The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Yakety Yak (Chapel Hill, NC: 1952), 366, Digital NC, https://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/yearbooks/id/849/rec/1, accessed on November 3, 2018.
This advertisement, featured in the back of the 1952 Yakety Yak, is for the famous Old World Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Founded by Edward G. Danziger in 1939, the Old World Restaurant quickly became a staple of Chapel Hill for university students, local families, and visitors.
Edward Danziger, known to Chapel Hillians as “Papa D,” was a noted confectioner from Vienna, Austria. He owned a candy factory in Vienna and five stores throughout Europe before arriving to the United States.[1]Danziger, however, had to flee Austria and leave his businesses behind to avoid possible internment in a Nazi concentration camp. He and his family were Jewish and so the Nazis confiscated everything they had, resulting in Danziger coming to the United States with only $4.[2]
Thanks to a $500 grant from the local Quaker community, Danziger arrived in Chapel Hill after working in New York City for a few months.[3]After arriving, Danziger soon opened his new Vienna-style business: Danziger’s Old World Candy Shop. The store was located at 155 East Franklin Street and it sold homemade confections, pastries, coffee, and sodas. Danziger’s Old World Candy Shop was an instant hit and it continuously evolved over the years. In the 1950s Danziger’s business expanded into a full-service restaurant and changed its name to Danziger’s Old World Restaurant. Its final incarnation included a gift shop, featuring European items in addition to candies and sweets.[4]
In 1948, Edward Danziger’s son, Ted, started his own restaurant in the candy store’s basement. Ted’s equally famous Danziger owned restaurant was called Ram’s Head Rathskeller or Rat for short. This eatery allegedly introduced pizza to the South, and was the first restaurant in town to serve draft beer.[5]The Rat was known for its cheesy lasagna and legendary steak called “The Gambler.” Ram’s Head Rathskeller was a popular hangout spot for college students and it served the people of Chapel Hill for almost 60 years.
As an immigrant family, the Danziger’s “brought a taste of the Old World to Chapel Hill and launched a fine-dining empire that educated local palates.”[6]The family owned businesses created an inclusive community of students and townspeople that forever changed the way Chapel Hillians thought about eating out.
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Yakety Yak (Chapel Hill, NC: 1952), 366, Digital NC, https://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/yearbooks/id/849/rec/1, accessed on November 3, 2018.
[1]“Edward and Theodore Danziger.” Chapel Hill-Carrboro Business Hall of Fame. https://businesshalloffame.weebly.com/edward-and-theodore-danziger.html (accessed Nov. 4, 2018).
[2] Shumaker, James. They Fled Hitler’s Germany and Found Refuge in North Carolina. Chapel Hill: Academic Affairs Library, Center for the Study of the American South, IRSS Faculty Working Group in Southern Studies, 1996. Accessed November 1, 2019. https://archive.org/details/theyfledhitlersg00land.
[3] Shumaker, James. They Fled Hitler’s Germany and Found Refuge in North Carolina. Chapel Hill: Academic Affairs Library, Center for the Study of the American South, IRSS Faculty Working Group in Southern Studies, 1996. Accessed November 1, 2019. https://archive.org/details/theyfledhitlersg00land.
[4]“Edward and Theodore Danziger.” Chapel Hill-Carrboro Business Hall of Fame. https://businesshalloffame.weebly.com/edward-and-theodore-danziger.html (accessed Nov. 4, 2018).
[5]“Edward and Theodore Danziger.” Chapel Hill-Carrboro Business Hall of Fame. https://businesshalloffame.weebly.com/edward-and-theodore-danziger.html (accessed Nov. 4, 2018).
[6]“Edward and Theodore Danziger.” Chapel Hill-Carrboro Business Hall of Fame. https://businesshalloffame.weebly.com/edward-and-theodore-danziger.html (accessed Nov. 4, 2018).
Riley Bechter