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Canter's Deli is a Jewish-style delicatessen, opened in 1931 in Boyle Heights, and later moved to the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, near the border of West Hollywood, where it is now. It has been frequented by many notable movie stars and celebrities.
The restaurant has continued to serve traditional food items, including: lox and bagels,
Canter's Deli is a Jewish-style delicatessen, opened in 1931 in Boyle Heights, and later moved to the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, near the border of West Hollywood, where it is now. It has been frequented by many notable movie stars and celebrities.
The restaurant has continued to serve traditional food items, including: lox and bagels, corned beef
Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...
, matzoh ball soup, and challah bread. However, it is not certified kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
, being open on Saturdays and offering many non-kosher menu items (e.g., ham sandwiches).
Canter's has remained open 24 hours most days, except on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
and Yom Kippur. However, its dining room is now only open until 11:30 PM.
In 2021, the ''Financial Times'' ranked it as one of the "50 greatest food stores in the world."
History
The Canter family originally opened a delicatessen inJersey City
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey, in 1924. They came west along with many Jews from the northeastern United States,
and in 1931 they opened a delicatessen on Brooklyn Avenue in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, which at that time had a substantial Jewish population. After World War II, the Jewish population of Boyle Heights left en masse for the Fairfax District, West Hollywood, and other West Side neighborhoods (as well as the 
On 14 October 2008, Canter's celebrated their 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the deli reduced the price of their corned beef sandwich to its 1948 price of 60 cents, limited to one per customer, for a period of 12 hours.
In 2008, Canter's had opened another deli outlet at Dodger Stadium. The operation at the baseball park closed in 2011 and was replaced by Dodgertown Deli.
On July 24, 2014, President Barack Obama surprised the lunchtime diners and staff when he visited Canter's.
In 2017, Canter's Deli announced it would open a location along the Las Vegas strip.
On August 7, 2017, Canter's Restaurant was ordered closed for three days by the Los Angeles County Health Department for eleven health code violations, including a vermin infestation. Among other things, inspectors observed more than 10 cockroaches and 20 rodent droppings in the restaurant storage area, and 20 flies in the food preparation area. The additional health code violations cited that food contact surfaces were not clean and sanitized and the food was not in a safe, healthy condition.
Canter's has now closed all locations in Las Vegas. After returning to the Las Vegas market in 2017, the first location closed at Tivoli Village in July 2018 and the second location closed at the Linq Promenade the second week of March, 2019.
On May 30, 2020, at the start of the George Floyd Protests, Canter's neighborhood was the site of one of the first intense confrontations between protestors and police in Los Angeles. Canter's posted messages in support of Black Lives Matter and stayed open during the protests, giving out food and water to demonstrators.
Canter's website
{{Restaurants of Los Angeles County, California 1924 establishments in California Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Los Angeles Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants Fairfax, Los Angeles Jewish-American history in California Jewish delicatessens in the United States Kosher style restaurants Landmarks in Los Angeles Restaurants established in 1924 Restaurants in Los Angeles
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
) and Canter's followed the influx of Jewish businesses west. A location at 439 North Fairfax Avenue opened in 1948; in 1953, the restaurant moved up the block into the former Esquire Theater (which had previously shown Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-language films), resulting in a delicatessen much larger than its previous spaces. The restaurant was further expanded in 1959, and the Kibitz Room cocktail lounge opened in 1961. The Boyle Heights location remained in business until the 1970s.
Canter's quickly became a hang-out for show business personalities, given its location and its 24/7 hours. It has remained such ever since. In the 1960s, Canter's became a late night hang-out for hippies
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
,
rock musicians, and other countercultural types, partially for the same reasons. Also, many rock musicians had grown up in Fairfax and West Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...
was only a half-mile (0.8 km) away. Canter's has remained a favorite of rock musicians to the present day, and its bakery and deli counter are still open 24 hours. Canter's is open every day except for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
and Yom Kippur.
Canter's is known for its traditional deli favorites, such as pastrami, corned beef
Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...
, matzah ball soup, challah, lox and bagels, and brisket. It also has a large menu of other breakfast, lunch, and dinner options and has been awarded for its food many times over the years. For example, Los Angeles Magazine named Canter's waffles the Best Waffle in Los Angeles. Esquire magazine called their Monte Cristo sandwich one of the best sandwiches in America.
The bar in Canter's, called the Kibitz Room, has its own history and has been a favorite of music personalities. Chuck E. Weiss
Charles Edward Weiss (March 18, 1945 – July 20, 2021) was an American songwriter and vocalist. A fixture on the Los Angeles scene, Weiss was known for an eclectic mix of blues, beat poetry, and rock and roll. His music included strains of every ...
. a regular at Canter's who has his name on a plaque at the booth where he would sit, wrote a song about the Kibitz Room called, "Rocking in the Kibitz Room."
Although the restaurant is open 24 hours, the Kibitz Room closes at 2 am. They have live music every night, and were the launch pad for several bands, most notably the Wallflowers, Fiona Apple
Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...
, and Rick Rubin's new project, the Vacation. The Big Jam has had plenty of "A List" musicians sit in, including Phil Everly, Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...
, Melissa Etheridge, and Marc Canter's high school friend Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash th ...
. Marc Canter, currently the restaurant's co-owner, published a book in 2007 about the early days of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
. In 2019, Gina Canter and Alex Canter released a book titled ''Stories on Rye'', cataloging a collection of memories shared at Canter's.
The restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
has been featured in several movies and television shows, including HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
'' in the episode "The Blind Date" (2004) and AMC's '' Mad Men'' in the episode "Time Zones" (2014). In 2007, Adam Stein
Adam Stein is an American film director and screenwriter working in Los Angeles, California.
Stein graduated from Harvard University and the directing program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He co-directed the Disney live-action movie ''Ki ...
, finalist on the FOX TV show '' On the Lot'', filmed "Dough: The Musical" at Canter's. Canter's is also mentioned in the song, "Oh Daddy," by The Turtles.
In 1993, the restaurant was featured in ''Visiting... with Huell Howser'' Episode 125.
In 2003, Canter's opened an additional location inside Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It closed in December 2012. Another location has been announced for The Linq Promenade.
On 14 October 2008, Canter's celebrated their 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the deli reduced the price of their corned beef sandwich to its 1948 price of 60 cents, limited to one per customer, for a period of 12 hours.
In 2008, Canter's had opened another deli outlet at Dodger Stadium. The operation at the baseball park closed in 2011 and was replaced by Dodgertown Deli.
On July 24, 2014, President Barack Obama surprised the lunchtime diners and staff when he visited Canter's.
In 2017, Canter's Deli announced it would open a location along the Las Vegas strip.
On August 7, 2017, Canter's Restaurant was ordered closed for three days by the Los Angeles County Health Department for eleven health code violations, including a vermin infestation. Among other things, inspectors observed more than 10 cockroaches and 20 rodent droppings in the restaurant storage area, and 20 flies in the food preparation area. The additional health code violations cited that food contact surfaces were not clean and sanitized and the food was not in a safe, healthy condition.
Canter's has now closed all locations in Las Vegas. After returning to the Las Vegas market in 2017, the first location closed at Tivoli Village in July 2018 and the second location closed at the Linq Promenade the second week of March, 2019.
On May 30, 2020, at the start of the George Floyd Protests, Canter's neighborhood was the site of one of the first intense confrontations between protestors and police in Los Angeles. Canter's posted messages in support of Black Lives Matter and stayed open during the protests, giving out food and water to demonstrators.
Popularity
In 2006, Canter's was serving: * of pastrami per month * of chicken soup per week *4,000 knishes per week.See also
*List of Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants
Following is a list of Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants:
* Attman's Delicatessen
* Canter's
* Caplansky's Delicatessen
* D.Z. Akin's
* Henry S. Levy and Sons
* Katz's Deli, Houston
* Katz's Delicatessen, New York City
* Kenny & Zuke's Delicatess ...
* List of delicatessens
This is a list of notable delicatessens. A delicatessen is a retail establishment that sells a selection of unusual or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany during the 1700s. They later spread to the United States in the m ...
*Diamond Bakery
Diamond Bakery was a Jewish bakery located on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. Founded in 1946 by Betty and Jack Segal, the bakery was sold to a group of Holocaust survivors in 1969, and sold again to a group of its employees shortly before the C ...
References
External links
Canter's website
{{Restaurants of Los Angeles County, California 1924 establishments in California Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Los Angeles Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants Fairfax, Los Angeles Jewish-American history in California Jewish delicatessens in the United States Kosher style restaurants Landmarks in Los Angeles Restaurants established in 1924 Restaurants in Los Angeles