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It All Started With a Deli
THE ATTMANS OF
LOMBARD STREET
A Remarkable Story of Business
and Family Success
M. Hirsh Goldberg
Apprentice House
Loyola University Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Copyright © 2013 by M. Hirsh Goldberg
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher (except by reviewers who may quote brief passages).
First Edition
Printed in the United States of America
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-934074-94-7
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-934074-31-2
Cover design by: Chelsea McGuckin
Internal design by: Chelsea McGuckin & Carlos Palacios
Cover Photo: Harry Attman, far right, behind the counter at his delicatessen, with his son Seymour, second from left, and two unidentified employees. Not shown: sons Edward and Leonard.
Published by Apprentice House
Apprentice House
Loyola University Maryland
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410.617.5265 • 410.617.2198 (fax)
www.ApprenticeHouse.com
“Massachusetts has its Kennedys. Maryland has its Attmans.
This family has created an impressive dynasty.”
— Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt at Leonard and Phyllis Attman’s annual Chanukah party co-hosted with Maryland’s Governor
in his official residence
“Attman’s Delicatessen, now in its 95th year, is a Baltimore institution.”
— Baltimore Business Journal, April, 2010
To The Memory of
Ida and Harry Attman
for the example they set
and the values they instilled
of hard work, charity, and
concern for others
as seen in this history of
five generations of Attmans
&
To My Wife, Gail,
with love and appreciation
for her valued assistance
in the preparation
of this book
FOREWORD
by Martin O’Malley
Governor of Maryland
It is rare, even in a great City like Baltimore, for a business to survive for 100 years. Yet, Attman’s Delicatessen is run by a very rare and special family. Few families have contributed so much to our City and State over these past four generations than the Attman family.
The story of the Attmans of Lombard Street and the famed Attman’s Delicatessen is a fascinating one, and “It All Started With a Deli” captures the many facets of this intriguing tale.
I have had the privilege of being friends with many of the Attmans for many years. During my time serving as Mayor of Baltimore, I had the opportunity to officially name a street near Attman’s Deli in memory of Seymour Attman soon after his untimely passing. Seymour was one of the three sons, along with Edward and Leonard, of Harry and Ida Attman, the founders and operators of Attman’s Delicatessen.
Every year, Leonard Attman and his wife, Phyllis, and the extended Attman family are joint hosts with me and my wife for Chanukah parties in Government House.
In my time in Annapolis, Leonard has generously agreed to serve on the Maryland Stadium Authority, and Edward’s son Gary has agreed to serve on the University of Maryland Board of Regents.
As you will see in these pages, Harry and Ida Attman, starting married life as poor immigrants, operated a small deli that would eventually garner a national mouth-watering reputation. It has now thrived close to a century.
Harry and Ida raised three sons and instilled them with the importance of education and the values of hard work, charity, faith, and giving back to the community. Those sons and their progeny would go on to build successful businesses that now employ thousands of people and serve the needs of a gamut of institutions, corporations, small and mid-size operations, and nonprofits. Their charitable endeavors help fund schools, hospitals, synagogues, non-denominational institutions, poverty programs, youth groups, and many other services touching many lives, here and abroad.
Indeed, the Attman story is one worth telling and sharing. It reminds us of what America can be for those who can seize its opportunities.
Chapter One
LUNCHTIME ON
LOMBARD STREET
Selling is like shaving. If you don’t do it every day, you’re a bum.
— Harry Attman
“Next!” It is midday at Attman’s Delicatessen on Lombard Street in East Baltimore.
“Next!”
One after another, customers, squeezed into a narrow space the length of the store, call out their lunch orders as they pass single-file before a counter and display case filled with various deli meats. Amid the din, five employees work quickly behind the counter preparing and serving sandwiches and platters.
Today is a bright but cool day in 2009 more than 94 years and four generations of Attmans since 23-year-old Harry opened in 1915 a small shop selling confections and deli sandwiches, joined soon by his young bride Ida in 1918. The store is now becoming so crowded that the line soon doubles back on itself and eventually spills onto the sidewalk.
“Next! What’ll you have?” a tall, burly counterman calls to the person now first in line, a middle-aged man in a business
