"i love chinatown street vendors"

recently, reports of chinatown street vendors being harassed resurfaced again, 10 years after an intense period of police harassment as a result of then-mayor giuliani’s citywide “quality of life” campaign.

last week, i walked past a familiar spot where a food vendor sold fried noodles and egg rolls for as long as i can remember. they were popular with chinese and non-chinese customers alike, and everytime i approached this corner, i expected the smells of fried noodles, fish balls, and crispy egg rolls wafting through the air. i stopped in my tracks when i noticed the new shiny tourist map in place of the usual vendor. i convinced myself that the vendors probably took the day off (even though my heart was anxious about the tourist map, as memories of the canal street triangle — formerly inhabited by nearly a dozen street vendors in the 80’s and 90’s, now replaced by a lone, empty tourist kiosk — came flooding back). i held onto the hope that they were just taking the day off.

today, i walked past that spot again. still, no fried noodle vendor to be found.

seeing that the mini cake vendor is nearby, i’m hoping the fried food vendors are on a well-deserved vacation.