There are pictures of everyone from Bill Clinton to Rob Reiner to Soupy Sales on the walls of Katz's Delicatessen. But here's one I never noticed until a recent visit. FDR!
I don't know about you, but FDR doesn't strike me as a pastrami-on-rye type of guy. Katz's is now a political whistle stop. Carter and Giuliani and Bloomberg have all made a stop. But in the 1930s?
The picture looks like the FDR who was elected in 1932. But honestly, it's not a photograph, but an illustration. I doubt FDR knew anything about it. It appears to be the cover of a giveaway menu or something. Roosevelt's name isn't even on it. "Compliments of Katz's Delicatessen/Known as the Best," it says. Then there's some Yiddish, that I wish I could read. Anyway, a neat artifact.
I am a Hebrew-reading, pastrami on rye-eating American...if there's any Hebrew / Yiddish you need read, I'd be happy to try and give it a go.
ReplyDeleteIt's Yiddish, not Hebrew. I speak the latter but not the former. Sometimes Yiddish lettering is used to create transliterations of English words, but I can't see the second word due to the reflection on the glass.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a giveaway from the restaurant, given the context.
Thanks for the correction, Neighborhood Threat.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there a park named for FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, on Allen Street or someplace nearby? My recollection is that she was involved in a lot of charitable endeavours.
ReplyDeleteYes there it, ronf. On Houston, between Christie and Forsythe.
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