In an era when Yiddish newspapers were a daily fixture and their Yiddish-speaking readers thronged the streets, the Garden Cafeteria stood as a nexus, much like the renowned Café Royal on Second Avenue in the 1920s. A self-service eatery offering an array of kosher delicacies, Garden beckoned Jewish intellectuals and the spirited neighborhood folk alike. Among its regular habituès were Emma Goldman, Elie Wiesel, and the Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, who drew inspiration from the establishment for his short story “The Cabalist of East Broadway.”
“The Garden Cafeteria was my second home,” Singer wrote once. “I ate there and discussed literature with my literary chums, gossiped about publishers, editors, and especially about the critics who didn’t like us and whom we disliked. We also questioned the very purpose of literature. What can it do? What has it done in the past? What can one expect it to do in the future? To strengthen our arguments we ate mountains of rice pudding and drank countless cups of coffee.”
Before New York City’s coffeehouses became the egalitarian meeting grounds for intellectuals—both recognized and emerging—and played a pivotal role in bridging the city, Jewish immigrants, including numerous Jewish writers, poets, historians, and artists, had already tasted the liberating ambiance of similar European establishments. Several decades earlier, beginning during the Enlightenment era, these creative minds had unlocked the freedoms and advantages inherent in these urban hubs, all while sipping coffee.
“Coffehouses served as a modern replacement for traditional beit midrash [Jewish house of study],” said Shachar Pinsker, author of A Rich Brew: How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture. “They became a second home and offered Jews a refuge from the anonymity of urban life. These places were inexpensive, democratic, and inclusive. But, most importantly, Jews were welcome here, unlike other most non-Jewish social and ethnic clubs.”
From the bustling lanes of Odessa and Warsaw to the refined boulevards of Vienna, Berlin, and even Tel Aviv, cafés played a pivotal role in the Jewish experience of the late 19th and early and mid 20th centuries as Europe underwent a wave of intellectual awakening. This epoch marked a significant shift in European societies, with Jewish communities receiving a warmer welcome in many regions.