion of the Navy Yard. She reflected the area's Dutch heritage.



Another view of Wallabout.

"Old Washington Market interior in Manhattan -- very dignified, with homage to the age of cast iron

"New" Washington Market exterior

Essex Street today

 

Essex Street -- still the queen of the remaining NYC Public Markets. But she is in an Urban Renewal Area on the Lower East side and prime for a housing site.

I don't remember where I got his one -- I didn't label it in the file. I'll find the reference later.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane -- more to come, as I unearth them.

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

A Busy Friday at Moore Street

Lots of happenings here today at the market.

The Department of Health featured squash at their weekly cooking demonstration and they had a nice audience trying samples.

HealthFirst continued their outreach to Medicare recipients -- they have been a supporter of the market since the beginning. Nemesio Ortiz, a BEDC board member and SVP at HealthFirst also paid us an unexpected visit (that's not him in the picture though).

 

Officers from the 90th Precinct, including Community Affairs Sergeant Roman were at the market office being trained in how to access footage of the new security cameras from the Internet - they are really pleased to have this resource. Betty Cooney from the Graham Avenue BID was here as well, along with one of her board members -- the BID paid for the cameras and installation, so we owe them thanks for that!

 

Work continued on the construction of the new stalls -- we're right on schedule for an April completion date. I'm getting several walk-ins a day inquiring about renting the spaces



Jonathan Boe, our prospective tilapia farmer and hydroponic gardener stopped by to update me on the progress of his project. He and partner Yemi will also work on the urban farm -- we are working with Project Green Thumb of the Parks department to get into the community garden program in time for spring cleanup and planting.

Tenants

Finally, a snapshot of the bakers at Body & Soul Bakery, who fill the market with great smells from their vegan sweet and savory products -- catch them at the Union Square Greenmarket (They can't sell here at Moore Street under their Greenmarket contract!).

 

Heard that Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez stopped by this week to take a look at the progress of the renovations -- her funds will be used for Phase 2 of this project, starting in a few months.

That's all for this week!

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market

Interior Decorating Survey

No photos today, but I'm taking an interior decoration opinion poll: You've seen a lot of orange and white tiles in the previous photos, and some drab white paint (none of it original to the market). We'll be re-painting the market interior over the next few months.

So the question is: "What color do you think we should paint the market?"

Input welcome!

Joan Bartolomeo
Moore Street Market