There was a Manhattan market between Delancey and Houston Streets that sold items often of questionable ownership. The WPA Guide to New York City (1939) stated:
“The stretch between Delancey and Houston Streets is jocularly known as the THIEVES’ MARKET. Those who have any small objects to sell or exchange congregate here.”
Syndicated newspaper columnist Walter Winchell (1897-1972) wrote—or copied—in October 1944:
“The stretch between Delancey and Houston Sts. is jocularly known as Thieves’ Market. Those who have small objects to exchange or sell congregate there.”
The “Thieves’ Market” term is of historical interest today.
Google Books
The WPA Guide to New York City:
The Federal Writers’ Project guide to 1930s New York
By Federal Writers’ Project
New York, NY: Pantheon Books
1939
Pg. 120:
The stretch between Delancey and Houston Streets is jocularly known as the THIEVES’ MARKET. Those who have any small objects to sell or exchange congregate here.
10 October 1944, Times-Leader, The Evening News (Wilkes-barre, PA), “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 18, col. 5:
The stretch between Delancey and Houston Sts. is jocularly known as Thieves’ Market. Those who have small objects to exchange or sell congregate there.
June 1949, Hearst’s International Combined with Cosmopolitan (New York, NY), “Winchell’s New York,” pg. 112, col. 3:
The stretch between Delancey and Houston Sts. is jocularly known as Thieves’ Market. Those who have small objects to exchange or sell congregate there.
Google Books
Clash of Eagles
By Leo Rutman
New York, NY: Fawcett Gold Medal
1990
Pg. 79:
They were right near the bend off Delancey Street, better known as Thieves’ Market. The peddlers would be out hawking their wares. What a place for a black market truck full of beef to stall.
Google Books
Homeless:
Poverty and Place in Urban America
By Ella Howard
Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press
2013
Pg. 24:
Between Houston and Delancey Streets, the eye was overwhelmed by the sea of signs announcing hotel names, including the Montauk, Savoy, and Puritan. Along the sidewalk, an informal “thieves’ market” of used and stolen goods was thriving.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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