The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-02
AN OLD-STYLE QUARTER.
THE QUAINT LITTLE T~UcK UP
SHOPS or HUDSON STREET.

with The New York or Ninety Year, AEo.
Time has dealt less hardly with varick and
Hudson streets than with any other part Of New
York, barring the lanes and twisting thorough
fares Of Greenwich village. The elevated rail-
road and the march Of progress have both passed
them by, and tho real estate agent md the
builder and contractor have not vet laid plans
10 Haussmannizc them out OF existence,
or out of all likeness 10 their quaint
old selves. This cannot be for long,
however, and already the new order
OF things. hugo business blocks and crowd
ed tenencnts, is pushing up Hudson street
from Chambers to Harrison at the one end. and
down It for a block or two. where 1t runs into
Ninth avenue at Thirteenth street. But be-
tween Abingdon square and vcstry street. Hud-
son street retains its characteristics almost nm
changed since Il was opened up. and n prowl
about this part Of It's length will give cnc m ex-
cellent idea OF how people lived aud traded when
the century was Just able to walk alone. This
seems all the more astonishing because Hudson
street Is an unusually wide thoroughfnrc, aud
furnishes direct communication between the
wholesale quarter OF the south aud west and
the crowded living quarter Of the middle west.
Hudson street is no more like the New York
Of to-day than an English tavern Is like the New
Netherlands Hotel. In fact, there is n distinctly
Nlu- y " NAS t'hU'NN 't'A -
sections Of Hudson street were to he photo
graphcd and labelled street Scene in Bristol"
or in Exeter" or ain Dundee" there IL no Que
that would dispute tho legend. So, too, 1t would
bc out of all keeping To call the stores anything
else than shops; they are Just plain, coscy.
tucked-up little old fashioned shops, where the
stock in trade and tho customers are so
crowded together that two or three people
will crowd the place, and where you can
sit at the short scrnpof counter aud literally put
your hand on just what you want. There IL
no need for a stepladder in these shops; the
salcspcoplc just reach up easily and take down
anything that is needed. while the ceilings are
so low that you instinctively feel like durking
when you open the door. with its little j%nngling
bell. and when, in fact, you can sweep the plns-
tor with your outstretched hand. There Is gen.
orally. too. an unnoticcd step down into tho
shop NJ the junction OF the doors, over which
you plunge ~hcadlpng in the dear old fashioned
breakneck way. There is no need of clerks In these
stores. The proprietor and one assistant can
look after all the customers that can be accom-
modatcd at one time. and some times all the
business is transacted by. a comfortable and
rotund old lady who rolls her way slowly down
the foury lanes between the piles of mill truck,
or comes up slowly on. n starboard tack and
lays to beside the open tubs OF salt mackerel and
Some OF the progressive shopk eepers and one
or two of the younger people have put plate
glass into their windows, but most Of the
places are still lighted with sashes filled with
many small panes OF glass. Nine and twelve
there is one weathe--worn place Oh n corner
where each window has fifteen little panes Of
and look in through the top row, as was the
proper thing when New York thought that
French plate for American light was as foolishly
foreign as French songs for an American audi
ence. These are the windows that one sees in
cuts where, the passers-by are shown in %scuttle
bonnets and pelisses, II they are ladies. and in
bell-topped hats aud strapped trousers II they
are men,
There is a distinctly old-tlme and old-country
character about What is sold in the shops. as well
as about the shops themselves. In the bakers
Loaf" scottish scenes. and English currant cake.
The candy, shops sell "sweet-tuck" and "lolli:
sSasrely The sba aio eStteql. snd the f snlli him msa
topped bureaus. and fo9r-post beds In stock.
Here one may find the real English chop
you pick out your steak. and can II you choose
stand and see 1t broiled over an open fire OF live
the great brown ware teapots are kept hot on
the hob, with Rebecca and the well both glow
tnssh lie ses a ASEss.tr" In on 1R %hl PlSnG are t2 GSn L an S SlS;
and white. crockery. as though you were taking
your meals cheerily, and without formality in
always taste the best.
Between the boundaries INDICATED there is not
seen. There is a good deal Of boarding and
lodging. to I've sure, but there is also a good deal
Il 'i Single st family is N occcapstio no Of the 'V Who'll;
s G1u:s' Th 1ss is re ,asEsly b Po' snSs.r dawn here or be, b,
quarter was laid out. Here, and there on
t hSas I TINY NcaaE'ss ark ark iGS oaspes are sreeet to
be met with. hut they are only the
UhSSss trsmps, so to speak while on Hudson
street they are To be found by the block, still AS
trim and neat and warmly red as when they
on with Philadelphia regularity, the doors are
freshly painted Of the olive green or BLACK
knocker. door plate, and handle are polished as
assiduonsly, as though the work had been done
by the . ruler Of the Queens navee." Down
stairs in the basement one can SEQ the
%S Seafhr aS OF S'n tRes FANNY seat atfn nro 9ipadp sn o meS
CRATE and reading by shaded lamplight while
the windows up stairs are as trim as a man-of-
ostentattous house home that one can rarely see
here and nowadays, and 1t i Is 10 be hoped Il
son street are forced into those ,warrens OF hui
niantty, the tenement houses. They are a valu;
that time when 1t was neither as big nor as bad
as ii is now.
date OF construction than these neat little brick
and are Of clApboards with fonr-angled
attic roofs, one such at the corner Of Desbrosses
street having a hanging wooden balcony,
The electric light has not, yet invaded this
Of Hudson street, and at night there Is n
sedate gloom about the streets, with two narrow
paths Of light along the sidewalk where the little
shop windows throw a struggling illumination,
and OF course there Is y double row OF gas lamps.
hut, as has beer. said, the street is wide, and the
street car, which seems ~.terriely ahead OF the
rumbles along in shadow, and has TO
be peered for like a stage coach coming |
the road in a fog, Many OF the
blocks have still the old original small flag
and these continue up Nestry street
and into yarick street. This street is NOT such
a business thorOughfare as Hudson street, but
II makes an interesting return road, aud con-
tains some splendid examples OF well-pTeseryed
brick cottages Of the village days. Like Hudson
street, TOO, L has its chapel 9f the great patrl-
archal Trinity parish, which seems 10 have |
in everything from the Battery 10 Kings
Farm under It's sheltering care. That on Hud-
son street is ST. Luke's. and In a dull gray build
ing, noticeable, only for It's simplicity; while
that on Narick street is 81, Johns, and Ia
for its ~oyershadowing porch
aud tower. tribes of architectural misftness
were quite frequent about 1908, when
this place Was built. st. Johns was then the
fashionable church of a fashionable neighhor- |
hood. and IL still furnishes some OF the best
ia the city 10 its eIninently stAid and
bourgeois congregation. Along Narick street,
are to be seen some good wooden stoops. and