Lisbon used to be home to street hawkers and peddlers, but unfortunately many of the professions of yesteryear are now extinct. Let’s remember the ones we miss the most:
Signal policeman
The main task of the signal policeman was to regulate traffic in the city and their presence at intersections attracted a lot of affection from passers-by.
They were respected figures in Lisbon life and the truth is that, although they have been replaced by traffic lights, they made traffic much more humane.
Ardina
The ardinas were the newspaper sellers who peddled their wares in the streets, announcing the first news of the day.
In the absence of the now recurrent newsstands and stationery shops, they sold newspapers on the streets of the city and were one of the most frequent street vendors in Lisbon.
Waterboy
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, waterboys were one of the most typical figures in Lisbon. They fetched water from the city’s various fountains, which they then distributed in barrels to whoever wanted it, while they advertised.
With the popularization of piped water, the profession disappeared.
Laundress
Laundresses usually came from the outskirts of Lisbon and, in the city, collected the clothes to wash, which they then brought back, usually in a bundle on their heads.
They washed their clothes in tanks, laundries or in the river; in Lisbon, there were dozens of public laundries, suitable for washing clothes by hand outside the home – some still exist.
Street vendor
In the old days, Lisbon was a territory where street vendors abounded, and there were many of them in various fields. In the streets, it was normal to find street vendors selling lace, ice cream, milk and just plain knick-knacks.
It was also common to find vendors specializing in men’s fashion, selling ties and hats exclusively.
Greaser
Of all the professions, this must be the only one that still has some representation in the city. With the mission of making shoes shine, shoeshine boys were a very popular profession due to the high demand: there wasn’t a man who didn’t want to have his shoes “toyed up”.
Nowadays they’re harder to find, but they still exist… hopefully forever.
Reviewer
Before electronic ticket validation, this task was the responsibility of streetcar and bus conductors. They were affectionately known as “picas” and musicians António Zambujo and Miguel Araújo paid tribute to them in the song “Pica do 7”.
They carried a “shoulder bag” to carry the money from the tickets and also had a metal instrument called an “obliterator”, which was used to “prick” the tickets and thus validate them.
