38 January 24 • 2019
jn
continued from page 37
entrepreneur
porter with the Lansing State Jour-
nal and, later, the Detroit News.
At the News, my editor said,
“Danny, whatever you learned in
college, forget it. Th
is is the new
school for you.
” He was right. It
was like night and day.
In 1942, I was 23 years old and
working at the News midnight to
eight in the morning. My beat was
Downtown Detroit. Phil Slomovitz
called me and said he was starting
a new Jewish paper and would I
like to be his associate editor? I
didn’
t know Phil at the time, but
he had probably heard of me from
someone.
I didn’
t accept the job as associ-
ate editor because, at fi
rst, I didn’
t
want to leave my other job. I said
I’
d help out. I wrote a column
called the Jewish Youth’
s Listening
Post. Th
e Jewish News took off
with the fi
rst issue. Soon, I left
the
Detroit News when Phil off
ered
me a terrifi
c deal. I did all kinds
of writing, sold advertising and
helped out in many other ways.
During World War II, I used
to do a lot of work with the boys
in service. Th
ey would send me
letters, and I would send letters
to a lot of them. One of them,
Bobby Shan, dropped a bomb
on Germany that said, “From
Danny Raskin to Hitler.” We put
the picture in the paper. I also
worked with the USO. I sang and
danced. And I helped sell a lot
of War Bonds and got a citation
from the War Department.
How did you start writing
about restaurants?
Aft
er the Jewish News moved from
its original Downtown location
at the Penobscot Building to the
David Stott Building nearby, I had
lunch on Griswold Street at a place
called Seros. Th
ey used to give me
a loaf of bread with brisket of beef.
I like to dunk and, man, was it
delicious!
I wrote something about it in
the paper. Phil said, “How about
writing a restaurant column?” So,
in addition to my Listening Post
column, I began writing Th
e Best
of Everything about restaurants. In
1986, they were incorporated into
one column.
People ask me about my writing
style … you know, using ellipses
… I thought it up on my own …
And I’
ve been doing that for more
than 70 years!
I hear you briefly were in the
recording business.
In the ’
50s, a fellow came to
town named Carlos Valadez. His
girlfriend was Virginia Hill, Bugsy
“I enjoyed the days then, and I enjoy
the days today. It’
s a good ride.
I try to have a lot of fun.”
— DANNY RASKIN
Danny receives an award from David Blatt (left) and Jeffrey Cohen of the Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation.
100 years young!
continued on page 40
M