The Italian Market Is Older Than You Think

The 9th Street Italian Market is often billed as one of the oldest open-air markets in America, with a traditional founding date of 1884. Italian immigrants arrived in the neighborhood in large numbers in the 1880s, and pushcart vending along 9th Street grew around the turn of the century. Today, you'll find not just Italian vendors but Mexican, Vietnamese, Korean, and Caribbean shops. The cheese shops still hang provolone in the windows, and butchers display whole pigs. On Saturday mornings, the crowd is so thick you can barely walk. It's the closest thing to a European market in America.