{"id":32429,"date":"2025-11-07T21:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32429\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T21:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:26:10","slug":"juniors-celebrates-75-years-of-cheesecake-and-uniting-new-yorkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32429\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior’s celebrates 75 years of cheesecake\u00a0and uniting New Yorkers"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York\u2019s got no shortage of landmarks<\/a>, each one recognized the world over. The Empire State Building. The Statue of Liberty. Rockefeller Center. And a slice of Junior\u2019s cheesecake.<\/p>\n

This week marks 75 years since one of the Big Apple\u2019s most beloved addresses first opened its doors in downtown Brooklyn. Almost ever since, opinionated New Yorkers of all stripes have been able to find common ground, and a good meal, under the iconic neon sign at the corner at Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the quintessential New York restaurant,\u201d three-term borough president Marty Markowitz, 80, and a fan since the age of 17, told The Post. \u201cIf I was going on a second date with someone, I\u2019d take them there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Server Stacy Ann Daniel shows off the signature dessert at Junior\u2019s \u2014\u00a0synonymous with the iconic Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, restaurant for 75 years. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n

Everybody shows up at Junior\u2019s. Back in his late-90s Hizzoner heyday, former mayor Rudy Giuliani called the restaurant \u201cone of the tastes that makes the city what it is.\u201d Spike Lee is a regular \u2014\u00a0he filmed his most recent flick on location at the restaurant<\/a>, and celebrated this year\u2019s Juneteenth holiday there with Rev. Al Sharpton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people I meet who say, \u2018My parents went on their first date at Junior\u2019s\u2019 or \u2018I had my high school graduation there,\u2019\u201d Alan Rosen, third-generation owner whose grandfather Harry first opened Junior\u2019s in the autumn of 1950, told The Post. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor, quite frankly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Spike Lee is one of many boldface New Yorkers who love Junior\u2019s \u2014\u00a0here, he\u2019s shown as character Mars Blackmon in a Nike commercial. NIKE<\/p>\n

The restaurant might have ended up being just another noshery in a city full of them \u2014\u00a0but the New York-style cheesecake really made the place stand out.<\/p>\n

Sitting on a sponge cake crust and made with full-fat cream cheese<\/a> \u2014\u00a0Junior\u2019s goes through 4 million pounds of the stuff every year \u2014\u00a0the house specialty was a customer favorite that gained citywide fame in the ensuing decades, with one local food critic calling it \u201cthe best cheesecake in the material world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say cheesecake<\/p>\n

Junior\u2019s didn\u2019t invent cheesecake \u2014\u00a0but they remain one of the most beloved makers of the vintage, New York-style dessert to this day. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n

For the first 20 years or so, Junior\u2019s had plenty of fans \u2014\u00a0knocking it out of the park right off the bat when the Brooklyn Dodgers, who wouldn\u2019t abandon the borough until 1957, became regular customers.<\/p>\n

Then, in 1973, a columnist for the Village Voice raved about the cake \u2014\u00a0sparking a citywide conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will never be a better cheesecake than the cheesecake they serve at Junior\u2019s on Flatbush Avenue\u2026it\u2019s the best cheesecake in New York,\u201d Ron Rosenblum proclaimed at the time.<\/p>\n

Owner Alan Rosen told The Post he grew up in the restaurant \u2014\u00a0which was founded by his grandfather, Harry Rosen, 75 years ago. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n

A few months later, a panel of six judges was assembled by New York magazine \u2014\u00a0to choose the best cheesecake in the Big Apple. They unanimously picked Junior\u2019s in a blind taste-test.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I eat there, it\u2019s instant comfort and nostalgia,\u201d Dan Pelosi<\/a>, author of the recent comfort-food-focused cookbook Let\u2019s Party<\/a>, told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really stands out to me is the sponge cake crust,\u201d Pelosi said. \u201cI have never seen anyone else do it that way, because typically you would use a graham cracker crust. But Junior\u2019s has stuck with this sponge cake crust from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three-time Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz is one of Junior\u2019s most well-known fans \u2014\u00a0now 80, he told The Post he\u2019s been coming to the restaurant since he was a teenager. NY POST<\/p>\n

For NYC-based chef Jake Cohen<\/a>, \u201cit\u2019s all about tradition and attention to detail,\u201d he told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s consistently the best New York-style slice you can find because they focus on doing one thing perfectly,\u201d said the author of the cookbooks Jew-Ish<\/a> and the just-released Dinner Party Animal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Never a dull moment<\/p>\n

Camille Russo, shown here in a 1996 photo, had been a Junior\u2019s employee for 36 years at that time. 12.5.96<\/p>\n

While the recipe for success may have been simple, Junior\u2019s ride to the top hasn\u2019t been nearly as smooth as its signature dessert.<\/p>\n

Along the way to to creating a mini-empire that includes a brisk mail-order business, restaurants in Times Square and Las Vegas, and a 103,000 square-foot bakery in New Jersey to bake all those cakes, there have been as many lows as highs.<\/p>\n

From the neighborhood\u2019s dramatic decline<\/a> in the 1970s to the devastating fire in 1981, where worried downtown Brooklyn neighbors chanted \u201csave the cheesecake!\u201d as firefighters subdued the blaze, to the infamous 2021 cream cheese shortage, which threatened to stop the business in its tasty tracks<\/a>, Junior\u2019s has endured it all.<\/p>\n

And seen it all, too \u2014\u00a0and been seen, on television and on film, from LL Cool J videos in the 1990s to 2008\u2019s Sex and the City<\/a> movie, where Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big celebrate their long-awaited wedding with their cast of friends in tow. The restaurant didn\u2019t close for the shoot \u2014\u00a0those waiters you see in the background are real.<\/p>\n

Not even a 2007 shoot for the first \u201cSex and the City\u201d movie could stop Junior\u2019s \u2014\u00a0shown in the background are actual servers going about their daily business. Craig Blankenhorn\/The Kobal Coll<\/p>\n

Name a pivotal moment in New York history, and Junior\u2019s has been there, too \u2014 through the 1977 blackout, when a then-8-year-old Alan Rosen recalls being called into work by his father to help out. <\/p>\n

The restaurant stayed open on Sept. 11, 2001, setting up tables outside with drinks to sustain the scores of dazed workers flooding over the bridges. Junior\u2019s kept going throughout the pandemic, too \u2014\u00a0takeout only \u2014\u00a0sending their cheesecakes far and wide.<\/p>\n

These days, there are other concerns \u2014\u00a0gentrification has swallowed the neighborhood nearly whole; the original Junior\u2019s is now dwarfed by skyscrapers, with development continuing unabated.<\/p>\n

LL Cool J is one of many artists who\u2019ve chosen to feature Junior\u2019s over the years \u2014\u00a0shown is the video from his 1996 hit, \u201cDoing It.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior\u2019s almost became another one of those towers in 2013, when the family was offered $45 million, cash, to sell to developers, who wanted to demolish the legendary building.<\/p>\n

Rosen calls it an agonizing decision \u2014\u00a0one that prompted him to see a therapist. One after another, customers came out of the woodwork to profess their love for Junior\u2019s, which helped a great deal, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the life\u2019s work of my family,\u201d Rosen says, pronouncing himself pleased with his decision, over a decade later. \u201cAs I said at my dad\u2019s funeral, his entire life was contained within these four walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior\u2019s has faced many challenges over the years, from divestment to rampant redevelopment \u2014\u00a0and has survived them all. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n

And whatever challenges come next, Junior\u2019s will rise to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just keep grinding, pushing and plugging along,\u201d Rosen said. \u201cWe\u2019re still in love with the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

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