Miniatures sculptor Alan Wolfson was commissioned to make a teeny weeny, fiendishly detailed diorama of the legendary Katz’s Deli. Wolfson doesn’t do miniature people, so he needed a plausible reason to make an empty Katz’s (it’s normally mobbed). He opted for a “closing time” Katz’s, complete with tiny dirty dishes. There’s tiny neon outside, too!
Katz’s Delicatessen is one of those legendary New York locations. It’s been in business on the lower east side of Manhattan since 1888, and is New York’s oldest deli. Telling someone to “meet me at Katz’s..,” is almost the same as telling them to meet you under the clock in Grand Central – everyone knows where it is.
The collector who commissioned the piece no longer lives in the city and wanted something that reminded him of the many times, when he was a boy, that he and his family had eaten at Katz’s.
“KATZ’S DELI / CLOSING TIME” (2012)
(via Waxy)