Which Ratner's?

In 2008, we took a look at the mysterious Ratner's of Second Avenue. Few images can be found of this Ratner's--it turns up as a sidebar in photos of the Fillmore East or, in its first incarnation, side-glanced in street shots from ancient archives. We found a menu from 1970 and parts of the old Ratner's mosaic wall that still exist today at Met Foods.

Still, the Second Ave. Ratner's remains something of a ghost.

Now we have this gorgeous interior photo of a Ratner's from reader Rebecca Krupp (click to see larger detail):



Rebecca writes: "My grandmother Ruby Krupp is seated in the center. The picture would have been taken sometime between 1931-1938. Maybe someone else could identify some of the other people in the picture."

But is this the Second Avenue Ratner's or the more famous and photographed one that vanished more recently from Delancey?

If it is Second Avenue, then it might be the original Second Avenue Ratner's, which sat on the corner of Second and Sixth during the 1930s, before moving mid-block. In fact, the fan/scallop motif on the exterior in this NYPL digital archive shot looks a lot like the motif in the interior photo.


from NYPL