John Jobbagy is one of eight butchers left in the Meatpacking district. Meeting him for the first time, I was reminded of my roots as the child of a working-class Bronx family. John is a real New Yorker, the type of guy who remembers the Meatpacking District when it was still actually cool. He has watched the neighborhood change from gritty to trendy. Although some would argue that it’s more fun now that the butchers are gone, I agree with John that the cobblestoned streets have lost a lot of their character. Today, it’s difficult to tell the difference between the Meatpacking District and any other upscale neighborhood in Manhattan.
That’s not to say that John resents the changes in the neighborhood. To him, they were inevitable. The meat packing businesses that flourished 50 years ago were small, family-owned shops. Today, the economies of running such businesses just aren’t the same. When the butchers were forced out of their spaces, it made sense that the landlords leased them to expensive clubs and restaurants that could afford to pay higher rents.
But John doesn’t want to philosophize too much about the past. He just wants to continue what he’s been doing for the past 25 years, on the streets that he’s come to know as his own. And in his opinion, there’s enough room for everyone. In fact, he enjoys an occasional walk on the High Line, where he can reminisce about the days trains full of meat pulled up to his father’s warehouse on 10th Avenue. He may miss the good old days, but business is still good and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.
