CJN.ORG | CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS | 41
OCTOBER 23, 2020
TRIBUTE TO HARLAN DIAMOND
Diamond was a precious gem in catering business for 70 years JANE KAUFMAN | STAFF REPORTER @jkaufmanCJN jkaufman@cjn.org |
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he son of a doctor, Harlan Diamond credited a restaurateur uncle with giving him his first break in the business. With partner Bill Metz, Sam Diamond owned seven Tasty Shops in Greater Cleveland, and he hired Harlan Diamond to be a counter man during Harlan Diamond’s college days. On his first day on the job, he drank the last milk available to soothe his ulcers, leaving none for a customer’s milkshake. The manager fired him. His uncle placed him at a different shop, where Diamond later became head dishwasher. “And then I asked my uncle if I can become a pot washer,” Diamond said. “And he said, ‘What do you mean a pot washer? Who wants to wash pots?’” Diamond said he wanted to learn about the business and that cooks trained pot washers, not waiters. “And next thing you know, I was going with him on all of his appointments, setting up parties, booking business,” Diamond said. “He taught me how to order and how to work the worksheets.” His uncle, he said, taught him not to compromise on quality or quality of service. “One of the things I learned from my uncle,” he said. “You quote a price. And the price then goes out the window. You do the party. No matter what the party is, no matter what you quoted, you do the party to the best of your ability.” Diamond, who stood at the helm of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, sold the building after 70 years in the catering business. Driftwood Restaurants & Catering bought the building and site Aug. 31 for $2.5 million in a deal that did not include the catering business. From his Bratenahl apartment, with views of his beloved native city to the west and Lake Erie to the north, he recently spoke to the Cleveland Jewish News about his career.
“I’m proud of all the generations of people that worked for us. People bring their great-grandson to introduce him to me. I’m pretty proud of that. We’ve had generations of families work for us.” Harlan Diamond
EARLY YEARS AND FIRST JOB Diamond had other jobs prior to his uncle’s restaurant. His first was shoveling snow and mowing lawns in University Heights and Shaker Heights, because the tips were better. His second was as a page at the Cleveland HeightsUniversity Heights library system. He was good enough to be loaned to the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, a place he called magical. He also worked for Korman’s Restaurant on East 9th Street in Cleveland as a captain. Diamond’s first years were spent in the Glenville neighborhood in his maternal grandmother’s home, which housed three families. In his early childhood during the Depression, Diamond’s grandmother, Matilda Rosen, fed most of the people on the street dinner in shifts lasting from 6 p.m. to midnight. His parents both grew up on that street, South Boulevard, and had known each other as children. Diamond liked all of his jobs and has always liked working, partly because of the independence it afforded him. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at the then-new Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights in 1947. After graduating from Cleveland Heights High School, he studied management at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., for a single semester. A bar fight in which he pulled a knife from the back of a Marine ended his Florida studies. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE He returned home and studied psychology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland and got a job catering, again with his uncle at Park Synagogue, where he spotted a woman he described as cute by the name of Sue Weinstein. The two were married in 1958 and had a daughter, Michelle. They divorced about five years later. Diamond married a second time, Harriet Bubis, a second marriage for both, and divorced in 1973. He had a 30-year companion in Jane Belsito, who was vice president of catering at Executive Caterers. She died in 2010. Michelle married Jim Baker and lives in Fort Collins, Colo. The couple has two sons giving Diamond two grandsons, Cameron and Andy. HOW HE STARTED Diamond began his first catering business from his mother’s basement on Channing Road in University Heights. His mother, Babe Diamond, kicked him out of the house and into the garage because his business was not kosher. Decades later, she helped out her son in business, and he quipped she was a better truck driver than he. “Let’s put it this way: I was in the industry for
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Harlan Diamond sold Landerhaven, the destination banquet hall, to Driftwood Restaurants and Catering after 70 years in business. He credits his employees for creating elegance. | CJN Photo / Jane Kaufman