RASKIN
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

JULY 22 • 2021 | 53

The JN’s premier columnist, Danny 
Raskin, has rapidy recovered from rib 
injuries from a fall, but remains in rehab 
for leg strengthening. In the meantime, 
we’ll be offering highlights from Danny’s 
prior columns until his return.
If you’d like to send him greetings, email 
Danny at dannyraskin2132@gmail.com 
or send mail to Danny Raskin c/o The 
Jewish News, 32255 Northwestern Hwy., 
Farmington Hills, MI 48334.

Here is Part 1 of Danny’s column from 
Aug. 31, 2001, where he celebrated the 
90th birthday of longtime deli man Hy 
Horenstein. Sadly, less than three months 
later, Hy passed away, on Nov. 23, 2001.
T

urning 90 recently is no big deal 
to Hy Horenstein.
“I can still hand-cut a Jewish rye 
bread in record time, and corned beef or 
pastrami without cutting off 
any fingers,” says the former 
premier delicatessen owner.
Hy is the only surviving 
member of the deli 
Horenstein brothers, whose 
name is well noted … Lou 
and Sam had Brother’s 
Deli on Dexter, with Max 
working for them before going on his own 
and opening Max’s Deli with wife, Belle, 
on Southfield and 13 Mile.
Hy never joined his brothers at their 
delicatessens … preferring to be on his 

own as Hy Horenstein Delicatessen-
Restaurant.
“You can’t go to a delicatessen anymore 
and smell the corned beef because it isn’t 
cooked in front anymore like years ago,” 
says Hy, as he bemoans the days gone by.
Hy was only 11 years old when starting 
out in the deli game … On Hastings 
and Farnsworth he was a busboy and 
dishwasher at the original Boesky’s for 
owner Sam Boesky … also helping to 
cut corned beef in the basement … Hy 
was born on Delancey Street in New 
York, where Sonny Eliot’s father owned 
a hardware store, and came here when a 
year old, living on Hastings and Alfred.
Detroit was usually a single-storefront 
deli town, recalls Hy … “They were 
small but compact,” he says. Hy’s counter 
experience, however, sometimes had 
him at larger ones like when working 
for Bill Boesky and Joe Friedman at the 
Brass Rail on Michigan Avenue, next 
to Kinsel’s and with Al Mendelson at 

Boesky’s on 12th and Hazelwood, before 
Al went to California years back to open 
Nate & Al’s in Beverly Hills.
Hy had come to work at Boesky’s on 
12th and Hazelwood as a busboy … and 
five years later was a counterman for 
the same Sam Boesky who started him 
in the deli business on Hastings … as 
a dishwasher and busboy. “I’m still as 
ornery as ever,” laughs Hy, who says he 
has mellowed from the days he was a 
delicatessen owner and used to close two 
times a year … “When I took a vacation, 
everybody had to take a vacation, too.”
His first delicatessen, called Hy 
Horenstein’s, was on Farmer and Monroe 
in Detroit … Then came Second 
Boulevard between Willis and Canfield … 
and on to Six Mile and Santa Barbara in 
1942 … followed by Dexter and Boston 
Boulevard with partner Mike Selik … 
After they moved across the street, it was 
on to Livernois and Seven Mile for Hy. 

Read about Hy Horenstein’s big move to 
Oak Park in 1963 in next week’s column.

Danny’s email is dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

Danny 
Raskin
Senior Columnist

The Hy Life (part 1)

Hy 
Horenstein

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