Zabar's

2245 Broadway | also 2241 Broadway | Upper West Side | built 1920

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1934

    Louis and Lillian Zabar open their store at Broadway and 80th Street

    Louis Zabar, who had come from Ukraine in the early 1920s, and his wife Lillian opened the store here in 1934. He built up ten markets before his death in 1950; Lillian and their sons Saul and Stanley carried on, with Murray Klein as a partner from 1960 to 1994. A 1970s expansion made Zabar's one of Manhattan's largest food stores, known for its bagels, smoked fish, olives and cheeses.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1950

    Founder Louis Zabar dies as his business is expanding fast

    Louis Zabar, who had immigrated from Ukraine and opened his first store with wife Lillian in 1934, died in 1950 just as the family had grown its business to ten markets across the city. Lillian carried the business on, later remarrying Louis Chartoff, while sons Saul and Stanley Zabar went on to build the Broadway flagship known today with partner Murray Klein.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2011

    Zabar's draws criticism for selling crawfish labeled as lobster salad

    In 2011 Zabar's came under fire after its "lobster salad" turned out to be made mostly of crawfish rather than lobster, a labeling controversy that drew wide press attention to the Upper West Side institution. The store had built its reputation over decades on exacting standards for its appetizing counter and prepared foods.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2025

    October 7

    Saul Zabar dies at 97 after seven decades running the store

    Saul Zabar, who partnered with his brother Stanley and Murray Klein to grow the family's Broadway store from 1960 to 1994 and remained a guiding presence afterward, died on October 7, 2025, at age 97. His niece Lori Zabar had chronicled the family business in a 2022 memoir shortly before her own death.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 64 buildings with stories in Upper West Side