Elaine Kaufman, RIP. She died today at age 81. Elaine's is one of the handful of Manhattan places I always aim to get to during visits to NYC. Hopefully, it will continue in operation in her honor.
Another place I always go when anywhere in the vicinity, the Hotel Chelsea, is up for sale as of October. Tavern on the Green, where I last ate at a few years ago, closed at the end of celebrating this past New Year's Eve. CBGB, which I first got to in the early 1980s, closed in mid-October, 2006. I watched the streaming video of Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and many others performing their finales for this from my apartment in Detroit.
Though I'm glad to have seen and heard all of this, it's sad to note these developments.
Here's a relevant "Erik's Choice" entry originally posted on April 6, 2009:
Like Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, Elaine's in Manhattan is an international treasure highly recommended for its ambiance and cultural charge.
Opened in 1963 by Elaine Kaufman (b. 2/10/1929) Elaine's is a medium-priced Upper East Side restaurant and bar located at 1703 2nd Avenue -- between 88th and 89th Streets --New York, NY 10128; (212) 534-8103. Reservations taken. Writers very welcomed. Old school, low-key, sweet. No one has ever bitten me there, or scowled. Given that Elaine Kaufman is eighty now, I'd like to get back before anything major changes at Elaine's. Because as we all know, everything does change, sooner or later.
Related books: A.E. Hotchner, Everyone Comes to Elaine's: Forty Years of Movie Stars, All-Stars, Literary Lions, Financial Scions, Top Cops, Politicians, and Power Brokers at the Legendary Hot Spot (2004). An anecdotal recounting of goings on at Elaine's over the past near half-century.
Brian McDonald, Last Call at Elaine's: A Journey from One Side of the Bar to the Other (2008). Memoir by a sometimes self-destructive but resilient son of a cop and bartender turned writer.
Today's Rune: Journey.
3 comments:
At least you have your memory but I doubt that the next ten years are going to generate the same type of folksy thinking.
I tend to think of cities as being relatively unchanging but I suppose that's an incorrect assumption. I know the forests change constantly and I spend more time among the trees.
Thanks y'all for the comments! C-h-h-a-n-g-e-s everywhere . . .
Post a Comment