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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.
The Next Big Thing (NPR) 2/23/2002
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Piece Description
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. The Next Big Thing (NPR) 2/23/2002
Transcript
Pasquale Spensieri - GRINDER
New York Works: Audio Portraits of a Vanishing City Produced by: Emily Botein & Joe Richman The Next Big Thing (NPR) 2/23/2002
Dean Olsher, host: Pasquale Spensieri spends his days riding around Brooklyn looking for dull blades. When he rings the bell on is truck, the owners of upholstery shops and restaurants and pizza parlors know that its time to get out their knives and their scissors to be sharpened. It?s not something you see very often these days, but during the depression there were hundreds of guys going around with peddle operated grinders strapped to their backs.
BELL RINGS, CAR ENGINE, and TRAFFIC
Pasquale Spensieri: My names Pasquale Spensieri. And I?m a scissor sharpener, a knife sharpener. This is my truck. This is my office. This is my workplace (RINGS BELL) Th bell gets confusing? One time an old lady came to me says give me a cho...
Read the full transcript
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