All of us at Langer’s Deli extend our sincere condolences to the family of Art Ginsburg, owner of Art’s Deli in Studio City. A Los Angeles deli legend, Art passed away yesterday, July 24, 2013.

Our thoughts go out to his wife Sandy, his son Harold, and daughters Roberta and Beverly, their spouses and grandchildren.

– The Langer Family

We’re excited about being named to LAist’s “12 Best Classic Los Angeles Restaurants” – along with Cole’s, Philippe’s, Canter’s, Musso & Frank’s, and many other awesome places. Thank you to the editors of LAist.com for this great notice!

Click here to read the complete article

Gary Friedman of the Los Angeles Times contributed a photo essay and article to the Framework column which appears at LATimes.com, focused on his friendship with now-former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Friedman, one of the Times’ top photographers, spent one of the mayor’s final days in office as he visited various friends and constituents across our city, thanking them for two terms’ worth of support, including a stop at Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant:

The series of quick stops continued. At Langer’s Delicatessen, he shared a quiet conversation with owner Norm Langer.

Click here to read the complete article – it’s really a good look at a mayor’s final days in office.

And thank you, Mayor Villaraigosa, for taking the time to meet with us. – The Langers

KCET has published a great essay by Colin Marshall on the MacArthur Park area – it’s really beautifully written, capturing the essence of our neighborhood in 2013, and an important addition to his book-in-progress, “A Los Angeles Primer: Mastering the Stateless City.” Here’s a sampling of the quality of his writing:

Still, whatever problems MacArthur Park had accumulated by the eighties, life there beat life in a war-torn Central American republic. The immigrants of that era must certainly have felt the same way as they turned up to re-create the best of the small, troubled countries they’d fled. The occasional Korean proprietor aside, its malls, stalls, and swap meets look, sound, and feel indistinguishable from those I’ve experienced in Latin America. With the sight of wall-to-wall activewear, luggage, hair tonics, square-toed shoes, and curative devotional so central to my experience of the neighborhood, I can hardly imagine it any other way.

But right there on the corner of Seventh and Alvarado, a living relic of of an entirely different time has stood since 1947: Langer’s Delicatessen, home of the only hot pastrami sandwich West and East Coast food critics can agree on. And only thanks to the return of rail do we have even it. The Red Line subway, locally dubbed the “Pastrami Express”, entered service in 1993, immediately bringing back the hungry workers who had otherwise long since stopped going near the place. Sitting down for a meal at Langer’s, its interior so immaculately preserved that almost resembles a theme park’s simulacrum of lunchtime postwar urban America, takes you back to a time when, if the park still had so many fire-and-brimstone preachers, then at least they probably didn’t bring loudspeakers.

Thank you, Colin! – The Langers

Click here to read the complete essay at KCET

We were thrilled to be alerted to Brian Hsu’s wonderful then-and-now blog focused on old Los Angeles, Urban Diachrony, with his feature on our location at 7th and Alvarado in 1927.

Culled from the USC Digital Archives, and in particular, the Dick Whittington photographic collection, this shot of our corner in 1927 shows the Westlake neighborhood in its ascendancy, vibrant with businesses and thriving with the promise that was Los Angeles in the late Jazz Age.

In particular is our original location (704 South Alvarado), which then housed “Everybody’s Deli,” a precursor to what would become the Famous Delly, the immediate predecessor to Langer’s Deli, which was founded in 1947 (twenty years after this image was taken). Our back area was then a separate business location (we expanded into it in 1950); in this photo, it houses a Western Union office for sending and receiving telegrams.

Our warehouse was originally a See’s Candy location (as it turns out, only the third See’s location ever), which lasted into the 1960s, when the Langer family took the location over and converted it to the storage area of the restaurant.

The Alvarado Theater just south of our location (today, the Westlake Mall, a bazaar for local merchants), still wears its original column facade, and is stunning in its grandeur, befitting the rise of the Westlake neighborhood.

The Los Angeles Railway streetcar tracks are visible in the pavement, with the line running east-west on 7th Street, and turning east from southbound Alvarado onto 7th Street for a return to downtown. The scene is filled with 1920s-period vehicles.

We are grateful to Brian Hsu and his Urban Diachrony blog for bringing this fine USC scan to our attention, and for the opportunity to share it with our fans and customers. Thank you, Brian!

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Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant has been named by six leading chefs to the Chefs Feed app’s “Bst Things to Eat in Los Angeles.”

 

1. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Ben Bailly of Public Kitchen & Bar who had this to say: “I love this place. The deli has been around since 1947 and has a bit of that old-school, 1950’s diner feel to it. Their #19 pastrami sandwich is, for me, the best in town. It features thick slices of juicy, tender pastrami, Swiss cheese, and not-too-sweet, freshly-made cole slaw sandwiched between two slices of crusty rye bread.”
2. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Zach Pollack of Sotto who had this to say: “The thick, hand-cut slices of their house-smoked pastrami put other delis to shame. If you want to continue to derive pleasure from pastrami sandwiches elsewhere, do not go to Langer’s. You will forever be spoiled.”
3. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Celestino Drago of Dolce Forno, Drago, Enoteca Drago, il Pastaio, Drago Centro who had this to say: “I love stopping here for a #19 on my way back from Drago Centro. The pastrami is cut perfectly thick and I love the crunchiness of the rye bread, not to mention the extra boost of flavor from the Russian dressing and Langer’s homemade coleslaw. Mmm!”
4. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Mark Gold of Eva who had this to say: “The fact that they hand cut their pastrami is the key. With their warm rye bread, this sandwich is a winner.”
5. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Bryant Ng of The Spice Table who had this to say: “The pastrami on rye at Langer’s has a great balance of lean and fatty meat that’s perfectly salty. The bread is double-baked, giving a soft interior and a crispy crust that adds great texture to the sandwich. Add in the slight funkiness and creaminess from the cheese, the tart and sweetness from the Russian dressing, and the crunch of the cole slaw, and you have a death-row meal. The feel and vibe of Langer’s is exactly how you want a deli to be, with plenty of regulars eating at the counter every time you go in. It’s comforting to see that in any place.”
6. #19 sandwich, selected by chef Eric Greenspan of The Foundry on Melrose, Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese (coming soon) who had this to say: “The world’s best pastrami on the perfect cornmeal-crusted rye bread with cole slaw and melted Swiss cheese. It’s sweet, peppery, fatty and has a hint of tang. There’s no better, not even in NYC.”

 

Click here to learn more about the Chefs Feed app and to download a copy for your iOS device

Thank you, Chefs Feed! — The Langers

The Washington Post recently published a photo gallery exploring the Los Angeles Metro subway system’s public art at stations throughout the Red and Purple Line, including an image at the Westlake – MacArthur Park station with the amazing tile mosaic created by Sonia Romero, depicting Al and Norm Langer huddled over a four-top booth.

Click here to view the complete slideshow

Click here for details on the WaPo’s subway tour, including a mention of Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant