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How the Lower East Side has changed since the 1988 rom-com ‘Crossing Delancey’
(New York Jewish Week) — The classic and very Jewish 1988 film “Crossing Delancey” is one of those movies that feels both extremely of its time and also completely timeless.
Director Joan Micklin Silver’s film has all the classic rom-com trappings: A woman who’s torn between two men (and to that end, two worlds); complaints about how hard it is to meet a man in New York City (as true in 1988 as it is in 2022), and a “mother” figure who knows better (here, a Jewish grandmother known as Bubbe, and in this case, she actually does know better). You could pluck all these specifics and drop them into a present-day film — and, if told with the heart and care of “Crossing Delancey,” still have a pretty good movie.
Yet there’s one thing about the “Crossing Delancey” that fully anchors it in the past, and that is its late-1980s Lower East Side setting. While our heroine, Izzy (Amy Irving), lives and works on the Upper West Side, she pays frequent visits to her Bubbe (Yiddish theater actress Reizl Bozyk), her grandmother, downtown. From the moment that Izzy steps off the train at Delancey Street, she’s transported to another world: a bustling Jewish enclave with market-goers shopping for produce, friends and neighbors in the streets kibbitzing and a Hasidic child sitting outside the subway, enjoying a treat from a local bakery.
This dichotomy between the “Old World” of the Lower East Side and the “New World” uptown is the central conflict of the film: Izzy’s inability to reconcile her Jewish roots with her desire to live a secular, intelligentsia lifestyle, as represented by her two love interests (Sam the Pickle Man and Anton, the self-important author).
However, rewatching the film in the present day, I can’t help but wonder: Would Izzy run from the shtetl if she knew that in a few years, it wouldn’t exist anymore? That due to rising rents and a shift in population, many Jewish businesses would meet their end — or, somewhat ironically, be part of the flight to Brooklyn that began in the early-to-mid 2000s? In some ways, 1988 itself was the beginning and the end: It marked the opening of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, an effort to preserve the neighborhood’s immigrant past, and it was the very same year that Mayor Koch created a new redevelopment proposal for the Seward Park Extension, a canary in the coal mine for the sea change of development the city would see over the next 30 years.
Re-watching the film in 2022, it struck me how the Lower East Side’s bustling Jewish enclave — the same place where my grandparents were born and raised — has since been lost to time, gentrification and re-zoning plans. These days, the neighborhood paints a different picture entirely: giant buildings hog entire city blocks, with construction promising even more sky-high buildings. There’s no specific character to the neighborhood, no story to tell, few places more integral to the city’s fabric than the Delancey-Essex McDonald’s.
Of course, if you’ve lived in the city long enough, you know there’s no getting comfortable. New Yorkers have to, in essence, harden their hearts. We must accept that the local business you love that’s here today very well could be gone tomorrow — even if that business is a Duane Reade. The Lower East Side of today is not the neighborhood of 1988, or 1968 or 1928.
But amongst all of the present-day residential developments, upscale clothing stores and fast food chains, old-school Jewish businesses like The Pickle Guys, Kossar’s Bagels and Bialys and Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery are still thriving. (And, I’d like to think that if you look hard enough, you’ll find some meddling but well-meaning bubbes and yentas, too.)
While we might not be able to fully experience the Lower East Side as the cast and crew of “Crossing Delancey,” here are four places from “Crossing Delancey” that you can still visit, and four that are sadly gone forever.
What Remains Today
Bubbe’s Apartment
154 Broome Street
The interior shots of Bubbe’s apartment, where Izzy fulfills all of her granddaughterly duties, like singing with her grandmother in Yiddish and plucking her chin hairs, were filmed at 154 Broome Street. The 181-unit building sits at the mouth of the Williamsburg Bridge — which is why Bubbe has that spectacular view — and is part of the New York City Housing Authority’s Seward Park Housing Extension. So while you still can visit the exterior of Bubbe’s apartment building today, don’t linger too long — it might weird out the current tenants.
Essex Market
108 Essex Street
This one is a little complicated. The original Essex Market, where Bubbe shows off her Korean-language skills, still stands today. (If you get off at the subway at Delancey Street, you can’t really miss it.) But that iteration of the market closed its doors in 2019 — in order to relocate to a building across the street so big and so glassy it would make Michael Bloomberg blush. In addition to apartments, office space and a movie theater (it’s a truly mixed-use building for our modern times!), Essex Market does boast local, independent vendors, such as Essex Olive & Spice, Porto Rico Importing Co. and Puebla Mexicana food. Per the New York Times, only one of the market’s vendors decided to forgo the move, opting instead for retirement. But you might want to pay a visit to the original Essex Market while you still can — even if only to give it one last look. Following the move, Essex Market initially housed some avant-garde art installations, but it has since seemingly closed its doors for good. According to Gothamist, it’s to be razed to create — what else? — more condos.
Seward Park Handball Court
Essex Street between Grand and Hester Streets
From the moment Sam and Izzy meet, he makes no effort to hide his ardor. In fact, I’d say he uses every weapon in his arsenal to demonstrate his interest — even going so far as to try to impress her with his handball skills when she unexpectedly drops by the court. (You might also clock his CUNY sweatshirt, as I most certainly did.) The handball court is still there, should you decide you want to play a pickup game, but sadly the court’s colorful mural depicted in the film has since been painted over.
Bonus: Gray’s Papaya
2090 Broadway
While this article is focused on the film’s Lower East Side locations, and with good reason, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that one important New York institution Izzy visits triumphantly remains: The Upper West Side Gray’s Papaya. There, Izzy celebrates her birthday with a friend and a hot dog — the right way to do it, in my opinion — when a woman bursts in singing “Some Enchanted Evening,” for everyone and no one in particular. It’s one of many of the film’s classic New York moments.
What’s Been Replaced
Steinberg’s Dairy
21 Essex Street
When Izzy emerges from that train at Delancey Street, director Silver takes great care to immerse us in this world. The camera stays on Izzy as she walks from the subway to Bubbe’s apartment, passing a host of local businesses along the way. Among them is Steinberg’s Dairy, which once lived at 21 Essex Street. Steinberg’s Dairy, which also had an Upper West Side location, offered staples like herring, egg salad and vegetarian chopped liver for less than a dollar back in 1941. Today, if you’re in the area, you can grab a drink at the punk rock bar Clockwork, which opened in 2013.
Zelig Blumenthal
13 Essex Street
Izzy also takes us by Zelig’s Blumenthal (also known as Z & A Kol Torah), where three older women sit outside, enjoying the sights and sounds around them. Once a popular Judaica store, it unexpectedly closed its Lower East Side doors in 2010 after 60 years in business. At the time, then-owner Mordechai Blumenthal made the decision to relocate the store to Flatbush due to a dwindling Orthodox population and foot traffic in the area, and a landlord who made clear he “wanted him gone.” It’s unclear if the Flatbush location remains open today, but a vintage clothing store called Country Of has taken up its original spot.
Posner’s Pickles (AKA Guss’ Pickles)
35 Essex Street
Posner’s Pickles, as run by Sam the Pickle Man in the film, was never exactly a real place to begin with. Filming took place at the world-famous Guss’ Pickles, which first opened on Hester Street in 1920, before relocating to Essex Street, where there were once over 80 pickle vendors for locals to choose from. After a stint on Orchard Street, Guss’ Pickles followed in the footsteps of so many others by then, leaving Manhattan to open up shop in Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market in 2017. While Guss’ Pickles is today based out of the Bronx, their delicious pickles are available to order no matter where you are in the country, via Goldbelly. Today, 35 Essex Street is home to Delancey Wine — appropriately named, but doesn’t offer possibilities for a slogan like “a joke and a pickle for only a nickel,” as Posner’s Pickles did in the film.
Schapiro’s Kosher Wines
124 Rivington Street
For 100 years, Schapiro’s Kosher Wines proudly served the Jewish community as the only kosher winery in New York City. It’s where Bubbe chides Izzy for her lack of interest in Sam, and while today the pair couldn’t have this conversation outside Schapiro’s, they could grab brunch at the restaurant Essex. Home to New York City’s “longest-running Brunch Party,” Essex salutes its Lower East Side roots with dishes like potato pancakes and Israeli couscous.
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The post How the Lower East Side has changed since the 1988 rom-com ‘Crossing Delancey’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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He may be country music royalty, but his heart belongs to Leonard Cohen
From the beginning of his career, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell has been solidly ensconced in country music. He won a Grammy for Best Country Song for “After All This Time” in 1989, and one for Best Americana Album for Old Yellow Moon, a duet album recorded with his then ex-wife, Emmylou Harris, in 2014. And when Crowell married Rosanne Cash in 1979, he became a part of country music aristocracy; Rosanne’s father was the legendary country icon Johnny Cash, whose then-wife was June Carter of the “First Family of Country Music.”
The Carter family is widely regarded as having invented modern country music. Crowell brought his own considerable country-music bona fides along with him, and he and Rosanne Cash were considered the up-and-coming power couple of country over the course of their 13-year-marriage, which ended in divorce in 1992.
While strongly based in the country music tradition, Crowell was drawn to the alternative or “outlaw” country movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in which songwriters steered away from country music cliches and aspired more to the literate, poetic, confessional songwriting of folk- and pop-influenced writers like Bob Dylan and James Taylor. And with his latest single, “If I Could Speak to Leonard,” Crowell outs himself as a devotee of Canadian-Jewish singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.
The new song will be included in Then Again — an album Crowell first recorded 20 years ago in 2006 but never released. The long-shelved project will finally be commercially available on June 26 from New West Records, featuring a newly recorded version of “If I Could Speak to Leonard,” which was originally written and recorded while Cohen was still alive.
The original album featured an all-star supporting cast of singers and musicians including Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Benmont Tench, and the late Guy Clark. By the time Crowell had recorded Then Again, which was intended to have been the third in a trilogy of albums, the singer-songwriter and Texas native had decided he was already moving on musically in other directions, and so he put it aside and with time it was nearly forgotten — until now.
“Who more than the rabbi poet, Buddhist monk, and sage,” sings Crowell, “defines the deep and holy text and song upon the page? ‘Be still,’ my comprehension cries, ‘there’s so much more than this,’ I’d love to speak to Leonard, could you put me on the list?”
“I’ve always acknowledged Leonard Cohen’s early work as a songwriter, particularly ‘Bird on a Wire’ and ‘Chelsea Hotel,’” Crowell told Magnet Magazine. “But once I heard the live version of ‘Waiting for the Miracle’ and the next few albums he’d release — especially Old Ideas and You Want It Darker — I came to believe he was the most important songwriter of our time. And I say that with all due respect for Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. Seeing him in concert after coming down from the mountain in California, I was convinced he was the most generous performer I’d ever witnessed.”
Throughout his career, Crowell has worked closely with many Jewish musicians and producers in the Nashville and New York scenes, including drummer Hal Blaine, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, producer-guitarist John Leventhal, and Mickey Raphael, Willie Nelson’s harmonica player. Leventhal is married to Crowell’s ex-wife, Rosanne Cash. Crowell and Leventhal have frequently worked together on projects involving Cash, and Crowell has spoken warmly of their professional and personal relationship.
Much like Cohen’s, Crowell’s later work blurs the line between spiritual yearning and earthly, often gritty reality. Crowell’s ability to weave religious imagery with world-weariness is a direct reflection of the “Zen-monk-in-a-suit” archetype that Cohen perfected.
Crowell’s first big break came in 1975, when Emmylou Harris hired him to play rhythm guitar in her backup band, the Hot Band. In August 1978, Crowell released his debut album, Ain’t Living Long Like This. Crowell has recorded and performed several Bob Dylan songs over the years, including “Girl from the North Country,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Shelter from the Storm,” and “Simple Twist of Fate.”
But Crowell has never tried to tackle a Leonard Cohen song. The closest he has come is this tribute song. And to his credit, it kind of sounds like a Leonard Cohen song. Somewhere, the Bard of Montreal is looking down and listening and, one imagines, appreciating the recognition of yet another of the many dozens of singer-songwriters who have expressed their admiration for his work.
The post He may be country music royalty, but his heart belongs to Leonard Cohen appeared first on The Forward.
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Amid Jerusalem’s Flag March, police remove activists aiding Palestinians
Left-wing peace activists say they were forcibly removed by Israeli police while attempting to protect Palestinian residents in the Old City of Jerusalem during Israel’s annual Flag March on Thursday.
The march commemorates Jerusalem Day, a holiday marking Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 war. While the holiday has been celebrated in Israel for decades, in recent years, it has become known as a particularly volatile day, with violent confrontations taking place between nationalist Israelis and Palestinian residents.
Peace activists told the Forward that they witnessed Flag March participants — many of them young yeshiva students — chanting slogans such as “May your villages burn” and holding signs calling for territorial expansion. Anton Goodman, Director of Partnerships at Rabbis for Human Rights, said that he saw participants vandalizing Palestinian-owned businesses and homes.
“They went into Palestinian-owned shops, and smashed all the wares up in them, threw everything on the floor, and smashed plates. And whenever there was a Palestinian around, there was abuse.” In one instance, he observed Jewish Israeli students cutting up what appeared to be a prayer rug of a Palestinian resident as their teacher looked on.
Peace activists also noted that the Old City — usually bustling — was largely empty, as Palestinian shopkeepers closed their stores early in anticipation of the march. Merchants there had already been reeling from shutdowns during the Iran War.
Protective presence
This year, around 300 peace activists came to the Old City to informally patrol the area and show support for Palestinian residents, in what they described as a “protective presence.”
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of New York City-based T’ruah, told the Forward that when her group of eight left-wing activists approached the Damascus Gate — the main entry point for the parade — they were quickly targeted by participants.
“Some teenagers started dumping water on us and throwing their water bottles at us from above,” she said. Others shouted slurs at the group.
According to Jacobs, police responded by forcing the activists out of the area.
“They told us that the area was closed and we couldn’t be there. And we said, ‘What do you mean it’s closed? Obviously, there’s thousands and thousands of people coming in,’ They said, ‘it’s closed. You’re not allowed to be here.’ And they physically pushed us. I mean, we were not going to have a fight, so we were walking. They were escorting us, but they were also physically pushing us from behind.”
She said the group was pushed several blocks away from the area.
“I kept asking, you know, who’s allowed to go in? Who’s allowed to go in? But obviously he wasn’t going to answer, because the answer is obvious.”
In a separate incident, Goodman, with Rabbis for Human Rights, said he tried to help an elderly Palestinian man who was being harassed near Damascus Gate.
“There were groups of teenagers who were harassing residents. And there was an old man who was coming out, and they started spitting on him and screaming obscenities at him and trying to push him. And so I put my arm around him to help him get out.”
He said police then intervened.
“I was pulled aside violently by the border police, who said, you’re causing trouble and that I can’t be here. Then they grabbed hold of my bag, and they pushed me out of the area.”
Goodman said the incident is just one example of a larger pattern in how the Israeli police deal with left-wing activists.
“This is the conversation we always have with the police,” he said. “The police say that there’s a threat to public safety when there are left-wing people or activists around. Why? Because it can lead to the right-wing extremists coming and causing violence.”
Just last month, the Israeli police detained a 53-year-old Jewish man in Modiin for wearing a kippah embroidered with the Israeli and Palestinian flags and proceeded to cut it up.
The incidents come amid broader tensions around the Israeli police, with thousands of Jewish and Arab Israelis taking to the streets in joint protests this February. Demonstrators protested what they described as a failure by police to adequately protect Arab communities, particularly as violent crime has risen sharply in recent years.
At the Flag Day march, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israeli police, made a controversial appearance at the hilltop compound that includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site. Raising an Israeli flag, he declared, “the Temple Mount is in our hands,” a reference to a phrase associated with Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967.
The Israel Police did not respond to a request for comment.
The post Amid Jerusalem’s Flag March, police remove activists aiding Palestinians appeared first on The Forward.
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US Sen. Rand Paul’s Son Apologizes After Drunken Antisemitic Insults Against Catholic Congressman
US Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is trailed by reporters as he arrives for the weekly Senate Republican caucus luncheon at the US Capitol in Washington, US, May 22, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
William Paul, the adult son of frequent Israel critic US Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), has apologized following reports that he made antisemitic and homophobic statements while defending Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) at a Capitol Hill restaurant on Tuesday evening.
NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman witnessed the encounter at Tune Inn and wrote that the younger Paul, 33, sat a few seats down from Lawler at the bar when he introduced himself and told the congressman that if Massie lost in his upcoming primary, “your people” would be responsible.
Lawler, an Irish Catholic, asked, “My people?”
This prompted Paul to say, “Yeah, you Jews.”
Lawler then clarified his religious background, saying, “Do you think I’m Jewish? I’m not.”
Paul apologized for his error, replying, “Oh wow, I’m so sorry for calling you a Jew.”
Lawler later told reporters the comment was “just a remarkable statement in and of itself,” adding that “at one point, you know, said that he hates Jews and hates gays and doesn’t care if they die. And I think that’s f**king disgusting.”
Lawler told the New York Post that he responded to Paul mistakenly identifying him as a Jew with, “And even if I was, what’s the problem?”
“Then he got into the Middle East,” the lawmaker recounted. “And he was talking about, like, us trying to steal Iran’s land for the Jews and steal the West Bank, and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Paul then reportedly proclaimed Jews were “un-American” and more loyal to Israel. Lawler argued back against Paul’s dual-loyalty accusations and accused him of being antisemitic.
“Paul Singer serves Israeli interests, not American interests,” Paul also said during the encounter, referring to the billionaire Republican donor and prominent Jewish supporter of pro-Israel causes.
Singer has supported Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL challenging Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.
A new campaign ad that aired in Kentucky this week and was sponsored by Hold the Line PAC, a group backing Massie, characterized Singer as a “pro-trans billionaire” and featured a rainbow-colored Star of David behind his image while attacking Gallrein’s allies.
Critics condemned the imagery as antisemitic, arguing it invoked longstanding tropes about Jewish financial influence and used Jewish symbolism in a way designed to inflame cultural resentment.
Massie himself has been a fierce critic of Israel, condemning its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and arguing that the Jewish state has targeted civilian infrastructure and should not receive assistance from the US.
US President Donald Trump has endorsed Gallrein and actively campaigned against Massie, who like Paul’s father is a libertarian-leaning Republican known for frequently breaking with party leadership and advocating an isolationist foreign policy.
During his outburst this week, the younger Paul also urged Lawler to watch far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson more and claimed that Massie and his father were the only legislators who care about America. In multiple postings on X, Paul promoted “Save the Republic Money Bomb” donations for Massie.
In December 2023, Massie sparked condemnation for posting a meme suggesting that Congress was more loyal to Zionism than “American patriotism.”
In recent years, meanwhile, Carlson has emerged as the leading anti-Israel commentator on the American political right, routinely advancing conspiracy theories condemning the Jewish state while heaping praise on Qatar, the longtime supporter of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Tuesday’s exchange concluded with Paul performing an obscene gesture.
Lawler responded by asking, “Did you just give me the middle finger?”
Paul replied, “I’m sorry, yeah, I did. I’m just really drunk. I’m going to leave.” He reportedly stumbled on his way leaving the bar.
Paul attempted to apologize on X on Wednesday from his @TastyBrew1776 account, writing, “Last night, I had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am. I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem.” He has struggled with his alcohol use before, pleading guilty to a drunk driving charge in 2015.
Rabbi Uri Pilichowski responded to the apology.
“You don’t just have a drinking problem, you have a Jew-hating problem,” he posted. “The Jewish sages taught, ‘Wine goes in, and secrets come out.’ You need some Jewish friends so you can correct your image of Jews.”
Conservative columnist Bethany Mandel, an advocate for Jewish outreach to antisemites, responded with an invitation to Paul, asking him, “Care to come for Shabbat dinner sometime?”
Addressing the admission of excessive drinking, Lawler told reporters, “That’s not an excuse for that type of hatred and vitriol. It’s my fourth year in Washington; that was arguably the most shocking thing I’ve witnessed.”
Lawler explained how he saw the encounter in the context of today’s rising antisemitism.
“But I mean, look, I think it speaks to a larger issue, obviously, in society and what we’re seeing among young people and what we see online,” he said. “And this is the level of hatred and vitriol, frankly, that some of my Jewish colleagues experience, but many of my constituents experience.”
Paul’s father chose not to comment on his son’s antisemitic outburst, saying to reporters on Wednesday only, “I don’t have anything for you.”
He and Massie have both faced substantial criticism for their positions on Israel.
On numerous occasions, Massie voted as the lone Republican in the House opposing bills supporting Israel and denouncing antisemitism. In October 2023, he voted against House Resolution 771, which stated that Congress “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists” and “reaffirms the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security.” In September 2021 he was likewise the sole Republican to oppose the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act.
In May 2022, Massie earned the distinction of being the only member of Congress to oppose a resolution honoring Jewish Americans’ heritage and denouncing a rise in antisemitic violence. He also distinguished himself further on Nov. 28, 2023, as the only legislator to vote against a resolution reaffirming Israel’s right to exist.
In January 2024, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley condemned Massie as “the most anti-Israel Republican in Congress” and challenged her primary rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to denounce his support.
Paul has also faced opposition for his actions against the Jewish state. In November 2018, he blocked two bills to continue military funding of Israel. Then-Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said then that “at a time when Israel faces unprecedented threats, blocking a bipartisan bill that empowers the US to stand with Israel is inexplicable.” Paul claimed that he supported Israel and that his move was intended toward encouraging the Jewish state to support its own defense.
Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul — the father of Rand and grandfather of William — has faced accusations of bigotry for decades, originating in his decision to publish a series of 1980s newsletters bearing his name which promoted racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and conspiracy theories, including one since identified by analysts as disinformation deployed by the KGB accusing the United States of creating the AIDS virus.
According to former Cato President Ed Crane, Ron Paul once told him that “his best source of congressional campaign donations was the mailing list for the Spotlight, the conspiracy-mongering, antisemitic tabloid run by the Holocaust denier Willis Carto.”
Rand has previously spoken fondly about the influence of one of his father’s antisemitic mentors, Murray Rothbard, the founder of the anarcho-capitalist and paleo-libertarian traditions who frequented the Paul family’s dinner table. During his career, Rothbard promoted Holocaust deniers, used antisemitic slurs in private correspondence, called for abolishing the Constitution to return to the Articles of Confederation, and urged Republicans to support former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
“I have one of the largest Jewish populations anywhere in the country in my congressional district, and I’m not going to stop standing up for my constituents,” Lawler told reporters. “I’m going to stand up for the Judeo-Christian values that are at the core of our nation, our Constitution, and our rule of law, as I reminded Mr. Paul.”