Bar Land got a little darker last night, in fact a whole lot darker, as one of its brightest stars no longer shined. Elaine Kaufman, the last great New York saloon keeper and owner of the famous restaurant which bears her name, died yesterday afternoon at the age of eighty one. And when I say ?the last great saloon keeper?, I mean just that, dear reader�. there was Elaine, Toots Shor, and then all the rest. For you don?t get named a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which she was in 2004, unless you?re something special in the great Big Apple. Rest in peace, Elaine.
I wasn?t what you?d call a close friend of Elaine?s, just merely a week-end customer, but you?d never know it by the way she always greeted me. She was always a wave when I walked in the door and a smile to back up the gesture, when we spoke she was always warm and polite in discussing how our nights had gone, and the last time we actually did have a chat (ironically now that I think of it), she joined me at the bar and bought me a drink for my birthday. A real honor, believe me. And I only bring that last thing up not to act like a big shot, but to make the larger point which rarely gets made. See everyone talks about her celebrity clientele and believe me this woman had one, from the lions of literature to sports, TV and the movies, but what rarely gets mentioned is how she treated John Doe. Guys like me. Because if you showed up on any kind of regular basis (even if just on week-ends), you were treated with the same respect as the ?rich and famous?. You were definitely part of the fold, both valued and welcome.
And of course on the flip side of that coin, and the part which I really love, you were treated with equal disdain if you stepped out of line. There were more than a few celebrities over the years sent packing for bad behavior, only to return with humility and hat in hand...
The last big blogger get-together was held at Elaine's, among those in attendance Scrib' himself, The Siren, Lance Mannion, Siobhan, F Word Brenda, M. A. Peel, and--I know I'm forgetting some names, forgive me. Among those making cameo appearances in the saloon were "Uncle Junior" from The Sopranos and a tableful of Steinbrenner wives, who should probably get their own reality series, because why not? And Elaine herself was there, which was as it should be--her not being there would have been as cognitive-dissonant as Hilly Kristal not being on the premises at CBGB. She was one of the last ties to a Manhattan that was a lot less impersonal than the glassy, glossy island we have today, where money and privilege slap you in the face almost wherever you turn.
Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2010/12/scribbler50-waves-sad-fond-goodbye.html
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