The first time Wilensky’s was mentioned in any kind of medium,
it was in En Ville in the sixties, in a series of articles about the neighbourhood by Mike Gutwillig. This was so exciting to our family. We could never have imagined meriting mention in a newspaper. These articles made their way into two of Mike’s books,
From the Heart and My Canada-Such a Mechiah. Around that time, Mike even wrote a musical called
The Special which he adapted in the eighties and staged as an off-off-Broadway production in New York in 1985.
Then Wilensky’s made it into the newspaper in 1969.
Mordecai Richler came into the store and a picture was taken with Moe and his son Asher. Since then, we have been inextricably tied to Mordecai Richler’s name. Our restaurant was represented in at least two of his books,
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Solomon Gursky Was Here.
By the seventies, Wilensky’s started to appear in a few newspaper articles.
By that time people outside the neighbourhood were starting to take notice. The store was forty years old, people were hearing and reading about our Wilensky’s Special, our rules (see the Welcome page), and Moe’s special rapport with the clientele. We had buzz.
Then, in 1974 scenes from the movie version of
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz were filmed at the restaurant. The restaurant was closed for one week for filming. We donated the money that we were given as compensation to our favourite charity, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec.
An actor played Moe and Moe played his assistant Sid. How exciting it was to see the store on the big screen!
Since that time, we have been in many more articles,
on television and in videos on the Internet. In addition to various guide books from around the world (which always mention
Duddy Kravitz), we have also been in calendars, an album cover, art work, a song, photo shoots for commercials, and so on.
In business since 1932, it seems Wilensky’s has become somewhat of an institution.
Our family has always felt very fortunate and grateful for the interest shown in our restaurant and hope it continues for many more years.