Jeffrey Ruhalter, who runs the butcher shop in the Essex Street Market between Delancey and Rivington Streets, has a gallery and community art space behind the counter, as well. Ruhalter said the family-owned business started in the 1920s and is now in its fourth generation and has been in the market since the day it opened. Above, he poses with a portrait that someone painted of him. Below, Norman Shapiro, of Shapiro Wines, has had his kosher wine business in the Essex Street Market for the last several years. Previously, the famous kosher wine business had been on Rivington Street for decades. The low market building, which stretches for several blocks on the east side of Essex Street, was originally built for pushcart vendors under former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as a way to get the pushcarts off the streets. Today, the actual market only occupies part of one building in the Essex Street Market.
