Riordan Closes Deal for Mort’s Deli

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan reached an agreement last week to acquire Mort’s Deli and Oak Room, a landmark on Swarthmore that has been the town’s most popular and important hangout since 1974. ‘We’ll be closing Mort’s for about three months of renovations on April 1,’ Riordan told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday, ‘and we’ll create two different restaurants’ in that space. The deli itself will be upgraded, Riordan said, but will return ‘very much like the existing one.’ The Oak Room will be converted into a restaurant (open for lunch and dinner) and bar, taking advantage of the fact that owner Bobbie Farberow has a hard-liquor license that she is selling to Riordan. ‘She has the best kind of license in the world,’ Riordan said, ‘because it allows us to sell wine, beer and liquor for on-site consumption, and for people to take off the premises.’ What about names for the new establishments? ‘Of course, Mort’s is the best, and it’s high in my mind, but I just don’t know yet,’ said Riordan, a Brentwood resident who has long been a breakfast customer at Mort’s and a friend of Farberow and her late husband, Mort, who died in 2002. Riordan emphasized that he hopes to find an ongoing position for Farberow, perhaps as ‘an ambassador of good will who can bring the good will that she earned over the years to our new enterprise. Everybody loves her, including me.’ Farberow, 67, has wrestled with the sale of her business for more than a year, ever since learning she faced a stiff rent hike by the landlord, Palisades Partners, who especially wanted more income generated by the Oak Room space. When Riordan revealed last December that he had reached a verbal agreement to buy Mort’s, Farberow told the Post: ‘It would be so wonderful if the landlord gives the mayor a written agreement. He loves our town, he will be generous with the community, and he loved Mort. That means a lot to me. I don’t want to sell to some stranger; I’ve wanted somebody I knew who would feel strongly about the community, like Mort and I did’and I think I’ve come as close to that as I could.’ Indeed, Riordan said Tuesday that he intends to invest in the town in an interesting fashion. ‘We’re going to set up a charitable trust and donate a percentage of our profits to be used for projects that better the Palisades community.’ He didn’t offer any more details. Riordan also owns The Pantry in downtown L.A. (where an adjacent sports bar will soon open, named Riordan’s Tavern) and Gladstone’s 4-Fish on PCH at Sunset in Pacific Palisades. When Farberow called the Post last Friday to announce that Mort’s would close on March 31, she had already broken the news to the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, her 45 employees, and her two children’Stuart, a policeman in Maui, and Karen, who buys restaurant requipment for El Torito Acapulco restaurants. She drove to Palm Springs the next day to break the news to her 98-year-old father, Abraham Kordish, and her wife Ruth. ‘He was happy,’ Farberow said. ‘It’s tough, after all these years here,’ she continued, ‘but when one door closes, another door opens. Right now I’m just overwhelmed and feeling numb’like I’m in another world. But I’m blessed. I have my family and a circle of friends who care, and a community that cares. How can you not love this community?’ She came close to tears when she thought about Mort and the business they originally started on Sunset before moving to a sliver of space on Swarthmore, across from the current location. ‘I can’t believe I was in my early 30s when we started. It boggles my mind how young we were at that time, and that our kids were in elementary school.’ Farberow said she wants to plan a festive closing day on March 31 (a Saturday), which may include giving 50 percent off any purchase to those who bring in a written memory of Mort’s Deli.