Sunday, May 31, 2009

Manhattanville, Amsterdam Avenue at 126th Street


Mary Sargent © 2009 ……….. click to enlarge

According to Kevin Walsh at forgotten-ny.com, this building was originally the Bernheimer and Schwartz Pilsner Brewing Company, built in 1905. Now known as the Mink Building (presumably because it was a fur storage center for 50 years), it's mixed use, office and retail space. It is on the north side of 126th Street.


And on the south side?




Mary Sargent © 2009 …................................…….. click to enlarge

A live poultry store! Yes! Below La Granja in very faint lettering, it says Live Poulty. See below.



Mary Sargent © 2009 ….............................…….. click to enlarge

The Mink Building is reflected in whatever is between us and the chickens.

The New York Times recently had an article about slaughter houses in New York City. Interestingly, they're on the increase. There are now about 90 live poultry markets in the metropolitan area and that is double what it was in the mid-90s. This is because of increasing demands from immigrants who want to check out their food before they select it. Far from being incongruous to have these places in New York, we have "probably the country’s highest concentration of live-animal markets." It's a big city kind of thing, I guess.


See map.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Taking a peak inside one of those live poultry places makes me swear to become vegetarian.

B.Lewin said...

This photo of the chickens is fascinating. It's scary and dramatic and claustrophic. I want to help them escape.