South Street is Barbara G. Mensch's tribute to the lost world of Lower Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market. For more than a century, a colorful, tightly knit community of fishmongers, many of them
recent immigrants and children of immigrants, thrived under the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. Resistant to government regulations and corporate encroachment, these men lived in a closed,
internally policed world that was deeply hostile to outsiders.
As a young photographer in the early 1980s, Barbara Mensch bonded with this particular group of "authentic New Yorkers," becoming a confidante for their life stories, which were often filled
with hardship, mystery, and misadventures. These photographs capture the unique personality and fierce secrecy of their vibrant working-class culture. Combined with lively commentary -
reminiscent of Studs Terkel's oral histories - the images offer a peek inside a society described by Philip Lopate as "a precious last vestige of historic Gotham."
Mensch's story ends with the closure of the docks and the opening of the Seaport mall, a symbolic victory of corporate interests over more than a century of mob rule. Her visual essay recounts
the driving forces and the effects of this urban transformation on the entrenched community of fishmongers, creating an enduring historical document. Though the Fulton Fish Market no longer
resides below the Brooklyn Bridge, the history and energy of this cherished New York City landmark are preserved in this book.
