New York City is constantly in flux, as are its industries. At the turn of the century, meatpackers crowded lower Manhattan, shipping thrived on Red Hook’s shores and customers patronized small independently owned pharmacies and travel agencies. Today, only a handful of meatpackers remain in the Meatpacking District, which is dotted with clubs, trendy restaurants and upscale shops, Red Hook’s long-abandoned waterfront is showing signs of life, the South Bronx is home to dozens of new green businesses, and throughout the city, mom and pop retailers from pharmacy owners, travel agents and car-parts owners are learning how to deal with new challenges—the Internet, the city’s development plans and the arrival of national chains.
Here, students at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism take a look at the shape of some segment’s of New York’s industries in 2010 and examine how a few lone remnants of a bygone era continue to survive despite the swirl of change around them.
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