Meet the People Who Make New York City’s Summer Hustle Happen

After a stalled season last year, the beach buskers, bait sellers and heladeros embody the spirit of a city scrambling back.

Like the merciful cracking-open of a fire hydrant on a scalding day, summer promises to be that long-awaited relief for New York. Vaccines are here, many masks are off and there is a growing sense among some — though not all — that the city’s inching back to normal. And to many New Yorkers, the hot pavement and once-again-packed beaches mean the return of something else: the summer hustle. It is the season for New York’s boldest entrepreneurs. They hawk illicit cocktails on the beach, offer bouquets to motorists in chaotic city traffic and blow big bubbles at children in the parks for tips.