Latest news with #Lichter
Boston Globe
08-07-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Jewish deli dream becomes reality in Northampton
'It is this homage to where we all come from, and how we got where we all are today, and the food we grew up with,' Hanley says. 'There's such a nostalgia connected to it that is so deep.' Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up The new deli was eight years in the making, starting around 2017 when Lichter and Levin, both music managers, teamed up to work with the folk trio Advertisement 'It was something that we continuously were joking about with each other, just to entertain ourselves and give our brains a break from thinking about our music work,' says Lichter, who also manages The menu at Lichter & Levin Delicatessen includes sweet treats like these cookies. Yasmina Mattison In 2019, they pushed the idea further by commissioning a logo, coming up with a slogan ('open for brunch and linner') and printing up hoodies and T-shirts, purely to amuse themselves. That November, they posted photos of the merch on a new Lichter & Levin Instagram page with the tongue-in-cheek caption 'coming soon.' The post went 'small-town viral,' Lichter says, prompting a story in the local newspaper. The surge of buzz about the possibility of a deli coming to Northampton reached Wynn, who owned a café called the Roost that she had been thinking of converting into one. 'When those posts hit Instagram in 2019, I was shaken in my boots,' says Wynn, who opened the Roost in 2011. 'I was like, someone's going to open a Jewish deli in Northampton. The Roost will be out of business in five minutes.' Though Lichter and Levin ended up meeting with a few potential partners, the timing was off: before they could seriously pursue it, the pandemic arrived. By 2023, the pair had come back to the idea, but were exploring locations in Connecticut and New York. Meanwhile, Hanley, a classically trained chef with a background in fine dining in New York, had recently moved to Western Mass. and was looking to open a deli. Through community connections, Hanley met Wynn and came to work at the Roost while they plotted how to overhaul the coffee shop into something new. Advertisement Lighted signs mounted to the wall inside Lichter & Levin Delicatessen in Northampton. Yasmina Mattison 'Café business, the model is tough,' says Wynn, who moved to Northampton in 2009 after a decade performing in the Long Island hip-hop trio Northern State. 'It was always tough. It was never a very profitable business. It was kind of break-even at best. But then the pandemic really put me underwater, and there was really no way to climb out of that.' Hanley and Wynn worked up a deli pitch to show to possible investors. They were introduced to Lichter and Levin through mutual acquaintances on the Shluggers, the local synagogue's softball team. One of them was Matt Wool, a New York-born deli enthusiast who had bought a Lichter & Levin hoodie when they first became available. He joined Lichter and Levin for a meeting with Hanley and Wynn late in 2024. A food tasting followed on a frigid evening in December, where a small group sampled Hanley's food: whitefish salad, briny house-cured lox, knishes, tangy half-sour pickles with just the right snap, vegan pastrami, hearty matzo ball soup, and desserts including mini-babkas, rugelach, and black-and-white cookies. 'The combination of food was so spot-on,' says Levin, who also manages the band Lucius, singer Aoife O'Donovan and others as part of Good Harbor Music. 'This was exactly what we had wanted, and what we had jokingly talked about back in 2017 and '18.' With Hanley, Lichter, Levin, and Wool going in as partners, Wynn closed the Roost in March. She went to work for Lichter & Levin and turned over the space, which she owns, to the deli for a facelift. The new design features royal blue paint and white subway tile. One wall is covered with old snapshots of the owners' grandparents and great-grandparents — the ones who ran butcher shops and delis. There are also archival photographs, curated with help from the Historic Northampton museum, depicting Jewish life in town and the history of the building, which once shared a parking lot with Advertisement The fact that three separate groups were interested in opening a New York-style deli before they joined forces suggests that there's a market for it in Western Massachusetts. More than that, though, it's the kind of restaurant the Lichter & Levin team wanted to exist where they live. For them, opening a deli is a way of forging closer ties with their community in a way that links them to their family traditions. 'There's a Yiddish term 'bashert,' which roughly translates to 'meant to be,'' Levin says. 'In all of our family histories, you can draw a line to serving food to people. That connection to where we all come from, combined with the comfort of having a place like this right here in the community, is why I'm doing it.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘We won't tolerate it': Immigration lawyer, AG Weiser weigh in on Boulder attack
BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — Attorney General Phil Weiser says he is shaken by the attack in Boulder — another premeditated attack that Weiser says could have been avoided. 'What didn't happen here that we're going to be looking at, just like with the Boulder King Sooper shooting, is did someone know something and didn't know who to talk to?' Weiser said. Suspect charged with federal hate crime after attacking pro-Israel group in Boulder According to federal immigration officials, Mohamed Sabry Soliman entered the country in 2022 on a B-2 tourist visa, which is used for tourists from outside the United States to visit. The visa expired in 2023, and he applied for asylum and was awaiting approval. Asylum could take weeks, months, or in some cases, years to get approved, according to immigration lawyer Laura Lichter. 'The fact that they've applied for asylum does not necessarily protect them against deportation unless an immigration judge finds that there's a reason that that person would fear harm if they were sent back to their home country,' Lichter said. Lichter said it is up to the federal government as this case goes forward. 'It's up to the government to let that criminal process go to conclusion before they take action against the person in terms of any immigration case,' Lichter said. Weiser says he will be working with the Boulder District Attorney with the support he needs to ensure justice is served. Emergency fund created for victims, Jewish safety after Boulder terrorist attack 'We're taking action, and we hold this individual account to make a strong statement. We won't tolerate it,' Weiser said. Litcher said that immigration issues can be very complicated and Soliman's future could change depending on what happens in the days ahead with his trial and decisions made at the federal level. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hall of Fame Resort Going Private for Pennies, Market Approves
Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment is closing the books on its five-year run as a publicly traded company, as the Canton, Ohio, sports project has agreed to sell itself for 90 cents a share to real estate developer Stuart Lichter, the business' largest shareholder. Lichter is the founder of Industrial Realty Group (IRG), a Los Angeles-based real estate developer, and he formed Hall of Fame Resort in 2016 as a football-themed development adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a separate entity that partnered with IRG. He is the majority shareholder of Hall of Fame Resort after steadily acquiring more stock to prop up the company, which means the deal is effectively done since he has the votes for shareholder approval. However, Hall of Fame notes the transaction is contingent on Lichter being able to obtain $20 million in financing, being able to restructure the company's lease and securing a further $125 million in project financing. More from Take-Two Shares Drop on GTA's 'Perfect Track Record of Delays' Sports Cards Lead eBay Growth as Goldin, PSA Drive Volume Trump Tariffs Hit Big Names as Sports Stocks Flounder in April Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment went public in 2020 in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger. Because of reverse share splits done over the years to maintain a minimum stock price as required by the Nasdaq Stock Market, the initial share price is now equivalent to more than $270, according to data from That means the 90-cents-a-share offer is a 99.7% decrease in share value in five years. Most of the loss will be felt by Lichter; based on shareholding disclosures as of October, the executive owned more than 70% of shares, with Hall of Fame Resort management owning about another 1.5% of shares themselves. Wall Street appeared to be warming to the deal's viability, based on Thursday trading. Hall of Fame shares started trading at 75 cents before closing at 84 cents, still more than a nickel below the offering price but a 20% increasing value. Typically shares will jump to or close to a buyout price if traders are confident a deal will go through as proposed.(This story has been updated in the headline and final paragraph with details of the company's stock price.) Best of Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia and Collectibles in History The 100 Most Valuable Sports Teams in the World NFL Private Equity Ownership Rules: PE Can Now Own Stakes in Teams Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
