The Way We Were: The Milkman Cometh (Again)

JANUARY 18, 2011

Decades before fancy food trucks and Fresh Direct, treats on wheels (and the faces behind them) were a familiar sight in city neighborhoods.

The advent of Facebook-as-time-machine has made it possible for neighborhood buddies dispersed since playground days to share common memories, hazy with time but no less poignant. Canarsie, Brooklyn neighbors will never forget Teddy the Ice Cream Man. Ruby the Knish Man spoiled many an appetite on the way home from school. And the seltzer delivery man brought fizzy water—in jewel-toned glass bottles, and often with a choice of flavored syrups—necessary for making egg creams and other treats.

Forward to a new century. While gourmet food trucks threaten to overtake taxis in their ubiquity on city streets, the old staples are once again being delivered to doorsteps by human hands and a familiar face. Seltzer purists are ordering seltzer delivered by Walter Backerman, third generation seltzerman, from the city’s oldest and last remaining seltzer route (via Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York). The slatted truck full of the bubbly stuff from Gomberg Seltzer Works leaves the Canarsie factory every day loaded with the same vintage bottles they’ve always used (via Reclaimed Home).

And Manhattan Milk puts a modern spin on delivering glass bottles of fresh, cold, organic milk to Manhattan doorsteps every week (including low- and non-fat, cream-topped whole and chocolate milk, plus eggs, butter, cheese, and yogurt). The company just added Brooklyn to their rounds and has plans to expand in that direction. Can it be long before the Knish Man returns to spoil Junior’s dinner on the way home from school?

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The Way We Were: The Milkman Cometh (Again)

JANUARY 18, 2011

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