When I was a child in the 50s and 60s, my mother would drag my brother and me to shop at the Park Avenue Market, now known as La Marqueta. ​

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Park Avenue Market

I Remember

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Elevated train area containing La Marqueta

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Contained under the elevated Metro-North railway, the shopping area stretched from 111th Street to 116th Street. As we walked out of the warm summer heat and into the first block-long enclosed room, the light dimmed. The poor overhead florescent lighting crawled across the ceiling until it met the opposite wall in the distance. The clammer of buyer's voices over sellers bounced off the towering metallic walls. It was strange to be in such an ample space but feel claustrophobic because of the crowds. After my mother didn't find what she wanted, we walked out the exiting doors and moved through the fresh air. That sensation lasted for about fifteen seconds until we moved toward the entrance of the next store. After entering and exiting these light and noise situations three or four more times, our purchases of meat, fish, and whatever headed us home for the day.

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Store clerk selling to patron in La Marqueta May 1964

La Marqueta 1964

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The look of the market had changed drastically since those days when I was a boy, but I only warm memories of walking in one section of the market and out the other while I was gazing at the foods, clothing, and housewares. ​

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People milling around on Park Ave near La Marqueta 1964

La Marqueta 1964

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1 COMMENT

​ESMERALDA REYES MOLINA
8/29/2021 11:14:20 amThanks for the memory lane moment. My mother and father had a stand in La Marqueta but unfortunately lost everything in the big fire on the 4th of July

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