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The prominent vertical Port Arthur sign identifies this as Mott Street near the historic Port Arthur Restaurant at 7–9 Mott Street, making this a documented Chinatown street scene rather than an unidentified New York photograph.
The vendor’s cart carries a large hand-lettered sign advertising assorted nuts, including hot peanuts, salted peanuts, sugar peanuts, cashews, pistachios, and other varieties with period prices. Containers, equipment, and rows of packaged goods remain visible across the cart.
The photograph is especially rich in period detail, including:
- Port Arthur Restaurant vertical sign
- Chinese-language storefront signage
- Café, bar, and restaurant signs
- Chas. Horowitz & Sons “Moved” sign giving a Park Row and Baxter Street address
- Nut and peanut advertising on the vendor’s cart
- Manhattan tenement buildings and iron fire escapes
- Vintage automobile
- Cast-iron fire hydrant
- Pedestrians and neighborhood street life
- Brick-paved roadway
- Mid-century food-vending equipment
Port Arthur was one of the best-known historic restaurants in New York’s Chinatown. It opened in 1897 and occupied the upper floors of 7–9 Mott Street for more than 80 years.
Printed on Kodak Velox photographic paper. The reverse is otherwise blank and bears the stamped inventory number “764.”
Approximately 3.5 x 5 inches. Sold unframed.
A particularly evocative piece of New York City, Chinese American, restaurant, food-vending, and urban social history.
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