Famed Deli Is a Work of Art--and Wife

Call it love among the pastrami.

Back in the mid-1950s, Art Ginsburg was a student at Valley College--poring over textbooks by day and building triple-decker sandwiches at his cousin’s West Los Angeles deli by night.

Ginsburg’s bride-to-be, Sandy, also a Valley College student, shared his love for scholarship and sandwiches.

So, Art popped the question: “How about opening a deli?”

Sandy graciously accepted his proposal.

On June 22, 1957, Art and Sandy opened Art’s Deli on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, launching what has become the San Fernando Valley’s quintessential delicatessen.

Through the years, the Ginsburgs watched both their business and their family grow. The 28-seat deli has expanded to a 150-seat restaurant and two of the couple’s three children, Harold Ginsburg and Roberta Mitteldorf, work at the deli. Another daughter, Beverly Ginsburg, is a computer instructor in New York.

“What’s made our deli successful is the food we serve and the consistency of quality that we try to maintain,” Art Ginsburg said.

While most times have been good, he said, there have been hard times, too. The deli was rocked by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and a subsequent electrical fire.

“I was sick when they called me,” he said. “But the sign has been up there since 1957 . . . and it’s going to stay up there.”

Like its pre-quake predecessor, Art’s remains a celebrity haunt. Regulars include movie producers Ivan Reitman and John Landis, comedian Steve Martin and actors Ed Asner and Richard Dreyfuss.

Because he spends so many hours at the deli, Ginsburg said, at times it is difficult for him--and his friends--to distinguish where Art the man ends and Art’s the deli begins.

“One time we threw a party, and we decided to use another caterer,” he recalled. “When our guests arrived they said, ‘What? No deli?’ ”