Italian Market (Philadelphia)
A weekend crowd during the Christmas season at Di Bruno Bros. cheese shop in the Italian Market
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 Location within Philadelphia
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| Location | Bella Vista neighborhood, Philadelphia |
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| Coordinates | 39°56′20″N 75°09′28″W / 39.939°N 75.1578°WCoordinates: 39°56′20″N 75°09′28″W / 39.939°N 75.1578°W |
| PA marker dedicated | October 12, 2007 |
The Italian Market is the popular name for the South 9th Street Curb Market, an area of South Philadelphia featuring many grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, butcher shops, etc., many with an Italian influence. The historical heart of the market is the area of 9th Street between Christian Street and Washington Avenue, and is now generally considered to extend from Fitzwater Street at the north to Wharton Street at the south. The term Italian Market is also used to describe the surrounding neighborhood between South Street to the North and Wharton Street to the South running a few blocks to the east and west of 9th street.
Although it is considered the social and commercial heart of the Philadelphia Italian community, the Ninth Street Market was an ethnic mix from its inception. In recent years, an influx of immigrants from Latin America, mainly from Mexico and to a lesser degree from Central American countries like Guatemala and El Salvador, has significantly changed the Italian Market area and it is now also home to many stores and restaurants catering to South Philadelphia's small Hispanic population.
The Italian Market, frequently referred to simply as 9th Street, has its origins as a marketplace in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The area, outside the original boundaries of William Penn's planned city, was an area for immigrants to settle in. Italian immigrants began to move into the area around 1884, when Antonio Palumbo began receiving Italian immigrants into his boardinghouse. Shops along 9th Street opened up shortly afterward to cater to the new Italian community and have remained in the area to this day, with many of the present vendors tracing the founding of their businesses back to the first decade of the 20th century.
The name "Italian Market" came about in the mid-1970s as supermarket chains began to move to the area. During this time, many other ethnicities abandoned the Market, and the Ninth Street Market was left with a predominantly Italian population that continued to buy, sell, and operate in the market.
The area continues to attract new immigrants as a significant number of Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Mexican-run businesses have joined the traditional Italian shops in the market. Many new Mexican stores have opened up around the market. Many Latino immigrants also work in the market.
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Wikipedia