Ronnie Breyer

Raising Anchor

Text published in the New York Times, December 12, 2004

IF you happen to be on lower South Street just before midnight, you'll see the Fulton Fish Market being prepared for its midnight-to-8 a.m. "day" of buying and selling fish. Bleary-eyed men stumble around with their first coffee of the morning, 80-foot trucks unload, and mini-forklifts, called hi-los, beep by with boxes wrapped in tattered plastic. Yet sometimes it is so peaceful, you can hear lobsters clawing the inside of their plastic containers.

The open-air market, one of the city's iconic places, has been thriving on this spot since 1835. But early next year, after countless rumors of a move, it is finally relocating to a new $85 million, 450,000-square-foot facility in Hunts Point in the Bronx. The pending move has the market's 600 workers, many of them with decades of experience, overflowing with opinions, memories and stories.

Their Stories
My grandfather came over in 1914 from Russia, Poland, somewhere in that area. He was in the retail fish business. He used to take the horse and wagon over the Brooklyn Bridge to buy fish. But there are a lot of imported fish here that my grandfather wouldn't even know what they are. Even fish my father wouldn't know. - David Samuels, 53, owner, Blue Ribbon Fish Company. Years at the market: 35.

I absolutely never thought I'd be in the fish business. Not in a million years. I thought I was going to be a disc jockey. I love music. And here I am.
      I grew up down here, visiting my uncle in the summertime, working summers down here. I was just turned on by the whole idea. I had hair down to my back, I could wear ripped jeans, and no one ever told me what to do. - John Flanigan, 36, co-owner and vice president, Emerald Seafood. Years at the market: 17.

I've worked a little bit everywhere. I've taught, I worked for a roofing company, I worked for Stroock & Stroock & Lavan at 180 Maiden Lane, right over there. I did everything: deliver papers, make coffee, carry things for elderly attorneys, do the mail, stand in line at motor vehicles - anything to get out of the office. Then they decided they were going to bring in outside people, and that was that.
      On my first day here, I'm looking up there at the 40th floor, and I'm like, man, I've fallen a long way. But I like that I'm feeding people. When I worked for the law firm, I was working for a bunch who were basically working for rich people taking money from poor people.
      I had no training, no nothing. They were like, "You just sign for the stuff and count it." And I was like, "All right." The first couple are easy, "Oh, yeah, two, three, five." And then all of a sudden, they give you, "Oh, yeah, 575." Now, I can just eye it up. I just know how many are on a pallet, what to look for, what could be missing. But it's hard at first. - Keith Nicolay, 47, receiver, Universal Fish. Years at the market: 5.

Good Memories
I've been working in the market since 1976, when I was 23. Back then, it was great. It was the highlight of my life. It was old men with cigars, ripped-up pants, and smelling like an old fish. There were wooden boxes, not Styrofoam. Fish would be coming in off the trucks, and unloaded by hand. Everything was prehistoric, mysterious.
      There was a bar across the street called Dirty Ernie's. Really horrible, dirty, but everybody would be in there every day, eating, because he was a great cook. There were old men in the bar eating breakfast and having shots of whiskey to keep warm. - Ronnie Breyer, 50, dispatcher, Fulton Village. Years at the market: 28.

Obviously, we love this place. You can talk with any man. It's in our heart, it's in our bones. Cobblestone streets, the smell, the air, the buildings, the two bridges. You look at the Brooklyn Bridge and the sunrise every morning, it's beautiful. You were a young man when you started, and there is your nostalgia, your life is here, your memories. - Eddie Cruci, 41, senior salesman, M. Slavin & Sons. Years at the market: 23.

Good Riddance
I know it doesn't seem like much when I say it, but it's 100 percent humidity with no breeze. My boss describes it, "Standing here is like being in someone's mouth."
      I'm wearing a hat because of the pigeons, not because I want to wear one. - Dave Walthall, 42, journeyman, Universal Seafood. Years at the market: 16.

Why They Love Working With Fish
It's amazing to see what the ocean produces. Sometimes you'll find a fish that is normally a Pacific fish, that will make it through the Gulf Stream, through the Panama Canal or all the way around South America, like an opah, to the East Coast, which is so bizarre. Sometimes a fisherman will catch a strange fish, send it to us and say, "Please tell me what it is when you get it." - John Flanigan

This is fun. It's like Wall Street, except with fish. What's beautiful about a fish being perishable is from a Monday to a Friday, the price of a certain species can fluctuate hundreds of percent. So when you buy it and when you sell it is very important. That's where the fun part is. - Eddie Cruci

They say there is a curse in the fish market; once you start, you can never leave. I tried a couple times, but you always find yourself coming back. I did a little bit of college, but I found that I liked doing this.
       It's sort of like playing cards; always a gamble, always taking chances. This is the second-oldest profession after prostitution, the fish business. - John Flanigan

Every species has its own little nuance. There is so much mutation over time. It's Darwinian: how to be more hydrodynamic, or how to be a better predator, or be a better prey with camouflage, or fighting mechanisms. - Eddie Cruci

I've learned a lot. Before, I was just into crabs and shrimp. Now I'm into whiting, sushi. I've really developed a thing for squid, Alaskan crab legs.
      I don't know how these guys out here fillet. They're cutting fish, if they slip, they cut off a finger, it's 10 degrees out, they're just cutting away, it gets pretty crazy. I guess that's the appeal of it. - Keith Nicolay

I'm very persnickety when it comes to fish. It's got to be white fillet. I'm not a fish person. I didn't grow up liking fish. I still don't like fish. I don't know how you can dig into a hearty piece of fish; it's a delicate thing. I like McDonald's and Chinese food. - Eddie Cruci

The Smell
I change my clothes before and after work. The only thing I'm wearing when I first came in, is my underwear, and I'll change again to go home. But my clothes, just from hanging upstairs, are still going to smell like fish. I spray some Febreze on them, I wash up with soap and water, put on a little cologne. But if you have anywhere important to go afterward, you've got to go home first. It's the smell of money, that's what I tell everybody. - Dave Walthall

I embrace the smell of fresh fish; it's almost a rush to me. When you open a good box of fish, you see it; it's jumping out of the box, and you get that fresh sea smell. As far as the pungency of the smell, when fish goes bad, you develop a tolerance for that. I remember when I first came down, it bothered me. Now, it is what it is. - Eddie Cruci

The smell? You get used to it. I just make sure I wash. I use lemon, I use bleach. But sometimes I think I go home so clean, then I'll have breakfast at a diner, and people will start to sniff and say, "I smell fish." Like I always say, if we worked for a cesspool company, we'd smell like something else. - Ronnie Breyer

Late-Night Visitors
When graduation time comes, limos come down here, because the seniors like to go to the Seaport. They stick their heads out of the sunroof and flash us. In the summertime, sometimes drunk women will flash us, and they have 500 guys whistling at them. Once a guy was doing a porno shoot for a magazine, he brought a model and she had a blast. I guess once we move to the Bronx, that'll be over. - Dave Walthall

Ethnicity
The ownership hasn't changed much; it's Italian and Jewish. But the work force has changed; you have more Hispanic, African-American, Asian. There are no ethnic boundaries down here; money is the joining factor. Whoever has the money to pay for the fish, you're my buddy. - Eddie Cruci

The Mob
They made this place out to be like there were monsters in the closet. I understand the F.D.A. rules, but a lot of the other regulations - background checks, watching everything you do and say, always having to say who you're working for, having to wear a badge. I've been down here 27 years, I didn't do anything wrong.
       We're not doing anything we didn't do 20 years ago. And if any people did, they're either in jail, they did their time, or they're dead. - Ronnie Breyer

Family Matters
It takes a very understanding wife to deal with a husband who comes home at 10, 11 a.m. The meat of everybody's day, when everybody is wide awake, you have to sleep. - Eddie Cruci

I see my wife and kids for two hours a day during the week. I have little kids, and you turn around and they're doing something new, and that's hard. My uncle told my wife when she married me: "You're marrying a fish guy. It's not easy." She said, "O.K., I love him, I'll marry him." - John Flanigan

Why They're Bitter
Nobody really wanted to move. Nobody said, "Oh, we'd rather be inside." We don't care about working outside.
      People come down here and say: "I can't believe the fish market is moving. It's been here forever." The old-timers that used to work down here, they'd be turning in their graves. - John Puleo, 43. Owner, South Street Seafood. Years in the market: 15.

People have been selling fish on this location since the Indians. It goes totally against karma to move. I don't even know if I'll have a job up there. What I do might not even exist in the new setup. - Keith Nicolay

There is no big party, no nothing. The party will be between the guys that work down here, that's it. The city isn't going to say, "Guys, let's throw you something before you get out of here, just to say goodbye." Nobody is doing that; nobody cares. It's like they're going to throw us wherever they're going to throw us, and say: "You know what? If you go under, you go under. We don't care." A lot of the little guys are going to go under, and it's going to hurt. - John Puleo

What's going to be a drag is that I won't be able to come back here because it's going to be gone. It'll be like going back to a neighborhood you lived in, that used to be great old houses, and now it's all prefab. When I was a kid, I lived in a great place, and then all of a sudden they just came in and wiped out the woods, and built prefab apartments. Same with this. - Keith Nicolay

How they're allowing it, I don't know. When they wanted to toss the meat market out of the West Side, you know what happened? The people from landmarks came down and told the city, "You can't do that."
      This is way more historical than the meat market. The landmarks people should have come down here and said to the city: "Listen, they can't move out of here. This is part of history; these guys stay." - John Puleo

Why They're Relieved
There is absolutely a magnificent view from Hunts Point. Oh, my God, you're looking at the river, and on the other side you see Queens, you see the planes taking off. It's gorgeous; the sun comes right up there. If you go down to the end of this dock here, there is a magnificent view of all the bridges, but I don't see it very often unless I take a tourist there. A view is great, but after 35 years, that's enough view. - David Samuels

Maybe 100 years ago this was a viable place for an open-air market, but 100 years later, we're getting squished. It's a nice venue for us up there: more space, more access for the vehicles, a controlled-temperature environment.
      It's going to be great for the fish. It won't be too hot in the summer, or too cold in the winter. Hopefully that will stimulate business.
      Nostalgic-wise, you don't like it, because you're going up to a sterile environment and leaving Manhattan. But that has to take a back seat to the economy. Hopefully, like the movie "Field of Dreams," if you build it, they will come. - Eddie Cruci

Am I going to have nostalgia leaving this old, depressing building? To move to an indoor, refrigerated facility? Oh, yes, absolutely. My arthritis will have nostalgia. - David Samuels

Last Words
I took an old sign home, I took an old scale, because everything is digital, I took some old-fashioned tags and put them all in the tiki bar I built in my backyard, next to the pool. I got the little South Street Seaport sign. I'm trying to find little things.
      My brother worked here, but he's out on S.S.I. He got run over by a hi-lo. I'm against hi-los down here, all the new, modern things. We had hand trucks, and we lifted things. I understand everything had to get modernized, but the old way was the best way.
      I just hope the new market works. If it doesn't, I don't know. I'll open up a bagel store or something. - Ronnie Breyer