Goodnight Elaine's

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually. Mark this under the "End of an Era" category. It's official: Elaine's, that legendary East Side watering hole to the city's cultural elite, is closing after forty-eight years.

Sad.

It appears that the saloon just couldn't survive without it's namesake. When Elaine Kaufman died last year, it seems that the spirit of the place died with her. The celebrities stopped coming so the tourists did too. Elaine's was never know for it's great food -- it was more about "the scene" -- so, after she died, it just became another overpriced restaurant, and not a very good one at that. Thus business dried up and its fate was sealed.

Woody Allen was recently interviewed about the demise of Elaine's and even he said that the food was bad but the atmosphere was great. Remember: Elaine's appears in the first scene of Manhattan, one of his greatest movies, so he'll be linked to its memory forever. 

So goodnight Elaine's. I was glad to have gone there for dinner once and thank you for adding to the cultural life of this town. You, like your late owner, will be missed.

If you're interested, you can read my Elaine's archive here.