where many young businessmen learned the art of the sale.
dren of many of the
founders still operate
within the market.
Among the Jewish-owned
wholesale meat companies
still present are Marcus
Rothbart's Eastern Market
Beef, Sy Ginsberg and
Robert Fenkell's United
Meat and Deli, the late
Dave Fenster's Utica Pack-
ing, Jerry Hershkovitz's
Mr. Food and Murray
West's Detroit Beef.
Other Jewish businesses
on the market are Rafal
Spice, founded by Martin
Rafal 28 years ago and run
by Mr. Rafal and his son,
Donald Rafal; Prinstein
Brothers Produce, still run
by the Prinstein family;
and State Wholesale, a
supplier of dry fruits,
canned goods, spices and
condiments started and
still operated by 76-year-
old Louis Wall, who says he
grew up in the market and
never plans to retire.
Eastern Market, too, on
Saturday is home to a
dozen or so Jewish fruit
and vegetable peddlers.
Among them are children
of the defunct Dorn Fruit
and Produce Co., the
Ravins and Shirley and
Jerry Robbins, who deal in
produce.
Mr. Dorn worked for
various merchants at the
market after he turned 16.
Four years later, he started
his own business venture.
Retiring in 1955, Mr. Dorn
left the business in the
hands of his offspring, who
closed shop four years ago,
but continued peddling on
Saturday.
The Ravins, who live in
Southfield, put their name
on a waiting list shortly
after Mrs. Ravin's father
retired. Two years later, a
stand opened.
"The market is some-
thing you don't forget,"
Mr. Ravin says. "You could
be away from the market
for 10 years and never
forget it."
Now, he says, the market
provides a healthy envi-
ronment for the retired
couple. "It gives me some-
thing to do."
On Friday, Mr. Dorn goes
to the terminal, where pro-
duce is delivered and auc-
tioned to local vendors,
grocers and the small ped-
dlers, who sell products for
cash only.
"I go down to the ter-
minal and look for buys,"
Mr. Dorn says. "It's hard to
pinpoint the best seller. It's
a gamble.
"I don't buy too much
anymore," he adds.
During seasonal months
on Saturdays, the couple
rises early and arrives at
the market between 7 and
8 a.m. Unlike many of the
vendors, they don't weath-
er snow and brutal cold to
sell fresh vegetables.
uring the week,
Rabbi Solomon
Gruskin frequents
Rafal Spice, where he pur-
chases spices for his
besumin box used for the
weekly Havdalah service.
He switches among cloves,
cinnamon stick, lemon peel
and a few other aromatic
flavors.
The aroma of fresh coffee
beans, teas, and 300 spices
flows onto Russell Street,
where Donald Rafal's
grandfather, Louis Reder,
once operated the L. Reder
Produce Co. After Mr.
Reder retired in the early
'50s, his children began the
spice company at the same
location.
"We were the original
bulk food store," Mr. Rafal
says.
Mr. Reder had worked for
Ford Motor Co., but didn't
like it. Then he went to
work for Chase Super-
markets and learned the
grocery trade. It better
suited Mr. Reder, who
started his own produce
company shortly after the
Chrysler Freeway was
built.
Louis Wall is a fixture at
the Eastern Market. He
moved to Detroit from New
York at age 7 and was
working as a newsboy for
three Detroit newspapers
at age 12.
When he was old enough
to work, he ' opted for the
pharmacy business. From
D
always
had soup
during the
Depression.
If people
came over,
she added
could eat.
She said
the market
saved lives
during the
Depression."
- Diane Tobin