New York, East Side: Pike Street

Max Pollak

After moving to America from Vienna Max Pollak was commissioned by author Theodore Dreiser to do a series of eight color etchings of New York which were then reproduced in his book "My City", published in 1929. This color etching and aquatint was done after the book was published, in an anticipated edition of 150. On October 29 of 1929 the stock market crashed and the editions were never finished.

Allen Street in Lower Manhattan runs through Chinatown and the Lower East Side. South of Division Street, it is known as "Pike Street". This vignette, "New York, Eastside Pike Street", suggests a narrow street lined with tenement buildings housing families and their businesses. There is a LAUNDRY sign above the head of a seated man reading his newspaper on the sidewalk with his dog nearby. Today Pike Street has been widened and much improved with a median park.