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REIMAGINING THE BUTCHER BLOCK: HOW THE BUTCHERS OF SOUTH NINTH STREET CREATED THE ITALIAN MARKET
Goodall, Ruby
Goodall, Ruby
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Thesis/Dissertation
Date
2012
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History
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/1303
Abstract
This paper explores the development of authentic place through the story of Philadelphia's South Ninth Street Market butchers, and how they consciously highlighted their Italian immigrant heritage to respond to the changing postwar environment. Excellent sociological and historical studies of authenticity as a marketing tool have been written in the past decade, but have primarily focused on city development, corporate business models, and the consumer's search for authenticity. In this thesis, the main players are small businessmen - local butcher shop owners - and we look at their use of the history and heritage of their shops and neighborhood to strengthen their businesses and preserve their curb market. Between 1945 and 1975 these men transformed their businesses from routine neighborhood butcher shops into embodiments of a culinary community heritage. Focusing on these butcher shops illuminates the role that taste and food - and in this case, particularly meat - plays in linking the present with the past. Looking at newspaper articles featuring detailed descriptions and interviews of the mid-century market, and from the physical presence of the shops, this paper asks, what has changed? How did the market go from a grimy, everyday curb market to a tourist destination in just a few decades? And how have the butchers turn themselves into the historic heart of South Philadelphia? By answering these questions, we will be able to understand how the market's butchers championed their own authenticity and in doing so, remade the identity of the market.
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