A hundred years ago this was the melting pot for immigrants primarily from southern and eastern Europe. One of the things that always made New York such a vibrant place was the mixture of cultures. No place on earth at the time had such a diverse mix of people as New York City. And in NYC no neighborhood personified the immigrant experience as much as the Lower East Side. When you come to New York this neighborhood is always tops on our list of neighborhoods to show our guests.
The Lower East Side in the very early 1900s.
New York bagels
Times Square may be referred to as the Crossroads of the World… but the real crossroads of the world was here on Manhattan’s Lower East SIde. Many of these immigrants brought with them and shared with us their tastes for the old world. Here, Americans were introduced to the delicatessen such as Katz’s, and the New York bagel that were first boiled here on the Lower East Side.
Another such slice of Jewish culture were dairies, where meat wasn’t served. Diners would feast on Jewish comfort foods like pierogies, borscht, blintzes, broiled fish and lox, eggs and onions. One such dairy was Ratner’s, opened in 1905 and relocated to 138 Delancey Street in 1918, where it operated for another 84 years before closing in 2002.
Ratner’s became legendary for their old world Jewish comfort food and was popular amongst politicians, entertainers, and yes… gangsters.
Lucky Luciano (l.) & Meyer Lansky (r.)
One such Jewish immigrant was the gangster and boyhood friend and close associate of Charles Lucky Luciano… Meyer Lansky. Lansky arrived in New York as a young boy around 1909, settling with his family first in Brooklyn, then moving to the Lower East Side a few years later. He met Lucky Luciano on the streets of the Lower East Side after Luciano tried shaking him down for his lunch money. Meyer stood up to Lucky which Lucky respected and which led to a lifelong friendship and partnership. Both of them became childhood friends with Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, another Jewish immigrant who lived in the neighborhood. Lansky was known for his sharp financial acumen and was instrumental, along with Luciano and others, in organizing the Italian mafia that still exists today.
Today, part of that back room of Ratner’s has been turned into one of the coolest spots in the city. Sparing any pretensions, it’s called The Back Room, located at 102 Norfolk Street just around the corner from where Ratner’s main entrance was on Delancey Street. It’s one of my favorite drinking spots in the city; a true former speakeasy with a back alley entrance hidden behind a sign that says The Lower East Side Toy Company. How does sipping an old-time cocktail out of an inconspicuous teacup in the very location where Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano plotted their takeover of NYC sound to you? This is a must visit!
Inside the Back Room
Alley leading to the Back Room
Back in the day of course, there was no secret entrance. One wasn’t needed, since it literally was the back room behind Ratner’s. At the rear of the bar is a secret bookcase that opens into another section that’s not open to the public.
The vibe here at the Back Room seems to jive with both locals and celebrities alike, such as Paul McCartney, U2, Pearl Jam, Adele, and Robert Plant. Actors Michael Stuhlbarg and Vincent Piazza, who play Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano on HBO’s popular “Boardwalk Empire” series even used the historic space for character research and development.
Meyer Lansky was one of the few rare gangsters of his era that did very little jail time and died a non-violent death. Lansky passed away of lung cancer in 1983, at the age of 81.