Dubrow’s (dubrow’s) was a family owned chain of

cafeteria-style restaurant A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the United States, U.S., is a type of Foodservice, food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a lar ...

s in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

. Dubrow’s was established on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1929 by Benjamin Dubrow (né Mowsoha Bencian Dubrowensky), an immigrant from Minsk, Belarus. Benjamin was married to Rose Solowey from the country now known as

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. They had five children: George, Minnie, Lila, Sylvia and Ruth. George (who married Fannie Feldman and had three children: Irwin, Helene, and Leonard), together with his brothers in law, Max Tobin (who married Minnie and had three children: Sheila, Paul, and Anita), Benjamin Adler (who married Lila and had two sons:

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and Robert), Irving Kaplan (who married Sylvia and had three daughters: Beth Wald,

Bonnie Lyons Bonnie Lyons (born July 4, 1944) is an American writer and academic. Biography Bonnie Lyons was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived there until she was five years old, at which point she moved to Miami Beach, Florida. Her grandparents were Benja ...

, and Laura Levin) and their descendants went on to establish and operate four new cafeterias and bakeries, three restaurants, a take-out shop, and Toby’s, a southern style chain of cafeterias in Florida. Ruth, George’s youngest sister, who married Seymour Gruber, a physician, had three children, Michael, Steven, and Joanne. When George Dubrow died in an automobile accident in Florida, his eldest son Irwin assumed his responsibilities in managing Dubrow’s. Irwin’s brother Leonard subsequently joined him. In the following years, Paul Tobin took over for his father, and Joseph and Robert Adler worked part-time with their father. Irving Kaplan stayed with Dubrow’s until the last location’s closing. Dubrow's was a New York City landmark for many decades with restaurants in both

and

and later in

. There were two Dubrow’s Cafeterias in Brooklyn, one on Kings Highway and one on Eastern Parkway. The Dubrow’s Cafeteria in Miami Beach was located on Lincoln Road. The Manhattan Dubrow's was an important part of New York's Garment district in the early- to mid-twentieth century. It was a hub of activity for the

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...

. Many famous politicians used both the Brooklyn and the Manhattan locations as stumping spots for their political campaigns. These included Presidents

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

, and

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

when they were running for office,

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

, and

Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Party. ...

and

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. The son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman, he served as Secretary of Commerce un ...

, both former governors of New York. According to multiple biographies, baseball player Sandy Koufax announced his decision to sign with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

in front of Dubrow's Cafeteria on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. The children's author

Bruce Coville Bruce Farrington Coville (, born May 16, 1950) is an author of young adult fiction. Coville was first published in 1977 and has written over 100 books. Biography Coville was born on May 16, 1950, in Syracuse, New York, where he resided . Br ...

also wrote about working at Dubrow's for a brief period of time. The Manhattan Dubrow's was the site of the American Playhouse production "The Cafeteria", based on the short story (today onlin
here
by

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

, which was featured on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. The last Dubrow's, located in the Garment District in Manhattan, closed in 1985.

Dubrow's Cafeteria in popular culture

*A photograph by Garry Winogrand entitled "Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Campaign, New York, 1960" features Dubrow's prominently. *The novel Subway Music by Reynold Junker features a nostalgic passage about Dubrow's being gone *The poem "Waitress" by Jason Shinder claims to be set in Dubrow's, though there were no waitresses in Dubrow's. *The poem "You Could Live If They Let You" by Wallace Markfield features the lines "As I might speak of e. e. cummings enormous room or Swann's Madeline you speak of Dubrow's Cafeteria and Mallomars." *Ivan Koota did several paintings of Dubrow's in his collection of works depicting his native Brooklyn. *Dennis Ziemienski has a painting of Dubrow's Cafeteria. *Parts of the 1979 Film "Boardwalk" were filmed on location in the Dubrow's Cafeteria pictured above in this article shortly after it closed. *The novel Revolutionaries by

Joshua Furst Joshua Furst (born 1971) is an American fiction writer. He studied as an undergraduate at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in Dramatic Writing in 1993 and did graduate work at The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop ...

references a character who is the wife of Abby Hoffman scrounging for food at Dubrow's in Manhattan.

External links

Compilation of Dubrow's stories, memories, photographs, and paintings assembled by Benjamin Dubrow's great granddaughter, Eve Lyons

References

{{Restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants established in 1929 1985 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct restaurants in New York City Cafeteria-style restaurants Defunct restaurant chains in the United States 1929 establishments in New York City