An Englishman in New York – a freelancer who spends an inordinate amount of time window-gazing on deadline – captured candid shots of that knife-sharpening guy in his van as he cruised the Streets of ProHo on a recent April afternoon. While Mr. Del Re wouldn’t sit for an interview, the New York Times had already profiled the guy, way back in 1997–in a time when there was no American Idol, low-carb pasta, nor JFK shuttle. A time so remote that not one episode of Sex and the City had ever been broadcast (and NONE were available on DVD). A time when … anyway, Mr. Del Re was born in Mola, Italy and is about 49 years old: He work as a commodities trader until the 1987 Wall Street crash, when his firm went bust.
Link: Cutting Edge [An Englishman in New York]
I wish I knew when he was coming around, he did my fabric scissors once years ago, and they were extremely sharp.
Hey now. What are you trying to say? You’ll get me sacked by my editors! It’s a great van, isn’t it? I took that photo last week and he was back on Park Place again this week. BTW Did you see how well Nina Paley did? She was linked to on BoingBoing. What a talent.
Well, I’ll be. And they took my little introduction. Turbanhead, you introduction-stealer, you!
haha. I took your intro and used it on that secret website. i guess it was then stolen for use on boing boing. ha!
Yeah I don’t know how the average unmarried housewife (me) can be expected to catch this guy when he comes around. I have heard him on Bergen St. I picture myself running out the door, waving my chef’s knife, yelling “wait! wait!” It just doesn’t seem practical. He must focus on restaurants. For the rest of us, there’s the shoe repair on the south side of Atlantic between 3rd and 4th. They sharpen knives and scissors.
Del Re in the red truck is not as good as the guy in the green truck who used to come around all the time. It’s not enough to just hold the knife against the grinding wheel, you have to hold it at just the right angle, and not deviate at all. Del Re has put some totally random scratches on my knives. The guy in the green truck on the other hand is great. If enough people patronize one of these guys, he’ll be on your block for maybe an hour doing everybody’s knives, and you don’t have to spot him driving by and flag him down. They have very tasteful bells to announce their presence.