The Hardest Working Porn Peddler in Manhattan

A night on the town for one pint-size and pugnacious saleswoman means slinging cheap cigarettes and bootleg flicks to NYC’s Downtown barflies.

Illustrations by Lizz Hickey

“Cigarette, DVD, porno?” Lily says, over and over, in a thick Chinese accent, as she winds from table to table in a crowded downtown Manhattan bar. In one hand she deftly displays a pack of Marlboro Menthol Lights, as well as a selection of new releases — burned disks in flimsy plastic sleeves with low-resolution renderings of movie posters. With the other hand she drags a beat-up rolling suitcase behind her, full of more discounted treasures.

Lily, wrinkled, with an obvious auburn-colored dye job, stands not quite five feet tall, even with the giant faux-fur trim on the hood of her winter coat. Five nights a week for the past twelve years, she’s spent eight hours walking around the Village, from West to East, peddling cinema, cigs and smut to bar-goers. For five dollars you can snag a grainy, shaky copy of the newest “Hunger Games” movie the day after it hits the theaters, or hear a real-life laugh track on a bootleg “Anchorman 2.” A pack of Camel filters g…