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Elaine's
Elaine's was a bar and restaurant in New York City that operated from 1963 to 2011. It was frequented by many celebrities, particularly actors and authors. The restaurant was established, owned and named after Elaine Kaufman, who was closely associated with the establishment, which closed shortly after Kaufman's death.
Elaine's was located on the Upper East Side, at 1703 Second Avenue, near East 88th Street in Manhattan.
Established in 1963, Elaine's was known for its chain-smoking proprietress Elaine Kaufman, who operated the restaurant for over four decades, as well as the numerous writers and other prominent New Yorkers who were regular patrons, including Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., Woody Allen, Noel Behn, Chuck Blazer, Candace Bushnell, William J. Bratton, Paul Desmond, Joan Didion, Jared Faber, Mia Farrow, Clay Felker, Helen Frankenthaler, Joseph Heller, Jill Krementz, Peter Maas, Norman Mailer, Robert Motherwell, George Plimpton, Mario Puzo, Sally Quinn, Daniel Simone, Kurt Vonnegut, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, Bobby Zarem and Sidney Zion.
Other visitors to the establishment included Alan Alda, Lucille Ball, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Caine, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Don Rickles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Luciano Pavarotti, Eli Wallach and Elaine Stritch, who served as bartender in 1964. Mixologist Thomas Carney served as the bartender from 1978 until 2007.
The restaurant hosted an annual Oscar night event, where celebrities and visiting Hollywood figures gathered to watch the Academy Awards ceremony.[citation needed]
Kaufman had a reputation for directness, moving less-favored customers to accommodate new arrivals and refusing to serve hamburgers. She was once arrested after a physical altercation with a visiting Texan.[citation needed] Kaufman also had a physical confrontation with actress Tara Tyson, later claiming that Tyson had burned her with a lit cigarette. She once chased away paparazzo Ron Galella by hurling two garbage can lids at him and exclaiming, "Beat it, creep... you're bothering my customers". In 2003, when New York City banned smoking in restaurants, Kaufman claimed to have quit smoking several years earlier but expressed displeasure about customers being forced to forgo tobacco at their seats.
Billy Joel referenced the establishment in his song "Big Shot" (1978), 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 brief sequence in the film Morning Glory (2010) with Elaine Kaufman playing herself at the bar of Elaine's, where the producer played by Rachel McAdams is attempting to locate the television host played by Harrison Ford, and Elaine relates at what time he left. In the comedy Big Business (1988), to divert a mismatched set of twins (played by Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin) from disrupting an important shareholder vote, Midler's character offers to take them to Elaine's.
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Elaine's
Elaine's was a bar and restaurant in New York City that operated from 1963 to 2011. It was frequented by many celebrities, particularly actors and authors. The restaurant was established, owned and named after Elaine Kaufman, who was closely associated with the establishment, which closed shortly after Kaufman's death.
Elaine's was located on the Upper East Side, at 1703 Second Avenue, near East 88th Street in Manhattan.
Established in 1963, Elaine's was known for its chain-smoking proprietress Elaine Kaufman, who operated the restaurant for over four decades, as well as the numerous writers and other prominent New Yorkers who were regular patrons, including Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., Woody Allen, Noel Behn, Chuck Blazer, Candace Bushnell, William J. Bratton, Paul Desmond, Joan Didion, Jared Faber, Mia Farrow, Clay Felker, Helen Frankenthaler, Joseph Heller, Jill Krementz, Peter Maas, Norman Mailer, Robert Motherwell, George Plimpton, Mario Puzo, Sally Quinn, Daniel Simone, Kurt Vonnegut, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, Bobby Zarem and Sidney Zion.
Other visitors to the establishment included Alan Alda, Lucille Ball, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Caine, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Don Rickles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Luciano Pavarotti, Eli Wallach and Elaine Stritch, who served as bartender in 1964. Mixologist Thomas Carney served as the bartender from 1978 until 2007.
The restaurant hosted an annual Oscar night event, where celebrities and visiting Hollywood figures gathered to watch the Academy Awards ceremony.[citation needed]
Kaufman had a reputation for directness, moving less-favored customers to accommodate new arrivals and refusing to serve hamburgers. She was once arrested after a physical altercation with a visiting Texan.[citation needed] Kaufman also had a physical confrontation with actress Tara Tyson, later claiming that Tyson had burned her with a lit cigarette. She once chased away paparazzo Ron Galella by hurling two garbage can lids at him and exclaiming, "Beat it, creep... you're bothering my customers". In 2003, when New York City banned smoking in restaurants, Kaufman claimed to have quit smoking several years earlier but expressed displeasure about customers being forced to forgo tobacco at their seats.
Billy Joel referenced the establishment in his song "Big Shot" (1978), 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 brief sequence in the film Morning Glory (2010) with Elaine Kaufman playing herself at the bar of Elaine's, where the producer played by Rachel McAdams is attempting to locate the television host played by Harrison Ford, and Elaine relates at what time he left. In the comedy Big Business (1988), to divert a mismatched set of twins (played by Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin) from disrupting an important shareholder vote, Midler's character offers to take them to Elaine's.