About Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant

About Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant

Founded in 1947, Langer's Delicatessen and Restaurant has served generations of patrons for more than 59 years. What better introduction to Langer's than this, by David Shaw writing for the James Beard Foundation in commemoration of our America's Classics award:

In Los Angeles, where any business that stays open for more than five years is likely to proclaim itself a "legendary institution," Langer's Delicatessen is the real thing. Langer's is also a living microcosm of the Los Angeles story, from dramatic post-war growth through all the triumphs and tribulations, changes and challenges that have followed.

Opened in 1947 with just 12 seats, almost forced out of business by recession and the urban blight of drugs and gangs in the early 1990s, then rescued by — of all things in Los Angeles, a subway! — Langer's lives on, serving what many deli aficionadoes on both coasts consider the best pastrami sandwich in America. Norm Langer started working for his dad, Al, in 1963, and he's been there virtually every day since. His father, who passed away shortly after the restaurant celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2007 — would come in for a few hours three or four days a week to help out with the lunch rush and greet longtime customers, many of whom recognize the children in the family photos on the walls.

Just west of downtown, in a neighborhood more shabby than chic, on a street corner at Seventh and Alvarado in a heavily Latino area, adjacent to a burgeoning Korea Town, it draws an eclectic and loyal clientele — including at least one Korean businessman who calls Langer's pastrami "Jewish kimchee."

Nora Ephron, writing in The New Yorker, graciously provides a fitting tribute to our hot pastrami sandwich:

The hot pastrami sandwich served at Langer's Delicatessen in downtown Los Angeles is the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world. This is not just my opinion, although most people who know about Langer's will simply say it's the finest hot pastrami sandwich in Los Angeles because they don't dare to claim that something like a hot pastrami sandwich could possibly be the best version of itself in a city where until recently you couldn't get anything resembling a New York bagel, and the only reason you can get one now is that New York bagels have deteriorated.
. . . .
The resulting sandwich, slathered with Gulden's mustard, is an exquisite combination of textures and tastes. It's soft but crispy, tender but chewy, peppery but sour, smoky but tangy. It's a symphony orchestra, different instruments brought together to play one perfect chord. It ... is, in short, a work of art.

Located across from historic MacArthur Park, Langer's is an important part of Los Angeles' rich cultural heritage, a tradition carefully managed by Norm, his wife Jeanette, and daughter Trisha. Visit us soon.

Langer's: 2001 James Beard Foundation winners of the Bertolli Olive Oil America's Classics Award

Langers is the proud recipient of the coveted James Beard Foundation award. The Bertolli America's Classics Award is presented each year to a select few restaurants noted for timeless appeal, beloved for quality food that reflects the history and character of their communities.

The establishment must have been in existence for at least 10 years and be locally owned and operated. Langer's Restaurant is proud and grateful for the James Beard Foundation's acknowledgement of its role in Los Angeles restaurant history. You may learn more about our award here and here at the James Beard Foundation.

When you visit us, please make sure you inspect our award, which hangs just behind the register at the hostess station.

The Langer's Story

From its humble roots to its current success, Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant of Los Angeles, California, is the quintessential story of classic American enterprise.

The story begins in 1905, with the arrival at Ellis Island of Harry and Rose Langer, from Odessa, Russia. A tailor by trade, Harry settles with Rose in Newark, New Jersey. They have three children, all boys: Joe, Al and Morris. Harry is an observant Jew who must work on the Sabbath (Saturday) in order to support his family. As soon as the boys are old enough, they begin working in local businesses.

In 1924, Al, age 11, gets a job at a local delicatessen as a busboy, cleaning tables and assisting the waitresses until they went home at 8PM. Thereafter, Al would wait tables on his own until closing. It was during this time that young Al became a favorite of the patrons, including local underworld figures who would feed their crews pastrami while awaiting bootleg alcohol shipments from Canada. As a precocious kid, Al would play the “tough guy” to the mobsters, earning $10 tips, an unheard-of amount for this period. Al brought all the money home to his mother, who used the earnings to support the family.

As he grew into adulthood, Al continued to work in delicatessens throughout the New York area, including Manhattan, New Jersey, the Catskill Mountain resorts, and even a stint in Miami. It was during this time he perfected his ability to hand-slice pastrami, a “lost art” knifing skill that preserves the juicy flavor and tenderness of the meat during cutting. As a result, Al became a highly sought-after delicatessen counter man.

In 1936, Harry, Rose, Joe and Al Langer relocated to Los Angeles, where new opportunities in tailoring work awaited the head of the family. Al began working at a variety of delicatessens around Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, then a thriving Jewish community, as well as locations on Hollywood Boulevard.

Al’s first experience with entrepreneurship was in the fall of 1936, when he opened a deli in the then-predominantly Jewish resort community of Palm Springs. As a seasonal resort, businesses were only open during the six winter months when crowds would flock to the desert for warmth and relaxation. And because everything had to be trucked from Los Angeles, keeping ingredients fresh for his patrons posed a challenge for Al. In particular, rye bread quickly turned stale during transport, so Al devised a solution: throw the loaf into the oven and re-bake it, giving the bread a warm, super-crispy crust that instantly became a favorite of his patrons. This “re-baking” technique is used to this very day at Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant on every loaf of rye bread they serve.

The Palm Springs deli only lasted one season, and Al returned to Los Angeles, where he worked at a Hollywood delicatessen adjacent to the Paramount Theater as the lead counter man. He would cut the meat, supervise 30 food-prep employees and take orders from all the walk-ups. It was during this time that Al began to take an interest in Jean, the pretty Hungarian Jewish waitress working tables at the deli. But he soon learned she was married. In a twist of fate, her husband passed away and after waiting the requisite year of mourning, Al asked her out on a date. They were married three weeks later.

Soon World War II called and Al found himself in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Jean followed him and after the war’s end, they returned to Los Angeles, where Al again felt the pull of entrepreneurship. He and Jean had a one-year ownership of a small deli at 8th and Irolo. Al then purchased The Famous Deli, a small delicatessen near the corner of 7th and Alvarado, a mere 12 seats for patrons. This diminutive location would become the Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant we know today.

Time passed and as Al’s successes grew along with the deli’s. Space became available south of the original location, allowing the restaurant to expand first to 58 seats and by 1968, to 135 seats (the present configuration). Located diagonally across the intersection from MacArthur Park, Langer’s Deli flourished. The vibrant neighborhood, the destination nature of the park (with its large lagoon and day-boating adventures for Angelenos), and a reputation for delicious food and good service all contributed to the ongoing growth of Langer’s.

It was during this halcyon period of the 1950s and early 1960s that Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant became famous for its delicious pastrami and hot, crispy-crusted rye bread. Al created the #19 — hot pastrami, cole slaw, a slice of Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on hot rye — and it quickly became the deli’s most popular sandwich, a laurel which it holds to this very day.

One of the classic characteristics of any delicatessen, particularly those of the Jewish variety, is an enormous menu with literally hundreds of choices and combinations. Langer’s is no different; Al worked with Jean to develop the menu so that just about any taste would be accommodated.

Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Langer’s competed with other famous delis throughout the greater Los Angeles area, including Cantor’s, Junior’s, and Nate and Al’s. It stayed open 6:30AM-1AM Sunday-Thursday, 6:30AM-3AM Friday-Saturday, welcoming customers from all walks of life, literally at all hours of the day (or night). Al served famous entertainers from Hollywood, who would make a special trip down Alvarado from Hollywood to get a #19 featuring the best pastrami in town.

But with the passage of time, encroaching demographics began to take a toll on Langer’s bottom line; by the late 1960s, most of the Jewish residents had long since moved to the mid-Wilshire, Westside or Valley, and the neighborhood became less desirable as major retailers like Bullocks Wilshire closed their doors. Worse, MacArthur Park began earning a reputation as a drug haven. The restaurant cut back on hours and saw harder times than in any other period of the deli’s history. Al’s son Norm began to take a more active management role during this period (the early 1970s) and worked closely with the Los Angeles Police Department to help improve quality of life in the neighborhood.

More than just deli owners, the Langer family became recognized by civic leaders as instrumental in helping clean up the MacArthur Park district of Los Angeles, working closely with LAPD Community Policing efforts to bring more of a personal presence of law enforcement to the neighborhood. The impact of these actions resulted in a safer and more hospitable environment in which to operate their business, and ultimately more inviting for customers. The citations presented to the Langer family hang on the walls of the delicatessen for all to appreciate.

The modern era of Langer’s success dawned with the completion of the Metro Red Line subway and the opening of the Alvarado Station one block from the deli, in 1994. For the first two years of operation, Metro allowed passengers to ride the line for free or heavily discounted fares. Hungry workers in downtown skyscrapers began to take a short ride on the subway to Langer’s for lunch, driving new business to the venerable deli. The revitalized neighborhood also presented a more welcoming face to patrons from Hollywood, mid-Wilshire and the Westside.

Today, Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant operates six days a week (Monday through Saturday), 8am to 4pm. Because the business has become primarily a lunch trade, it’s not uncommon to see a huge burst of patronage between 11AM and 2PM on any given day. The restaurant has become the stuff of culinary legend, earning accolades from quarters as diverse as the James Beard Foundation and Hollywood director Nora Ephron, who penned a loving tribute to Langer’s pastrami that stands as one of the best encapsulations of the Langer’s experience. Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant has been featured on countless television and newspaper accounts, served as a location in dozens of film productions, and is revered worldwide for its delicious pastrami, which is widely acknowledged by taste experts to be not only the best in Los Angeles, but surpassing that of legendary New York delicatessens, as well.

Norm owns and manages the restaurant with his wife, Jeannette, and their daughter, Trisha. Al passed away shortly after the 60th anniversary celebration in 2007.

Hot pastrami on crispy-crust hot rye continues to be the favorite order at Langer’s, and there’s no reason to think this won’t be the case 60 years from now, as well. From its humble beginnings as a 12-seat deli to the thriving operation it is today, Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant is a true American success story you can taste.

Langer's Facts

• Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant was founded June 17, 1947 by Al and Jean Langer in Los Angeles. It has been at its present location (albeit in a smaller-sized space) since its founding.
• Langer’s #19 is its most popular sandwich: hot pastrami, cole slaw, Russian dressing and a slice of Swiss cheese on baked rye bread.
• Pastrami is the most popular sandwich meat served by Langer’s. It’s created from the navel of a steer, specially cured, smoked and steamed, and served at a specific temperature to preserve its juicy, delicious flavor loved by millions of patrons throughout the years.
• Langer’s has served more than 4 million pounds of pastrami since its inception.
• The secret to Langer’s beloved rye bread is in double-baking; the bread is received from the bakery, then re-baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to give it the crispy crust it’s famous for.
• Langer’s pioneered “curb service” at its Alvarado location in 1990, allowing patrons to order ahead and then pick up their food from curbside. “Curb service” is now a popular option at most contemporary casual-dining restaurant systems.
• Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant is one city block’s distance from the Metro Red Line’s Westlake-MacArthur Park Station. The subway system line extends from North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley through Koreatown west of Langer’s, and terminates at Union Station. It is being considered for extension to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.
• Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant was honored by the prestigious James Beard Foundation in 2001 with its Bertolli America’s Classics Award.
• Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant was a proud participant in Los Angeles Magazine's "64 Greatest Things in LA" promotion in 2008. We reached the sweet 16 level thanks to the thousands of Langer's fans who voted on our behalf.
• Langer’s has been honored by the City of Los Angeles numerous times for its contributions to the MacArthur Park neighborhood and its historic status as a delicatessen-restaurant in Los Angeles.

Langer's Square Unveiling: January 2008

It is our honor to have the intersection of 7th and Alvarado dedicated "Langer's Square" by the City of Los Angeles. Thanks to the efforts of Los Angeles City Council Member Ed Reyes (3rd District) and members of the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, we received this honor on January 24, 2008, celebrating what would have been founder Al Langer's 95th birthday.

Below is a video capturing the highlights of this wonderful day.

Visit Langer's Square

When you drive through the intersection of 7th and Alvarado, look up above the streetlights and you'll see the Langer's Square special City District signs on all the light standards.

Langer's 60th Anniversary Celebration

On June 17, 2009, Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant celebrated its 60th anniversary with a block party held on 7th Street between Alvarado and Westlake. Hundreds of Langer's customers, friends and family attended, along with numerous dignitaries from city, county and state government.

Founder Al Langer was on hand to receive accolades from well-wishers. A great time was had by all.