Guss' Pickles

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Offers pickles made from scratch and sold in barrels

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Guss' is history: that's the way the city's street looked in 1910. Guss' shows the co-existence of cultures and traditions and that the city is alive. You're buying from a real place and you know where the pickles come from. And the quality of pickles is high--Guss' has old, new, pickled cherry peppers, all kinds. I used to go with my mother when she visited. I live in D.C. and they don't know pickles here.

Guss' Pickles has been a landmark on the Lower East Side for over 20 years, I believe. I give tours for the Tenement Museum and after almost every tour, someone asks me to direct them to Guss' Pickles because their parents or grandparents used to go there or they've heard about it because it's a "landmark." Pickles are sold from the barrel and put into bags or jars. People line up on the street to get pickles or pickled items. There is no store, so it is reminiscent of the street vendors/pushcarts that used to be all over the area.