The Tobias Hoffman family, who owned a bakery, used expensive porcelain dishes. Others, who worked in nearby tanneries, slaughterhouses and breweries, were "jammed" into tenement flats. Often, they had no money for food.

Five Points was a noisy part of New York. Normal life - not just gang fights - took place on the streets. Women and girls (in Five Points and throughout the city) were paid extremely low wages.

Although life in Five Points was difficult, archeological digs have unearthed evidence of legitimate businesses. Fencing operations, which were “shops for the reception and purchase of stolen goods,” were not the only business establishments in the area’s slums. Five Points was always a mixed residential, industrial and commercial neighborhood. Retail shops prospered along Chatham Street (now called Park Row).

Rum shops and saloons were also permanent fixtures of the Five Points’ landscape.