We were saddened to hear about the passing of Alan Canter, owner of Canter’s Deli, on January 25. Our deepest condolences to the Canter family from all of us at DoorDash.
Canter’s Deli, the iconic Jewish deli in Los Angeles, first opened its doors in 1931 in Boyle Heights and holds the honor of being one of California’s oldest delis. In 1953, it moved to its current home on Fairfax, where everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Guns N’ Roses has taken up a booth to nosh on pastrami on rye and matzo ball soup into the wee hours of the night. It’s also where countless generations of Los Angeles families have gathered to catch up over shared plates of smoked fish and potato pancakes.
Today, Canter’s has retained all the charms (and comforting flavors) of the past, from the ‘50s-era decor and the handwritten signs at the deli case, to the perfect crunch of their house-made dill pickles. You can also still get your corned beef fix late into the night—but instead of settling into a booth at 2 a.m. like a rock star, it’s possible to order online and have it delivered to your door (also very rock star, let’s be honest).
We met up with Marc Canter, in the third-generation of the Canter family and currently running the business, to chat about the next-wave Jewish deli experience and to hear his favorite only-at-Canter’s stories.
***As a special treat, L.A. residents within delivery range can order from Canter’s Deli for a $0 delivery fee between Feb. 4–10, 2019.***
Tell us a little about the legacy of Canter’s Deli. Do you have any favorite stories about people who have come through — there have probably been millions — but any that stand out?
I was born in 1965, so when I was three or four years old, it was still a hippie scene here. There were lines out the door, we were open 24 hours, and we didn’t have a dress code and it didn’t matter — they paid their checks, so it wasn’t a problem. Frank Zappa would come and start a table with some friends and then some other people would come who he knew — musicians, whatever — “Yeah, come sit with us!” Then at some point, you gotta go home, right? But the table didn’t break, because some people came an hour after he came. So, he’d come back the next day, and the table would still be going, because it was a revolving table of hippies — whatever you want to call it. My dad called them beatniks.
Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Janis Joplin, the Mamas and Papas, the Turtles — just go down the list, they were all here. I read in Rolling Stone magazine that Neil Young, when he moved here from Canada in 1966, drove a hearse to carry his equipment, so for a living, he taxi cabbed patrons from Canter’s Deli to the Sunset Strip and back for a dollar a ride. When he got enough money saved up, he headed to San Francisco and at a traffic signal, he met Stephen Stills and they decided to do something. That’s just one story — but there are thousands of stories.
We heard that you’re going to do a book on Canter’s?
My daughter Gina is. There are Holocaust stories — one lady saw a man who resembled her father — a dead ringer for him. She lost her father in the Holocaust, and she couldn’t believe how close that person looked like her father. So she had to go up to that person and tell him her family name — was it possibly a relative? It turns out that it was her uncle. This story was only from maybe 20 years ago. So, the uncle was old. And since that time, they’ve come back; they have reunions here. They’ve patched some missing family together.
Canter’s is a place that brings people together.
Canter’s is a place, to me, where grandkids bring their grandkids. And that’s a perfect slogan because — you’ll see old people say, “My grandfather brought me here when I was five and he let me buy things from the bakery. He brought me here every Sunday.” And now they’re bringing their grandkids. When you’re around 80-something years old, that’s what you get. I saw it when I first started working here back in 1982. You’d see a young couple coming in here all the time — regulars. And then, all of a sudden — they’re pregnant. Then there’s a toddler. Before you know it, that’s a teenager. And then that teenager comes in with their friends. And then that teenager has a family, and then that teenager then has a baby. And then you see them with the parents, like on a Sunday afternoon. It’s mind-boggling.
How are you translating the Jewish deli experience of Canter’s to delivery?
Canter’s has been around for about 87 years here in Los Angeles. I’m in the third generation of the Canter family, and we’re actually into the fourth generation now running it. But we’ve noticed in the last four or five years that things have shifted in the way people are getting their food. We were getting maybe eight or nine orders from all places that you could possibly get them from, and now it’s moved to an area where we’re doing over 200 a day combined. It’s maybe 30% of our business. I foresee in the next few years it will be up to 50%.
Now we’re trying to get more of our food out to people. The goal is to maybe open up some remote locations in different areas and use Canter’s on Fairfax as the mothership. We now have one in downtown and we have one in Pasadena. It’s great, because people who are living downtown or who go to USC may want our food, but they really can’t get it unless they get into their car and drive, because we’re not going to deliver all the way there. Now, this gives them the opportunity to do that.
We’ve been a staple in L.A. for all of these years — and of course, Canter’s is still a place where you can go. You’re not only coming for the food—you’re coming for the atmosphere and the history. There’s nothing better than actually coming here. But, this is the next best thing.
What do people love to order?
The corned beef or pastrami Reuben, the matzo ball soup, and believe it or not, the chicken tenders — ten times more online than in the restaurant for that item. Potato pancakes — where else are you going to get them? Not too many places. We probably do about ten things here better than most people. We make our own pickles and matzo ball soup. And then some of the items in our bakery like our chocolate chip rugelach, our black and white cookie — they’re untouchable.
We’ve recently been telling our customers about late-night delivery in L.A. because we found that a lot of people didn’t realize, “Oh, wow. I can get this super late to go!”
Parking is a hard thing, especially in Los Angeles. So you work all day, probably nine hours, you get home, you’ve probably parked four blocks away from your home, you shower, you clean up — and now you’re going to go to dinner? You’re going to lose your parking spot, you gotta go somewhere, pay a lot of money for parking, and then come back and fight for another parking space. So why not just touch your phone and get some food? And watch a movie?
It sounds like you just wrote an ad for us!
That’s what it comes down to!
Especially in L.A. Like you said, someone downtown says, “I want Canter’s Reuben, but I gotta, like, drive an hour to get it!” That’s not going to happen.
I have a funny story. It was New Year’s Eve, and we were home. It was about 11:30 at night — and I only live four or five blocks from here. And my wife says, “Mmm, I feel like some matzo ball soup.” And I was, like, “I’ll get you some.” And she goes, “No — I don’t want you to go out. There are drunk drivers…” The whole bit. So, she’s on her phone, playing around and she says, “Ha ha!” She starts laughing and then I said, “What?” She doesn’t answer me. About 25 minutes later, our doorbell rings. I’m, like, “Who’s that?” She says, “I ordered something.” I go, “Huh?” OK. That’s weird. I open the door, and a guy’s handing me our chicken soup! That was put on my credit card! I was, like, “Wait a minute!” First of all, it’s free if I get it! I was really confused how that even happened. There was a new wave of platforms coming our way. And so, there you go.
It opened your eyes to that possibility.
People are hungry for that technology. Like I said, it can’t replace coming down and having a cup of coffee and looking and hearing the clicks and clacks and looking around at the pictures and things from the ’50s and maybe seeing a celebrity. A lot of people say they’ve met their spouse here. It took me years to figure out how that was possible, but I recently realized what it was. It’s not that they were here and they saw someone they might like — they decided to come to Canter’s to have their first date. Or, it was a blind date. Or, they met on an online dating service and Canter’s was a neutral place.
It actually did happen with celebrities. Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette met here. Nicolas Cage was a regular and Patricia Arquette may have come in once a year. They were both here, but they didn’t know each other. Well, Nicolas Cage wrote a little note and gave it to the waitress, and the waitress passed it to her. And she looked over, smiled, came over and said hello and before you know it — they got married!
So, the question is, will that happen with online delivery? Well, some will say, “Let’s just watch a movie at my place and we’ll order in Canter’s!”
(Ed. note: the original interview has been condensed.)
Canter’s Deli: An L.A. landmark, right to your door was originally published in DoorDash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.