2nd Avenue Deli 1442 First Avenue New York NY
NOW
Abe Lebewohl always knew what work meant. His first experience was in Eastern Europe doing hard labor during WWII, and then after being miraculously reunited with his family in a displaced persons camp in Italy, he moved to New York with his mother, father and little brother. He got a job working the soda fountain in a Coney Island deli learning the food industry. He graduated to other delis, absorbing the nuances of Jewish cuisine and eventually scraping together enough money to open his own. The grand day happened in 1954, on the corner of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, and, thus, The 2nd Avenue Deli began. It was tiny, serving only 10 people at a time, but became one of New York’s most popular delis, in the heart of what used to be the Yiddish theater district. “It wasn’t Abe’s business, it was really his life,” according to his nephew Jeremy. Tragically, in 1996, Abe was murdered carrying his day’s deposit to the bank. Younger brother Jack took over the business and kept it running until disputes with the landlords caused him to close in 2005. Two years later, Jack’s sons, Josh and Jeremy, decided to continue the family tradition and reopened on 33rd Street followed by a second location on the Upper East Side.
THEN
Very little architectural detail of this 1869 brick building remains. Commissioned by Ludwig Keller, the 4-story building was built as “stores and dwellings,” according to the Real Estate Record. By the time of this 1940s tax photo, the building had already gone through at least six different alterations. However, one can imagine what it looked like originally, by looking at the building to the right on the photo, built as part of the same row. In the 1920s, 1442 First Avenue was home to a Hungarian and an Austrian family, a dentist office, offices and work room, and stores at the ground level. More recently, the building was home to the September Club, in the 70s, and Wicked Wolf restaurant, in the 80s and 90s.
