Canal Street Research Association’s exhibition New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original examined the legacy and current conditions of the Counterfeit Triangle, a triangular scrap of land where Canal meets Walker and Centre Streets — and the site of a major 2008 counterfeit bust that left an indelible mark on the landscape. Most tenants were evicted following the bust and the New Land Plaza mini-mall has remained largely empty since then. Instead of renting the interior to small businesses, the property manager instead rents the entire facade to a single large business as advertising. One recent campaign featured Boar’s Head deli meats with its marketing motto boldly emblazoned across the empty property: “You Can’t Beat a New York Original.” 

As part of ongoing research into all manner of Canal Street hustles, Canal Street Research Association presents a new T-shirt made in collaboration with Rachel Pinker of Killer Tees, who recently set up shop in the defunct Coffee World just east of New Land Plaza — among a string of storefronts left vacant by the 2008 bust. A more recent arrival to the Triangle, Rachel is a veteran of downtown streetwear scenes and was previously owner of the legendary 8th Street Lab of the early 00s and All Saints on Saint Marks. Specializing in heat transfers of Canal Street designs — the fast and fleeting looks that comprise the unofficial t-shirt market — Killer Tees functions as a kind of open-air gallery of wild looks and homages both poignant and obscene.

Featuring archival and iconic Canal Street imagery, this new shirt honors the life of the Triangle past and present, from its days as a thriving produce market of mostly immigrant vendors who were expelled by police in 1998 to the 2008 bust and ongoing persecution of bootleg vendors operating in the area’s informal economy today. The advertising slogan “You Can’t Beat a New York Original” becomes a rallying cry for the block itself, and the resilient creativity of immigrant communities and unofficial markets. 

A limited edition of shirts are available from Storefront for Art and Architecture. You can also purchase from Killer Tees at 232 Canal Street. A conversation between Canal Street Research Association and Rachel Pinker on retail, souvenirs, and the unofficial designs of Canal Street will be published as part of Storefront for Art and Architecture’s Reader in the spring.