Bens deli lives on in museum exhibit

This 1952 archival photo attests to what a bustling concern Bens was at that time.  MCCORD MUSEUM PHOTO

“Bens was not just a restaurant. It was a place that drew Montrealers and tourists alike. The ambience was unlike anywhere else,” says Elliot Kravitz, grandson of Benjamin Kravitz, who founded the landmark delicatessen in 1908.

The younger Kravitz, a Montreal physician, contacted the McCord Museum to ensure that Bens’ memorabilia would be preserved when it closed in late 2006, after its employees had been on strike for months.

Bens’ glory days have been revived with the opening of an exhibition drawing on that memorabilia, which continues until Nov. 23.

Bens: The Legendary Deli – in compliance with Quebec’s language law, the deli dropped its apostrophe in the 1980s – is an homage to a lost Montreal institution. 

Originally located on St. Laurent Boulevard, Bens had been at its final home, the southeast corner of de Maisonneuve Boulevard and Mansfield Street, since 1949.

The building, with the bold red “BENS” wrapped around the art-deco style entrance, was demolished after the new owners received permission to put up a hotel, despite protests by heritage experts.

Left behind were the artifacts of almost a century, during which three generations of the Kravitz family owned and worked in the restaurant, which was open 22 hours a day at its height.

The exhibition comprises some 100 items, including photos of and testimonials from the many celebrities who chowed down on Bens’ smoked meat and other Jewish-style fare, menus, counter stools and even dishes and utensils.

“Bens grew over the years into an almost mythical institution whose reputation extended far beyond borders,” says curator Céline Widmer. 

“Frequented by both ordinary and famous customers, it was a place where people from all walks of life rubbed shoulders at the same table.”

Benjamin Kravitz and his wife Fanny, immigrants from Lithuania, began by serving five-cent sandwiches to garment workers from their small store on the Main at Duluth Street.

They cured beef according to a recipe of Kravitz’s grandfather, making them pioneers in establishing Montreal’s reputation for smoked meat.

During the Depression, to attract a larger clientele, they moved downtown to de Maisonneuve (the Burnside) and Mansfield, across the street from what would be Bens’ last home, a much bigger building.

The Kravitz’s children, Irving, Al, Sollie and Gertrude, all worked at the restaurant at one point or another. After Benjamin’s death in 1956, the sons took over and Bens’ glamour grew.

Show business personalities, athletes, writers, and politicians – adversaries Pierre Trudeau and René Lévesque were regulars – frequented Bens.

The restaurant was used for many movie shoots, and it was reputedly a hangout for CIA recruitment and negotiating arms procurement for the nascent State of Israel.

Though never quite as famous as that other iconic Montreal deli, Schwartz’s, by 1960, more than 8,000 customers were passing through Bens’ doors each day, for a total of more than two million clients between 1950 and 1980, the owners said.

Irving (Elliot’s father) and Sollie died in the 1990s, and Al carried on until his passing in 2000. Bens was starting to fade with the growth of other fast-food eateries, and the strike that started in July 2006 by 22 unionized employees, the first in its history, heralded the end. 

Elliot and his mother Jean, who, at 83, was still running the business, decided Bens was no longer viable.

But they didn’t want “an essential part of Quebec’s patrimony” to be scrapped, so they turned to the nearby McCord. The museum, which is dedicated to Montreal history, acquired the memorabilia in October 2007.

“The McCord was delighted to be able to help preserve so many elements of this iconic eating establishment,” said Suzanne Sauvage, McCord’s president and CEO.

“Not only do they symbolize an era, they represent a culinary tradition that is typically Montreal and continues to thrive today.”

Elliot Kravitz views the exhibition as an homage to the patrons as much as to the business.

“Our goal is to enable visitors to recapture moments from the past and relive their unique experience in a place that became, thanks to them, a legendary aspect of Montreal life,” he said.