Reuben's Restaurant

Restaurant in New York, United States

40°45′00″N 73°58′53″W / 40.7501278°N 73.9814707°W / 40.7501278; -73.9814707

Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen was a restaurant and Jewish deli in Manhattan, New York City founded by Arnold Reuben.

History

Arnold Reuben was a Jewish-German immigrant who founded Reuben's Restaurant in 1908 at 802 Park Avenue. In 1916 the restaurant moved to Broadway on 73rd Street before moving again two years later to 622 Madison Avenue. Thirty years after it first opened its doors, Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen finally had a formal opening at 6 East 58th Street with the mayor at the time, Fiorello La Guardia, in attendance.^[1]^[2] Reuben's remained in that location until the restaurant was sold in the mid-1960s, when it moved to 38th Street and Madison Avenue. It operated at 244 Madison Avenue until 2001 when the restaurant was forced to close due to health code infractions.^[3]

Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen played a small part in the 1919 Black Sox scandal when the Chicago White Sox conspired to "throw" the World Series in the most widely condemned instance of illegal high stakes gambling in sports history. Abe "The Little Champ" Attell's initial attempt to sell the idea to Arnold Rothstein, the most powerful sports gambler at the time, took place in a private room inside Reuben's.^[4]

Reuben would name sandwiches after celebrities, including Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, a gimmick used by many restaurants at the time.^[5] In 1938, Reuben was interviewed about his restaurant by the Federal Writers' Project. Arnold Reuben's son, Arnold Reuben Jr., worked in the restaurant with his father until the mid-1960s when Reuben sold the restaurant to Harry L. Gilman.^[6] Marian Burros wrote about the restaurant's appearance on January 11, 1986, in The New York Times. She said: "Italian marble, gold-leaf ceiling, lots of walnut paneling and dark red leather seats — to a small-town girl, it was the quintessential New York restaurant."

References

^ "Reuben's Restaurant Advertisement". The New York Times. March 28, 1935. p. 24. ProQuest 101489976.
^ "Mayor Opens Restaurant". The New York Times. March 29, 1935. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
^ "Arnold Reuben". CooksInfo.com. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
^ "Arnold Reuben: New York Restaurateur". CooksInfo. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
^ "Reuben's: celebrities and sandwiches". Restaurant-ing through history. 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
^ "Arnold Reuben Is Dead at 87; Founded Popular Restaurant". The New York Times. January 1, 1971. Retrieved 2018-10-27.

External links

American Food Folklore
The Reuben Sandwich
History of Reuben Sandwich

Midtown (30th–42nd Sts) and Midtown South

Manhattan, New York City

Buildings

8th Av – 5th Av	One Penn Plaza 5 Times Sq 11 Times Sq 15 Penn Plaza 130 W 30th St 350 5th Av 452 5th Av (HSBC Tower) 1065 6th Av 1095 6th Av American Radiator Building The Bryant Bryant Park Studios Bush Tower Candler Building The Continental NYC Empire State Building Engineering Societies' Building Engineers' Club Building The Epic Greenwich Savings Bank Building James A. Farley Building Lord & Taylor Building Macy's Herald Square Manhattan Mall Marbridge Building Million Dollar Corner Music Bldg Nelson Tower New York Times Bldg Pennsylvania Plaza Springs Mills Building Times Square Tower
5th Av – 3rd Av (incl. Murray Hill)	One Grand Central Place 2 Park Av 3 Park Av 4 Park Av 10 E 40th St 18 E 41st St 29 E 32nd St (Grolier Club) 101 Park Av 110 E 42nd St 146 East 38th Street 152 East 38th Street 200 Madison Av 275 Madison Av 425 5th Av 461 5th Av Adelaide L. T. Douglas House Allerton 39th Street House Chanin Building Civic Club / Estonian House Colony Club Demarest Building George S. Bowdoin Stable Jonathan W. Allen Stable Joseph Raphael De Lamar House (Polish Consulate) Lefcourt Colonial Building Madison Belmont Building Pershing Square Building Robb House Socony–Mobil Building Tiffany and Company Building Union League Club Williams Club
Former	Bryant Hall Building Kaskel and Kaskel Building Latting Observatory Pennsylvania Station Waldorf–Astoria

Culture

Shops, restaurants, nightlife	Ai Fiori Café China The Cutting Room J. Levine Books and Judaica Keens Steakhouse Lan Sheng Wolfgang's Steakhouse
Museums/cultural centers	Girl Scout Museum and Archives Houdini Museum of New York Morgan Library & Museum Museum of the Dog Scandinavia House
Hotels	Grand Hotel The Knickerbocker The Langham Library Hotel Martinique New York Hotel McAlpin Hotel Pennsylvania The Roger Hotel The Wilbraham Hotel Wolcott Wyndham New Yorker Hotel
Venues and theaters	AMC Empire 25 New Amsterdam Theatre Nederlander Theatre Madison Square Garden The Theater at Madison Square Garden
Former	Anco Cinema Belmont Hotel Broadway Theatre Browne's Chop House Cafe Rouge Garrick Theatre Herald Square Theatre Hotel Pierrepont Kajitsu Liberty Theatre Maxine Elliott's Theatre Metropolitan Opera House Morgans Hotel Princess Theatre Reuben's Restaurant Sam H. Harris Theatre Savoy Theatre

Other points of interest

Green spaces	Bryant Park
Education	CUNY Graduate School of Journalism CUNY School of Professional Studies Guttman Community College High School of Art and Design New York Public Library Main Branch Norman Thomas High School Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library Stern College for Women William Esper Studio Wood Tobé–Coburn School
Religion	Armenian Evangelical Church of New York First Zen Institute of America Holy Innocents Church Millinery Center Synagogue Our Saviour Roman Catholic Church Redeemer Presbyterian Church St. Francis of Assisi Church

Transportation

Subway stations	33rd Street 34th Street–Penn Station 34th Street–Herald Square 34th Street–Penn Station 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal Grand Central–42nd Street Times Square–42nd Street
Railroad/bus	Grand Central Madison Grand Central Terminal New York Penn Station Port Authority Bus Terminal
Streets and intersections	Third Avenue Fifth Avenue Sixth Avenue Seventh Avenue Eighth Avenue 34th 42nd Broadway Herald Square Lexington Avenue Madison Avenue Park Avenue Park Avenue Tunnel