Marcia Bricker Halperin: Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria

Marcia Bricker Halperin: Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria by Barbara CiurejJuly 4, 2023

Cover of Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria

Opening Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria is like stepping through the revolving doors of that now-defunct establishment, into the world of New York’s vanished cafeteria culture. Marcia Bricker Halperin’s evocative black and white photographs transport us there with the same wonder she felt when she first entered Dubrow’s on a cold morning in 1975. In an atmosphere that offered “opulence for the price of a cup of coffee”, steam tables laden with well-prepared Jewish foods, bouffants and bookies and the 24/7 rhythms of a haven for gathering, she sensed she was witnessing the end of an era. She returned to photograph again and again, amassing an encompassing collection of images.

Kibbitz & Nosh, published by Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, opens to Halperin’s portraits of patrons —a cast of endearing characters—faces rich with stories. In business from 1929 to 1985, Dubrow’s, like many of its customers, survived through the Great Depression, World War II, misfortune, changing economics, displacement. In the mid 1970s, when Halperin was photographing, New York was in economic collapse, crime was on the rise, communities were dispersing, and the once numerous cafeterias of New York were shuttering. The essays by Halperin, playwright Donald Margulies, and historian Deborah Dash Moore are punctuated by both vintage images and Halperin’s mood-conjuring photographs. Together they give context to the cultural and ethnic history that made Dubrow’s an extended family for the local Jewish community and anyone needing a good clean cheap meal.

Spread from Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria

New York’s cafeterias were as much about convening as they were about eating. Dubrow’s offered a buffer against the harshness of life. Halperin’s photographs feel like film stills masterfully freezing the scene—embracing the grace-filled theatricality of the interior, the staff, the cast of characters who posed for her camera and those who found their way through Dubrow’s doors. Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria is an insightful ode to time and place, food and community.

Halperin will be talking about her book on July 13th and the Brooklyn Public Library and on July 19th at Launch Photo Books in New York City.

Dubrow’s Cafeteria, Brooklyn ©Marcia Bricker Halperin

Marcia Bricker Halperin, a lifelong Brooklynite, has been photographing the character and landscape of New York City since the 1970s. She received a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and soon after had her first solo exhibition at the Midtown Y Gallery. In the late 1970s, she was active in the Photographers Forum, an organization that was a continuation of the 1940s Photo League, reflecting their humanistic and aesthetics concerns. She assisted with organizing their meetings and panels held at the New School, which featured photographers such as W. Eugene Smith and Roy DeCarava. She attended the evening photography class taught by Lisette Model and walked Ms. Model back to her Greenwich Village home after class.

She went on to spend 35 years in K-12 education, teaching art and photography and using her creativity in special education with disabled and autistic students. Since retiring, she has been scanning and printing large bodies of unseen negatives from her archives. Through her photography, she hopes to relate a human story of a specific time, capture a place’s essence, and freeze details of life.

Her work has been exhibited at the Edward Hopper House Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the International Center of Photography, and is included in numerous collections.

ig: @marciabrickerphoto