...and bagels are a loser. A couple of years ago all these little alumninum carts started popping up around Manhattan during morning rush hour. They sell hot coffee, bagels, donuts, pastry, and to be truth, they ain't bad. The deli owners were (and are) furious.
I'll bet...the carts have some real advantages...go where the business takes you, you don't have to pay rent on a building, you don't pay for electricity, plumbing or sewer (although I imagine that the licenses for those carts are not cheap)
This whole discussion brought back memories of Italian street-corner organ grinders and their little begging monkeys in gold-braided uniforms and caps.
We actually had them performing in our neighborhoods many, many years ago in the Chicago suburbs where I grew up. One Italian street corner guy had a huge dancing bear. It was muzzled and on a thick chain, but boy, could that baby dance (da bear, that is)!
Nowadays, these men would be run off the streets by the cops and the PETA busybodies. I'm glad I grew up seeing wonderful and colorful things that have long disappeared from the street scenes.
Leni