In NYC do you have Food trucks? Also known as "Roach Coaches"? They are everywhere here and I think they would be the equivalent to your street vendors.
Yeah... we have them here, too, but most of our vendors have carts (that they attach to a car at the end of a day and simply drive away).
6th Avenue in midtown (especially in the 50's) has the most dense population of these guys. They cater to office workers who come pouring out of the huge office buildings at lunch time. Most popular are hot dog carts hawking their dirty water dogs (or tube steaks)... they'll usually provide some toppings (in addition to the regular mustard you can get sweet onions, sauerkraut, chile, etc.). Many will sell knishes (about a 3" square potato pancake), too. I try to stay away from them for hygenic reasons but I'll break down every so often and get a few dogs.
I used to like to get falafel from the street guys (its crushed chick pea fried into balls and then put onto some pita bread with sliced lettuce and tomato and then topped with a tahini sauce).
Similarly, another good choice for me then was a lamb gyro. Its thinly sliced pieces of lamb meat topped by lettuce, tomatoes, onions and a tahini type sauce. It was generally wrapped either in pita bread or a wrap.
The early morning crowd would line up at carts selling coffee and bagels or doughnuts on their way into work. They're cheaper than going into a restuarant (for takeout) and they're a lot faster, too (New Yorkers HATE to wait for anything).
As others have already said here, the smell of chestnuts roasting during the fall/winter months is an absolute joy. Those carts tend to concentrate closer to the Christmas stores but you can find them virtually all over the midtown area. Its so "holiday" like. Only thing is I don't like eating them.
The pretzel guys are the biggest ripoff.... I think the pretzels now sell for $2; they're usually stale and somewhat tasteless.
