Baltimore: Jewish Museum of Maryland Plans Expansion on Site of Lenny's Deli

Baltimore, Maryland. Lenny's Deli - a recent cultural landmark, but not an architectural one. The deli abutts the restored 1876 B'nai Israel Synagogue. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber, 2005

Baltimore: Jewish Museum of Maryland Plans Expansion on Site of Lenny's Deli
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) In August, the Jewish Museum of Baltimore announced the purchase of the site of Lenny's Deli on "Corned Beef Row" adjacent to the museum site - home of two historic 19th century synagogues.

The Deli will continue to operate at its present location for the next five years, but the museums eventual expansion to the space to provide room for a new educational wing and on-site parking.
The cost of the purchase was $1.5 million, made possible by a grant from the Herbert Bearman Foundation which has already been a major benefactor to the institution (an existing wing is already named for Herbert Bearman).

While Lenny's is viewed by many Baltimoreans of this generation as an historic institution, the Lombard (Corned Beef Row) location was opened only in 1991. Still, it is the last vestige of a much older tradition of Jewish eateries in the neighborhood.