Celebrating its 80th anniversary, Canter’s Deli sold 80-cent corned beef sandwiches on Tuesday, July 12, along with side of potato salad, rugelah, and a pickle. The restaurant was filled with people who had been going to the deli for decades—some up to 50 years, and around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, every table and booth in the deli was taken, with people lining up outside on the sidewalk of Fairfax Avenue, enjoying the festivities.
Terri Bloomgarden and Alan Canter currently co-own the deli. Bloomgarden’s grandparents– Ben and Jennie Canter – opened up Canter’s Deli in 1931 in Boyle Heights. In 1948, Bloomgarden’s parents opened up another Canter’s location on 439 Fairfax Avenue (in the seventies, the Boyle Heights location closed), and in 1953, the deli moved into a bigger property, the property where the Esquire Theatre used to be, at 419 Fairfax Avenue, and it has been there since—always family-owned and operated.
