Rose Berger Kubitsky

Rose Berger Kubitsky immigrated to the West End from Poland in the early twentieth century. In the 1930s she founded “Berger’s Deli.” On Leverett Street, the deli was known by West Enders as “Berger’s Bar” because it evolved into a tavern, where Kubitsky simultaneously worked as owner and bouncer.

Rose Berger Kubitsky was born in Poland in 1898. When Rose was nine years old, in 1907, her mother died just as pogroms (organized massacres) of Jewish people in Russian-controlled Poland were underway. For her own safety, Rose left her family in Poland when she was eleven to immigrate to America. She accompanied another family, the Lapowskis, who passed off Rose as their daughter upon arriving at Ellis Island. Rose then moved to Boston and lived with another family whose surname was Cohen, and she worked in a cigar factory on Columbus Avenue in the South End. In 1920, Rose Lapowski married Alex Berger, and in 1923 they founded Berger’s Deli on Leverett Street (at the corner of Spring Street) in the West End. They had two children, Sylvia and Melvin.

In 1934 Alex Berger passed away; months after Prohibition ended in December 1933, allowing Berger’s Deli to became a tavern.  A few years later Rose married Louis Kubitsky, but Rose Berger was sole owner of Berger’s Deli in the interim. She worked as a bartender and, despite being 4’9”, a bouncer. According to Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe, “Rose was a legendary bouncer. The West End had its share of toughs, and Rose did not hesitate to lower her shoulder into the midsection or back of anyone who was acting up, nudging them right out the door.” Aside from the “toughs” in the neighborhood, many West Enders had positive experiences with Berger’s Deli not only because of the service inside, but also because of the Berger family’s service to the community. Arlene Shalit, one of Rose and Louis’s two children, recalled that after her mother’s visits, she “would insist that I make up six or seven extra plates and wrap them up, so she could bring them to West Enders who had no food.” Melvin Berger recalled that Rose “was always willing to give somebody a second chance,” particularly when West Enders needed to get bailed out from the Charles St. Jail, and Rose posted bond by putting up the deli as collateral.

After fifty acres of the West End, including Leverett Street, were razed by urban renewal in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Rose Berger moved Berger’s Deli to new locations, first Merrimac Street, then Lomasney Way: she was “always one step ahead of the wrecker’s ball.” In 1971, Berger’s Deli was one of thirty-three Boston bars raided by federal agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). It was one of twelve bars “suspected of having refilled or cut bottles of liquor,” which is illegal under federal law. In 1975, Rose sold Berger’s Deli and, upon retirement, moved into the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale, MA. In 1988, The West Ender recognized her ninetieth birthday with a request that former West Enders mail her cards.

Rose Berger Kubitsky died on January 24, 1993 at 95 years old. Former West Enders expressed their appreciation for Berger’s Deli in the pages of The West Ender towards the end of her life, and afterwards. In 1987, Al and Grace Cucchiara wrote that they “miss the stores on Spring St., Barnie Scheff’s, Silvers Bakery and Schnippers Fruit Store, Bergers Barroom, etc.” In 2003, Darrell Earnest, Rose Berger Kubitsky’s great-grandson, wrote to Jim Campano (who founded The West Ender and The West End Museum) about his desire to learn more about the West End’s history. Earnest wrote, regarding Rose and his grandmother, Sylvia, “I have a desire to learn more about their lives in the West End. You might remember Rose’s bar room. I know a few stories about the bar, but I want to know more about everyday life in the West End.” Berger’s Deli was just one piece of everyday life for West Enders, though it was a memorable one.