Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Life
Graphic
Portraits ›

Pasquale Spensieri, Grinder

Pasquale Spensieri spends his days driving around Brooklyn looking for dull blades. When he rings the bell on his truck, the owners of upholstery shops, restaurants and pizza parlors come out with knives and scissors to sharpen. Pasquale’s father first started sharpening knives during the Depression, with a pedal-operated grinding machine strapped to his back. At that time, there were hundreds of door-to-door grinders in New York. Today, at the age of 71, Pasquale is one of the last. This story originally aired on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Comments are closed.

You may also like ...

Graphic

Cali Rivera, Cowbell Maker

Forty-five years ago, Cali Rivera started out with a dream to make the perfect cowbell.

Listen
Graphic

Walter Backerman, Seltzer Man

Once there were thousands of seltzer men in New York City. Today, Walter Backerman is one of the last.

Listen
css.php