Faces of the past

4th Street Curb Market on September 16, 1915. City of Philadelphia, Department of Records.

Take time to look around and situate yourself. The picture depicts a curb market in 1926 on the corner of the street, at the intersection of South Fourth Street and Bainbridge Street. As walk down the street notice what has changed and what looks the same.The newly established community was starting anew in a foreign land, making the best of their resources, purchasing pushcart licenses to sell dry goods and schmata, a Yiddish word for rags or cloths. Who were the people who populated these streets? It's the 1920s: 623 S 4th Street is rented by the ambitious 19-year-old Lottie Feldman, a wage worker at a local tailor shop. Not far from Lottie's apartment lives Herman Epstein, a Russian immigrant who moved to the United States with his wife Lena, and kids, Mollie, Isador, Bella, Beatrice, and Harvey, and supports his family through his cloak-making business. Between them, in 1923 the first owners of Famous Deli opened what is now known as Famous Delicatessen, the oldest remaining deli in the city.

Famous Deli, circa 1933. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries.

In the 1930s, 614 S 4th Street is home to the Klernfreat family. Ellas and Anna rent an apartment for their numerous family of six, made up of their sons and daughters, Herman, Mildred, David, and Sarah. The Klernfreat's family owns a hat shop.

S 4th and Bainbridge Street. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries.

Imagine you are walking through a curb market, pushing your way through the crowd. As you walk past Bainbridge Street, maybe with a pastrami sandwich in your hands, pause and reflect on the personal stories of the people who lived here.

Intersection of S 4th and Bainbridge Street, 1936. City of Philadelphia, Department of Records.

Citations

Pennsylvania, Historical Society of. “Fabric Row.” PhilaPlace. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.philaplace.org/story/89/. “Fabric Row.” n.d. Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/fabric-row/. “PhilaPlace - Mapping South 4th Street to Fabric Row.” 2024. Philaplace.org. 2024. https://www.philaplace.org/resource/468/. “Fourth Street.” n.d. Www.fabricmuseum.org. Accessed April 21, 2024. http://www.fabricmuseum.org/Fourth_Street_intro.html. “Jqp/Jewish-Quarter.” n.d. Www.museumoffamilyhistory.com. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jqp-jewish-quarter.htm. Still Philadelphia: a photographic history, 1890-1940 by Fredric M. Miller, Morris J. Vogel, Allen F. Davis. Philadelphia stories: a photographic history, 1920-1960  by Fredric M. Miller, Morris J. Vogel, Allen F. Davis. Heather Gibson Moqtaderi, and Mehron Moqtaderi. 2014. Philadelphia’s Old Southwark District. Arcadia Publishing.