Bread Store, 259 Bleecker Street, Manhattan
Berenice Abbot proposed Changing New York, her grand project to document New York City, to the Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1935. Two years later on a chilly February day, she snapped this image of Zito’s Bakery. The 5-cent loaves are clearly fresh from the oven, their warmth fogging up the front window. It’s not hard to imagine the smell that must have been wafting through the cool wintry air, reaching Abbott as she set up her camera to get the shot, despite her skeptical onlookers in the window.
At the time, Zito’s Bakery had been open just over a decade, but little did Abbott (or the current Zito’s owners) know that this bakery would become a neighborhood staple with lines down the block until its close in 2004. The storefront now stands as a stylish Italian brunch and dinner spot. But rather than look back in nostalgia, we look at this photo as a testament to the enduring and ever-changing neighborhoods of New York.
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A portion of the proceeds from this edition will go towards the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City to help those affected by the March 26th building collapse in the East Village.
