The Pastrami Chronicles: Famed Deli Closes
It was the “new boy in town” when it opened 50 years ago, said owner Jack Lebewohl. Now it’s the last to bow out, marking the end of an era on New York’s Lower East Side.
The Second Avenue Deli, which symbolized to generations of New Yorkers the past glory of the avenue once known as the “Yiddish Broadway,” closed its doors last week, following a dispute with its landlord over a rent hike. As workers this week unscrewed the signs that marked the cultural icon, passersby stopped to comment. “The myth of New York is closing down,” one of them said. Another called it a crime.
The deli, commentators noted, actually opened in 1954, long after the storied Yiddish theater district had entered its decline. “Even when it opened, it was kind of an anachronism,” said Kevin Walter, a frequent patron. “All the forgotten stars were in nursing homes.”
But the deli created its own myth, built on nostalgia. It planted a Yiddish Walk of Fame in the sidewalk, with brass stars honoring Yiddish entertainers. Waiters cultivated a curtness that delighted customers.
Lebewohl, 57, took over the business in 1996 after the founder, his brother Abe, was gunned down outside a bank. Watching this week as workers removed his brother’s name from the storefront, he recalled the opening. “I was 5 1/2 years old,” he said. “What can I say? I don’t feel too hot.”
The deli was also part of a disappearing culture, once prevalent in New York, of kosher restaurants that remained open on the Sabbath. Only a handful remain, as kosher authorities increase their stringency and a more casual clientele drifts away.
One of the last of the breed, Fine and Schapiro, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, turns 80 next year, and its owner, Benyamin Profis, said that while “it’s not easy,” he hopes it will stay open. The closing of the Second Avenue Deli, Profis said, is “terrible. This is one of the famous delis. He shouldn’t give up.”
There was an outpouring from New Yorkers, young and old, who agreed. The Internet was filled with posts from young bloggers who, according to Gawker.com, called the deli’s closing traumatic. “I can suddenly (sadly) imagine the place as, like, a Marc Jacobs boutique… or a new Chase branch,” one post read.
Another popular blog, Jewschool.com, offered a link to a Save-the-Deli petition. As of Tuesday, it had 53 signatures.
Lebewohl said that while he was considering reopening elsewhere, he didn’t welcome petitions now. “I’m the type of guy, when I make a decision I stick to it,” he said. But as he watched the deli’s signs come down and wondered what would replace the institution, there was a hint of resentment in his voice: “Another bank? A Duane Reade?”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
