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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