Ratner's

Ratner's was opened by Jacob Harmatz and his brother-in-law Alex Ratner (who allegedly flipped a coin to name the business) as a Jewish Kosher dairy restaurant eventually serving up to 1200 people daily at its peak.  Open 24 hours until 1975, it was a hub for late-night dining and celebrity clientele, attracting: Entertainers like Al Jolson, Groucho Marx, Walter Matthau, Elia Kazan, and Gangsters like Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. A back room in the Delancey location became “Lansky’s Lounge,” named after Lansky, who claimed he visited so often he deserved his own room.

In 1918, Alex Ratner sold his share to Harmatz, and the restaurant remained in the Harmatz family until it closed in 2002.