Peelers, No More

Sad news today. NYC's most awesome peeler seller, Mr. Joe Ades, passed away on Sunday. I often stopped to watch his presentation, usually in Union Square, and finally, last summer, invested in one of his peelers.

That day, sadly, I thought to myself, "He's getting pretty old...I should buy one of these, or I'll regret it." Then, he picked me as the random onlooker to peel a slice from the carrot--and it was such a smooth shave that I was convinced. I kept watching his wonderful show, as usual, but then a bitter guy yelled about how he'd bought one, and that it was really crappy, and that we shouldn’t been taken in by the scam. I felt so bad for Mr. Ades, since he seemed like a kind gentleman who really enjoyed (and was very good at) hawking his wares. He didn’t deserve the asshole treatment. So, that did it. I reached for my wallet and made my purchase.

I haven’t mastered his method for julienning carrots (about 2:20 into the vid), but I’ve sure peeled some clean potatoes.

Thank you, Mr. Ades, for bringing some eccentric joy to New York’s streets.

(Check out the City Room blog post, with a link to the obit.)