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Playlist: Matt Rogers's Portfolio

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The Vendor's Hustle

From Matt Rogers | 48:34

There are ten thousand street vendors in New York City, that magnet for the world's poor and America's hopeful; some licensed and some not. Vendors make the streets of the Big Apple pulse as they sell anything from cut price CDs, to t-shirts or tamales. Some vendors are trying to just get by; others are hoping this is the start of something big. Ex-pat Aussie producer Deepa Fernandes is now at home in the depths of New York City, and she brings us this lively journey into daily life from the perspective of two unlikely guides.

Img_0487_small For most of us, every day life in New York City is the stuff of Hollywood movies or police dramas like Law and Order. Today on 360 we throw a completely different lens onto the city that never sleeps. We travel its famous landmarks, as well as some of the little known nooks, blocks, corners and conference rooms, with two hard working street vendors. Aussie producer Deepa Fernandes has been living in West Harlem for over a decade where her daily life is peppered with frequent interactions with the city’s street vendors. These enterprising merchants can be found all over New York City, and they sell everything from 50 cent breakfast bagels to cheap lunchtime ethnic delicacies. Need a warm pair of gloves in a pinch? Or forgot your mobile phone charger at home? You’ll probably find a vendor on the nearest corner to satisfy your need. So who are the men and women who sell on the streets of the big apple? It’s a story that’s weaves between the Mexican immigrant who risked her life crossing the border to get to New York and the war veteran who returned from serving his country only to land in a homeless shelter. In our program today, the Vendor's Hustle, we cruise the streets of America's big city with two of the most unlikely guides.