Canal Street (Manhattan)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Stores and vendors dot Canal Street, hawking merchandise

Canal Street is a major east–west street of over 1 mile (1.6 km) in

SoHo and Little Italy as well as the northern boundary of Tribeca. The street acts as a major connector between Jersey City, New Jersey, via the Holland Tunnel (I-78), and Brooklyn in New York City via the Manhattan Bridge. It is a two-way street for most of its length, with two unidirectional stretches between Forsyth Street
and the Manhattan Bridge.

History

Broadway crossing the canal in 1811

By 1800, Collect Pond, one of New York City's few natural sources of fresh water, had become completely polluted with sewage and run-off from the tanneries, breweries, and other workshops and factories around it.[1] Run-off from the pond, including one "sluggish stream" which traveled part of the route of the future Canal Street, fed nearby swamps and marshes which prevented the city from continuing its northward growth. To deal with this, the city's Common Council ordered that the swamps be drained and, in 1803, that the pond itself be filled in. A drain was built continuing the path of the "sluggish stream" to the Hudson River, which redirected the underground springs which watered the swamps. The pond was successfully drained by 1813 or 1815.[2]

New York City Landmark
The former Loew's Canal Street Theatre at 31 Canal Street, a New York City Landmark

The area was developed, but the springs remained and caused the "dry" land to be boggy and uneven. The Common Council then authorized a canal, in the form of a 40-foot wide, 8-foot deep ditch, which would continue carrying off the excess water.[3] Because it was not efficient, and did not have sufficient flow, it, too, became an open sewer. The city covered it over in 1819, but as it had no air traps, the covered canal became a stinking covered sewer.[2][4] Canal Street was completed in 1820, following the path of the covered canal and named for it.[5][4] The historic townhouses and newer tenements that had been built along Canal Street quickly fell into disrepair, and the eastern stretch of Canal Street came within the ambit of the notorious Five Points slum as property values and living conditions plummeted.

Early in the 20th century, the jewelry trade centered on the corner of Canal Street and Bowery, but moved mid century to the modern

World Trade Center
.

Reputation as hawkers' haven

Canal Street is a bustling commercial district, crowded with comparatively low-rent open storefronts, and

fake Rolex watches that have become a Manhattan cliché). Bootleg CDs and DVDs were common, and were offered for sale on Canal Street—often before they were even officially released in stores or the theater—in makeshift stands and suitcases or simply laid out on bedsheets.[9]

Widespread sale of these counterfeit goods persists along Canal Street and in its hidden back rooms despite frequent police raids.[10][11] In addition, legislation was proposed in 2013 to try to make purchasing counterfeit items a crime; this would let the city's economy earn back at least $1 billion annually in taxes.[9]

9/11 attack

After the

9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was established, Canal Street was again the northern cut-off for the World Trade Center Exposure Zone.[12]

Transportation

Canal Street is served by the New York City Subway at seven stations, west to east:

Canal Street is also served by the

Allen Street; and M9 (at East Broadway
).

See also

References

Notes

  1. OCLC 53464289
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-195-11634-8
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-58157-566-8
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8232-1275-0
    ., p.33
  5. ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2
    .
  6. ^ "New Bank Building; Citizens Savings Bank to Erect Monumental Structure on Bowery". The New York Times. July 2, 1922.
  7. ^ Giovannini, Joseph (October 29, 1987). "Shopping Canal St., New York's Attic". The New York Times.
  8. ISBN 9781439904176
    . Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Dobnik, Verena; McKernan, Bethan (June 13, 2013). "Chinatown's Counterfeit-Goods Economy Targeted In New York City Council Bill". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  10. ^ Hauser, Christine (February 27, 2008). "City Agents Shut Down 32 Vendors of Fake Items". The New York Times.
  11. ^ Kalman, Alex; Sinreich, Lola (January 16, 2010). "Op Ed: New York's Street of Schemes". The New York Times.
  12. ^ "NYC Map Of Exposure Zone" September 11th Victim Compensation Fund website

External links

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