Elaine's Restaurant, New York City
RIP
1963-2011
You know the name -- you've heard of the people -- and now the doors to Elaine's, New York City's famed night spot is closed.
Elaine Kaufman's creation certainly came from humble beginnings. Forty years ago the now legendary restaurant on Eighty-eighth Street and Second Avenue was deemed too far uptown for anyone of importance to frequent.It was there that Elaine served, catered to,
and nursed young starving writers and artists of the day.
As these customers grew and matured into Woody Allen and Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol and Jack Nicholson, Elaine's grew with them. By the time these artists were deemed legends,
well, Elaine's had already become legendary.
The stories are all here. Jackie O., Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra, Liz Smith, Joan Rivers, Lauren Bacall, Judy and Liza. The night Jackie came to dance. The night Sinatra snubbed The Godfather author, Mario Puzo. When Sinatra's ex-wife, Mia Farrow, asked Michael Caine to introduce her to Woody Allen. When George Steinbrenner was turned away at the door the night his Yankees beat the Mets in the Subway Series.
Yes there is even a book on Elaine’s restaurant - Everyone Comes to Elaine's is more than a story about New York City. It's more than a story of celebrities.
This is the story of a "family" with a domineering mother who will stop at nothing
to protect those dearest to her.
Elaine's is a microcosm of the people and events of the last forty years, from the sixties, when Beatles and Stones held forth there, to the start of the twenty-first century, when painful wakes were held for the regulars who perished on September 11. Just as Gertrude Stein presided over her salon in Paris in the twenties.
It’s too late to visit the celebrated Elaine’s restaurant, but you can always buy the book.
###
