By Renée Roden

On a humid August weekday, the fruit stand outside the Ansonia Post Office Station on Columbus Avenue at the intersection of West 68th Street hosted a steady stream of customers. Shoppers browsed the bountiful boxes of berries, toured the towers of tomatoes, and weighed the watermelons. The peppers and papaya? Perfect.

Their guide through the stacks was Can Çakmar, known in the neighborhood as John or “the Fruit Guy.” Whatever you call him, he is a superhero who has kept feeding Upper West Siders through the pandemic. Even wearing his mask — which he says he does all day — people can see his smile.

An elderly customer approached the stand. “Hello, sir, how are you?” he beamed, offering him a plastic bag, and chatting while he helped him select fresh berries.

John immigrated to New York City one and a half years ago from his hometown of İzmir, Turkey. (Can is a Turkish name that is pronounced very similarly to the English name John, so the alias was a natural transition. And the anglicized name makes it easier for his customers, he said.)

In early 2019, John made the journey to New York City to join his older brother’s friend in his fruit stand business. “He’s like family to me,” John said. Although this work is a departure from his professional background in the past, John says he enjoys it because he has gotten to meet friendly Upper West Siders. And, while working at the stand and talking with customers each day, he has had ample opportunity to practice his English.

“My English has improved a lot, because each day, I can talk with people here,” John said. His favorite aspect of living in the United States is “the freedom.”

During his teenage and college years, John was a serious boxer. He continued to box competitively when he studied physical education and sports science at a university. After graduating, John began to work in Turkey as a personal trainer. He said friends encouraged him to apply for a personal trainer license in the United States and work at Equinox, as he gestured towards the closed Equinox gym down the block from the stand.

“But I like this job,” he smiled.

Despite many businesses shuttering, John’s current job has remained fairly steady throughout the pandemic. He said that there were five weeks when he stayed at home in the East Village, but sent another worker to operate the stand. He said members of the neighborhood were clamoring for them to stay open throughout the pandemic. “They said, ‘We need you.’ We didn’t want to work, but we decided to stay open,” John added.

When he started working at the fruit stand again, John wore a face mask, gloves, and a face shield. Generally, he said, customers have been cooperative, only approaching if they are wearing masks and keeping socially distant. Occasionally, he said, he has had to remind customers to stay six feet apart.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCeB5z7DMOg/?igshid=1iy2c09ygra3w

One of John’s greatest contributions to the stand has been the colorful Instagram page, FruitGuyNewYork which features beautiful shots of the stand’s fruit and smiling customers. One of the recent pictures shows John with a Superman-styled shirt. But the traditional “S” has been replaced with an “F.”

John shared the picture with the West Side Rag. He said a friend made him the shirt. On Wednesday, he was wearing a shirt emblazoned with a Captain America emblem, echoing his own local superhero branding, “Fruit Guy.”

John hoped to go home to visit his family in İzmir this year, but the pandemic has prevented him from traveling. When asked what he misses most about Turkey, John didn’t miss a beat: “My mom’s food.”

Although he laughed when told that some of his neighbors have called him a local “celebrity,” John’s humility cannot hide his quiet, heroic dedication. Call him our friendly neighborhood Fruit Guy: one of the heroes that the crisis has taught us not to take for granted.