Dubrow’s was a family-owned chain ofcafeteria-style restaurants inManhattan,Brooklyn, andMiami Beach. In 1929, Benjamin Dubrow (né Mowsoha Bencian Dubrowensky), an immigrant fromMinsk in what is nowBelarus, established the first Dubrow's on theLower East Side of Manhattan. Benjamin was married to Rose Solowey, also from Belarus. They had five children: George, Minnie, Lila, Sylvia and Ruth.
George (who married Fannie Feldman and had three children: Irwin, Helene, and Leonard), together with his brothers in law, Max Tobin (who married Minnie and had three children: Sheila, Paul, and Anita), Benjamin Adler (who married Lila and had two sons:Joseph and Robert), Irving Kaplan (who married Sylvia and had three daughters: Beth Wald,Bonnie Lyons, and Laura Levin) and their descendants went on to establish and operate four new cafeterias and bakeries, three restaurants, a take-out shop, and Toby’s, a southern-style chain of cafeterias in Florida. Ruth, George’s youngest sister, who married Seymour Gruber, a physician, had three children, Michael, Steven, and Joanne.[citation needed]
When George Dubrow died in an automobile accident in Florida, his eldest son Irwin assumed his responsibilities in managing Dubrow’s. Irwin’s brother Leonard subsequently joined him. In the following years, Paul Tobin took over for his father, and Joseph and Robert Adler worked part-time with their father. Irving Kaplan stayed with Dubrow’s until the last location’s closing.[citation needed]
Dubrow's was a New York City landmark for many decades with restaurants in bothManhattan andBrooklyn and later inMiami Beach.
There were two Dubrow’s Cafeterias in Brooklyn, one onKings Highway at the corner of East 16th Street and one onEastern Parkway near Utica Avenue. The cafeteria in Miami Beach was onLincoln Road. The Manhattan Dubrow's was an important part ofNew York's Garment District in the early- to mid-twentieth century. It was a hub of activity for theInternational Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.[1]
Many politicians used both the Brooklyn and the Manhattan locations as stumping spots for their political campaigns. These included PresidentsJohn F. Kennedy[2][3] andJimmy Carter.[4] Among the other politicians who were running for office and made campaign stops at Dubrow's wereRobert F. Kennedy. New York gubernatorial candidates who campaigned at Dubrow's includedHugh Carey andW. Averell Harriman. According to multiple biographies, baseball playerSandy Koufax announced his decision to sign with theBrooklyn Dodgers in front of Dubrow's Cafeteria onKings Highway in Brooklyn. The children's authorBruce Coville also wrote about working at Dubrow's for a brief period. The Manhattan Dubrow's was the site of theAmerican Playhouse production ofThe Cafeteria, which was based on the short story with the same name by Isaac Bashevis Singer.[5][6] The production was broadcast onPBS.[7]
The Dubrow's on Kings Highwary closed in 1978.[8] The last Dubrow's, in Manhattan's Garment District, closed in 1985.[9][8]
In 2023, Three Hills (a division of Cornell University Press) publishedMarcia Bricker Halperin's book containing a collection of her photographs of Dubrow's.[10] The book includes essays about Dubrow's by several people including the playwrightDonald Margulies.
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