To the editor: Like many lifelong Angelenos, Norm Langer, who runs the legendary Langer’s Deli subsequent to MacArthur Park, has achieved his greatest to offer for his household and neighborhood in ways in which usually go unnoticed. (“Langer’s Deli owner is starving for L.A. to clean up MacArthur Park, and thinking of closing,” column, Aug. 23)
His experiences attempting to function a enterprise and supply for his prospects and staff whereas surrounded by depravity and uncaring metropolis politicians are heartbreaking however far too frequent in 2024. Anybody who defends this established order ought to go attempt to have a sandwich on a park bench throughout the road and report again how they really feel.
As with Norm, my expertise with the native Metropolis Council member leaves a lot to be desired. It actually looks like we’re being deserted by town and advised to adjust to legal guidelines and rules that don’t apply to vagrants and drug addicts.
I hope that Langer’s stays open for many years to come back, however I actually couldn’t fault Norm for closing and giving up on pushing that rock uphill.
Adam Bray-Ali, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: Steve Lopez’s column introduced again some poignant childhood recollections of Langer’s which have little do with the deli’s nice meals.
Within the late Nineteen Fifties, my prolonged Salvadoran immigrant household and I lived in an condo constructing off seventh Road, simply north of MacArthur Park. On the uncommon event we had some more money, we’d eat out.
As a 6-year-old, I couldn’t perceive why we’d cease at a number of eating places. After my uncle would ask for a desk, we’d depart and check out one other place. Years later, my uncle defined that the eating places didn’t need our Salvadoran household of their institutions.
We might proceed till going into Langer’s, the place the workers would greet us with smiles and seat us instantly.
Now, I’m a lifelong lover of Jewish meals and have launched my children and grandchildren to Langer’s. All these different eating places are gone, however Langer’s endures.
Carlos Navarrete, Lengthy Seaside
..
To the editor: Just a few years in the past, I took my aged stepmother out to lunch at Langer’s. I didn’t assume issues by way of, and shortly we had been in a protracted line outdoors in noon warmth. Langer’s staff gave us all bottles of chilly water and wheeled out an enormous cooler resembling what we see on soccer sidelines.
Once we sat down, Norm Langer himself greeted us. I advised him that we had already acquired higher service earlier than we bought within the door than we get wherever else all through the meal.
Langer’s cares about its diners. Thanks, Steve Lopez, for reminding me to pay it a go to.
Hans Ghaffari, Encino
..
To the editor: Just a few years in the past, Echo Park Lake was in poor form and uninviting. In 2021, town undertook a significant cleanup, placing the park behind a fence for some time. The undertaking was successful, and the park is now loved by crowds of individuals.
Couldn’t the identical be achieved for MacArthur Park? It could be such a disgrace to not attempt.
Susan Borden, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: After studying Lopez’s column on Langer’s and the present situation of MacArthur Park, I made a decision to drive down and seize a #19 (nonetheless the most effective sandwich on this planet) and see if the realm has deteriorated since my final go to.
Merely put, sure, it has.
It’s a squalid dystopia the place a whole lot of sick or addicted fellow people have been largely left unhelped, and the principally low-income housed neighbors have neither been protected nor served. Each degree of presidency has failed this neighborhood and all of its neighbors and companies for much too lengthy.
It’s neglectful and disgraceful.
Miles Crakow, Los Angeles
