Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Listen: Seltzer Man, Knife Sharpener, Cowbell Guy Still Exist
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 30, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 30, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York Works is a vibrant series of audio portraits of New York characters plying dying trades, like the knife sharpener who still makes house calls and one of the city’s last water tower builders. Though recorded in 2002, the show’s charming portraits of a vanishing New York are more timely than ever – and, in case you missed it, they can be now listened to online.
One vignette covers a day in the life of Walter Backerman, a seltzer delivery man who inherited the business from his father, who in turn inherited it from his parents, who started the business in 1919. Now in his fifties, Backerman (pictured) has been a seltzer man his whole life, except for an aborted stint in law school. He acknowledges his profession “was anachronistic 30 years ago; now it’s like a resurrected ghost”. But loyal customers like Bronx resident Mildred Blitz – whose grandparents bought seltzer from Backerman’s grandparents – wouldn’t have it any other way:
I mean the seltzer is great, but it’s Walter. That’s the thing about his product. He’s the product. It’s not the seltzer, it’s Walter. He talks about retiring, I get sick. While we’re on the subject, would you like a glass of seltzer? I could make you a seltzer with chocolate and milk. What’s sad now is the seltzer that’s being sold in the supermarket doesn’t come close. It doesn’t have the taste; it’s nothing. When you open the top it fizzles a little the first time and then it dies, a horrible death. Ich, it’s awful.
New York Works also visited the Bronx workshop of Cali Rivera, one of the last handmade cowbell manufacturers in the world. Rivera demonstrates the difference between his cowbells and a factory-made bell: THUNK THUNK THUNK. “That's a dead bell, this is ready to do to sleep.” Another winner is the afternoon spent with the late "Brassiere Maven" Selma Koch, owner of the Upper West Side’s Town Shop, who passed away at 95 a year after the show was recorded:
The thing that's made this bra business so fantastic is that bosoms have gotten so big. When we started, cups were A/B. and C. Now some of the most successful brasseries many are making E, F, G and H! And they are big. You could almost live in them. Looks like a big tent, doesn't it? And they're young things. I mean they're not just stiff old ladies.
And anyone itching to tell their story can also participate in a similar but unrelated project called StoryCorps, a national project that has been documenting tens of thousands of personal, oral histories to be archived at the Library of Congress. Reservations are still being taken for recording sessions at two temporary booths in Grand Central Station and in Foley Square; a ten dollar donation is requested and you walk away with a CD recording of your conversation with a friend or StoryCorps "facilitator."
Photo of Walter Backerman via Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet.
Tagged
bra
bronx
Cali Rivera
cowbell
delivery
new york
new york works
radio diaries
Selma Koch
seltzer
storycorps
the city
Upper West
Upper West Side
Walter Backerman
west side
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .