Brenner Brothers
Brenner Brothers Bakery and Delicatessen was a beloved family-owned Jewish bakery in Seattle, founded by Abe Brenner in the early 1900s. Located on Yesler Way and Cherry Street—an area affectionately known as "Kosher Canyon", the bakery became a central gathering place for the local Jewish community. Brenner Brothers was celebrated for its authentic Jewish rye bread, challah, bagels, and a wide variety of traditional delicacies, many made using recipes passed down through generations.
Brenner Brothers Bakery is featured in the WSJHS exhibit Shalom! Open For Business. View this playlist to hear additional videos associated with this exhibit. You can listen to the oral histories of Ruth, Itsey, and Joe Brenner at the UW Jewish Archives.
A Family-Operated Wholesale Bakery and Delicatessen
Abe Brenner peddled his freshly baked bread around town by horse-drawn wagon before opening a bakery at 1803 E. Yesler Way around 1925. A toasty aroma emanated from A. Brenner's Bakery, escaping up the hill and filling Kosher Canyon with a warm, evocative scent. Sons Itsey, Joe, and Charlie, and daughter Yetta, continued their father's commercial legacy in 1954 by opening their own business on Cherry Street: Brenner Brothers Bakery and Delicatessen.
As the brothers baked house specialties like Brenner's famous rye bread, Yetta worked behind the counter as the face of the store, her flamboyance being its signature. The bakery remained in the Central District until the early 1970s, when it joined the migration of Jews to the Eastside by moving to Bellevue.
Brenner Brothers Bakery is featured in the WSJHS exhibit Shalom! Open for Business. It was a landmark business in the Jewish community located on Yesler Way and Cherry Street, nicknamed Kosher Canyon.
The Brenner Siblings
The 1970s
The 1980s & The World's Largest Bagel
The Brenners' Legacy
Joe Brenner passed away in 2006, and Charles Brenner passed away in 2012. Click here to read Joe's obituary in the Seattle Times and here for Charles’s obituary.
