What is this thing? From where? Kartsen’s?

[gnome]

At a junk shop up north I bought this jar with a lid. Upon close inspection I discover it was from a small local Detroit chain of cafeterias called Kartsen’s.

I have never heard of this place before. What little I was able to find was a mention in the Congressional Record of Bobby Kennedy going after Kartsen’s owner for being a front for Jimmy Hoffa, the teamsters and organized crime.

I have no other information and am wondering what the collective brain trust can discover.

I will attach a couple of pix real soon.

[gnome]

[gnome]

Sorry for the sideways photos.

[MikeM]

Looks like a sugar pourer.

Victor Silver Co
EP-NS = Electro Plated - Nickel Silver

Karsten's on Woodward, south of GCP:

[Wheels]

https://digitalcollections.detroitpu...ndora%3A217994

[Jimaz]

Google shows a matching image somewhere on antiquesnavigator.com but that is a very poorly designed website. Apparently they expect people to scroll hundreds of pages to find things. Maybe someone else would have better luck there.

Edit: Found it here: ANTIQUE VNT HOTEL RESTAURANT VICTOR SILVER CO SUGAR SHAKER BOWL. Okay, it's not identical but same manufacturer.

[MikeM]

Sounds like Theodore Kartsen [[often spelled Karsten) was president of the Detroit Restaurant Guild and was accused of kicking back dues or salary payments to Hoffa/Teamsters to prevent strikes.

-----------------------------------------

THE DECATUR DAILY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1957

Hoffa Probers Given Surprise Payoff Evidence

WASHINGTON AP - Senate rackets probers today directed further investigation into a surprise report of payoffs to Teamster boss James R. Hoffa by Detroit restaurant owners. The report was laid before the committee by John Leyhan, Detroit restaurant man, who said he overheard it in snatches of conversation at a noisy dinner given in Detroit’s Latin Quarter.

“We are going to follow it up,” committee counsel Robert F. Kennedy told reporters. “We want more information. The Teamsters Union can make or break a restaurant strike.'’

Leyhan said the discussion he overheard mentioned payments of about $1,500 every six months to Hoffa, now top-running candidate for election as president of the giant Teamsters Union at next week’s union convention in Miami. Leyhan said he could not recall just when the incident happened, but thought it was seven or eight years ago.

His story was tossed into the hearing after a long closed door conference with committee members at which he volunteered to tell of the incident because, he said, “you’ve been doing a good job.” But there were prompt denials of Leyhan’s story by the two men he said were involved—Ted Karsten, president of the Detroit Restaurant Guild, and Kartsen’s brother-in-law, Garrett L. Reading. The guild is an organization of restaurant operators formed to negotiate with labor unions.

Both agreed with Leyhan that Reading was employed as an undercover operative for the guild. But there their agreements ended. They denied emphatically that part of Reading’s guild salary was returned to Karsten for subsequent delivery to Hoffa. Leyhan said that was the procedure he heard outlined in the conversation from a table behind his at the restaurantmen's dinner. He said one of the men at the table was named Schaeffer, and since has died. Reading said his salary from the guild was deposited in his bank account. He agreed with Kennedy’s statements that he made withdrawals of about $1,850 every six months, saying, “I just had the habit of doing that. I spent it.” He declined to say how it was spent. Kartsen, too, denied there was any “kickback” of the salary from his brother-in-law, saying “I wish he would” return some of it.

Kennedy said, “So far we have found no other restaurant operators in Detroit who even knew” Reading was on the guild payroll.

Called before the committee today was Benjamin Franklin [[Frank) Collins, secretary-treasurer of Teamster Local 299 headed by Hoffa. Collins, who writes the checks for the local, was indicted with Hoffa by a federal grand jury in New York yesterday on perjury charges. The indictment charged they lied to the grand jury during its investigation of alleged wiretapping of the Teamsters Union headquarters in Detroit. It heard testimony yesterday that Michigan Teamsters Union units paid more than $170,000 in the last three years in legal fees for Hoffa aides accused of bombings and extortions and in'payments to their wives after they went to prison.

Also:


Testimony of John C. Leyhan

[Kathleen]

In the Lower Woodward Avenue Historic District nomination form
[[found on this page https://detroitmi.gov/document/lower-woodward-avenue), Karstens is mentioned on page 30 as shown here:

29. 1550 Woodward Avenue, Tall-Eez Shoes, 1965; Non-contributing building.

Six bays of plate glass form the display windows that run along the street wall of this one story building. Each has an overhanging canopy of stainless steel. The signage projects above the flat roofline. The entrance door is inset in the second most northern bay and is also made of glass.

The City of Detroit’s Building Department files list a structure at this address built in 1939 at a cost of $73,000 for the Karsten Catering Co. Karsten’s Cafeteria/Cascade Dining Room had previously been located on this site in a three-story building since 1915.

In 1952 Fanny Farmer Candies was in this location as well. In the late 1960’s and early 70’s, Kay Baum, a women’s dress shop occupied the site in a new structure.

Tall Eez is a shoe store for women’s sizes 10 and up. Tall Eez was established in 1940 and previously located in the Metropolitan Building on John R.

[Wheels]

Sounds like Theodore Kartsen [[often spelled Karsten) was president of the Detroit Restaurant Guild and was accused of kicking back dues or salary payments to Hoffa/Teamsters to prevent strikes.

-----------------------------------------

THE DECATUR DAILY



Also:


Testimony of John C. Leyhan

Maybe next generation?

[MikeM]

Maybe next generation?

Yep:



And his estate generated a tax court case:

ESTATE OF KARTSEN v. COMMISSIONER

Theodore R. Kartsen is the duly appointed and qualified executor of the estate of M. K. Kartsen, who died November 20, 1950. The federal income tax return of M. K. Kartsen for 1950 was filed with the collector of internal revenue for the district of Michigan, at Detroit.

In 1915 M. K. Kartsen organized the Kartsen Catering Company, a Michigan corporation [[hereinafter referred to as the corporation), and served as its president until his death on November 20, 1950, at which time he was 80 years of age. The pro rata share of his salary on the date of his death was $12,444.38, or at an annual rate of $14,000.

At the time, his son Ted lived at 27405 W 10 Mile Rd [[corner of Inkster) in Farmington Hills. That address is now the convent of the Bernadine Franciscan Sisters. Looks like it would have been a cute, rustic compound for a mob meeting.

[gnome]

Dang. You folks really stepped up. Wow. I’m feeling overwhelmed with all the information.

[gnome]

I found an old map that has Karsten’s on it. It’s a pretty interesting map of downtown because it shows the names of all the stores/businesses from Adams to Jefferson and Cass to Randolph.

[gnome]

[gnome]

[gnome]

I have not been able to find a date on this map but it shows Henry the Hatter in the old Library Hotel at Library and Gratoit.

so that means it is pre-1947 when Henry the Hatter moved to their long-time home on Broadway.

[Lowell]

Damn I love threads like this.

[MikeM]

so that means it is pre-1947 when Henry the Hatter moved to their long-time home on Broadway.

I have that map. I believe it's from 1943.

[gnome]

I think I should start a new thread about this map. There is no way my scanner could accomplish the task, does anyone have any ideas how to best proceed with copying this thing and putting it here?

or is there a better on-line source that would make this map more useful to more people?

[dtowncitylover]

Ugh I love that map, I've seen it around. It's like looking at an original "mall" map.

[Lowell]

I think I should start a new thread about this map. There is no way my scanner could accomplish the task, does anyone have any ideas how to best proceed with copying this thing and putting it here?

or is there a better on-line source that would make this map more useful to more people?

The cameras on most recent smart phones have great resolution and will do the trick. You would have to shoot it chunk by chunk and post it in pieces for it to be readable. I also have that map but much to my dismay can't locate it.

I also recall that someone in the past has posted it, either here or elsewhere. At the time Lafayette Coney, the bar[?] next door to it, Simmons & Clark Jewelers on Broadway and Henry the Hatter were the only businesses still existent.

[gnome]

Ok. Well, I will add this to my list of things I need to accomplish.

Since this will take time to shoot and upload I wonder about breaking up the photos and the best way to do it.

I image there are limits to the number of photos I can upload per post. I also assume the resolution of each photo will make a difference in upload time.

Any tips?

[Meddle]

Ideally, find a place [[or device) that can scan it whole and make it OCR readable and searchable.

[jcole]

Hornwrecker might be able to give advice on scanning a map

[gnome]

Good suggestions. I wil pm hornwrecker and mine his vast wealth of knowledge.

[gnome]

I just discovered HW doesn’t accept private messages.