During the great wave of
immigration around the turn of
the century, Jews, Italians,
Greeks and Chinese came to
Beale Street to pursue their
fortunes. They established
pawnshops, clothing stores,
restaurants, produce stands,
theaters, and clubs that, after
1920, served a predomintely
Black clientele. Customers from
the city and surrounding rural
areas crowded Beale's sidewalks
till you had to walk in the street
to pass by.
"What store hours? We never
had store hours. When we were
here, we were here." Bernard Lansky
"My daddy had a shop
right there by the market
where Handy Park is
now. All the truck farmers
use to come here with
their vegetables and sell their
produce. They'd line
up in their stalls,
four or five hundred people every morning
trading their
vegetables."
Frank Liberto Sr.
"When he came to this
country in 1890, my father
peddled. He didn't have
anywhere to sleep. He'd
look at these little homes
with lawns and green
grass and say, 'I just pray
that someday I'll have a
home like that.' He was
trying to get established.
He opened a produce
place right there on Beale
and Mulberry."
Mrs. Nello Pacini
Center for Southern Forklore
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