1930s Mayor Passed Controversial Law With Huge Backlash In NYC

Early-morning shoppers at Brooklyn Terminal Market had no idea that criminals were among them, browsing through crates of apples and inspecting stalks of celery, just like them. In fact, the shoppers couldn’t have known that they were participating in the crime themselves. Every time they held up one particular vegetable to check its freshness, the dangerous men blending into the crowd knew their devious deed was succeeding...until the mayor himself unexpectedly showed up with a message for the crooks.

New York, 1935

One winter morning in 1935, those participating in the not-so-secret goings-on at Brooklyn Terminal Market were horrified when a stern, unwelcome face appeared, shouting for everyone’s attention from the back of a vegetable truck. It was a face that more than a few New Yorkers had grown to resent.

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia — yes, that LaGuardia — was the last person people expected to see at Brooklyn Terminal Market on December 21, 1935. The horde of police he brought with him were equally unusual, especially when they played a horn fanfare that silenced the market’s chattering customers. 

The Mayor's Speech

LaGuardia climbed onto the bed of a nearby vegetable truck and cleared his throat. Around him, the peddlers, farmers, and shoppers looked on in confusion. Most of them wondered what the mayor of New York City could possibly have to say that was important enough to warrant bringing along an entire armed police force.

An Unusual Announcement

Well, what he ended up saying left many of the crowd feeling decidedly unfestive: Starting December 26th, the city was banning the sale, display, and possession of a commonly-used item, the one many customers already had sitting in their shopping bags.