Established 1963 City New York City State New York | Closed 2011 County Manhattan Postal/ZIP code 10128 | |
Address 1703 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10128, USA Similar The Writing Room, Le Cirque, Tony's Di Napoli, The Russian Tea Room, Le Bernardin | ||
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Elaine's was a bar and restaurant in New York City that existed from 1963 to 2011. It was frequented by many celebrities, especially actors and authors. It was established and owned by, and named after, Elaine Kaufman, who was indelibly associated with the restaurant; Elaine's shut down several months after Kaufman died.
Contents
Elaine's was located on the Upper East Side, near the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 88th Street in Manhattan.
History
Established in 1963, Elaine's is famed both for the writers and other prominent New Yorkers such as Woody Allen, William J. Bratton, Jared Faber, Mia Farrow, Clay Felker, Helen Frankenthaler, Joseph Heller, Peter Maas, Norman Mailer, Robert Motherwell, Chris Noth, George Plimpton, Mario Puzo, Sally Quinn, Daniel Simone, Mark Simone, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe and Sidney Zion, who had been regulars over the years, and for its late chain-smoking namesake and proprietress Elaine Kaufman, who ran the restaurant for over four decades. Other visitors to the establishment included Leonard Bernstein, Michael Caine, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Luciano Pavarotti, Eli Wallach and Elaine Stritch, who served as bartender in 1964.
The restaurant was noted for its Oscar night, where celebrities and visiting Hollywood stars congregated to watch the Academy Awards ceremony.
The quirky owner, Elaine Kaufman, was known for not mincing her words, for booting less-favored customers to seat new arrivals and for forbidding hamburgers in her joint. She was once arrested after a physical altercation with a visiting Texan. Elaine also once had a fist fight with the actress Tara Tyson and then claimed that the thespian had set her ablaze with a lit cigarette. She also once chased away the notorious paparazzo Ron Galella by hurling two garbage can lids at him and exclaiming, "Beat it, creep... you're bothering my customers".
In culture
Billy Joel immortalized the establishment in his song "Big Shot" (1978), supposedly about a date gone wrong which included a stop at the eatery, with the lyrics, "They were all impressed with your Halston dress and the people that you knew at Elaine's".
The opening dinner scene from Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979) was filmed at the restaurant, as was a scene from his later work Celebrity (1998). There is a short sequence in the film Morning Glory (2010) of Elaine Kaufman herself at the bar of Elaine's (where the producer played by Rachel McAdams is trying to track down the television host played by Harrison Ford, and Elaine relates at what time he left). In the hit comedy Big Business (1988), to divert a mismatched set of twins (played by Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin) from upsetting an important shareholder vote, Midler's alter-ego character offers to take them to Elaine's.
On May 10, 2014, The Moth Radio Hour featured old pre-recorded monologues about experiences they'd had at Elaine's by George Plimpton (featuring his introducing Jerry Spinelli to writers, editors, and director Woody Allen at Elaine's, two months before Houghton Mifflin published Spinelli's first book) and Plimpton's friend José Torres (who recounted an anecdote he'd shared at Elaine's, about conquering his fear the first time he faced a white man in the boxing ring).
Until its closing, Elaine's was a frequent dinner spot in the Stuart Woods's novel series featuring Stone Barrington, wherein during that time the author always began the first always begins with "Elaine's. Late".
Smoking ban
In 2003, New York City banned smoking in restaurants. Kaufman claimed to have quit smoking several years earlier but was unhappy about her customers' being forced to forgo tobacco at their seats.
Closing
Elaine Kaufman died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and pulmonary hypertension on December 3, 2010, aged 81. Kaufman willed the establishment to longtime manager Diane Becker. Becker shut down the restaurant soon thereafter; it closed on May 26, 2011. Becker later explained her reason for closing the restaurant: "The truth is, there is no Elaine’s without Elaine...the business is just not there without Elaine."
Legacy
In late 2013, The Writing Room, owned by Michael and Susy Glick, proprietors of the nearby boîte, Parlor Steak & Fish, opened its doors in Elaine's old space, featuring the prior restaurant's original famed canopy.