New York is losing one of its most-cherished landmarks.
Nearly six months after the death of feisty restaurateur Elaine Kaufman, her eponymously named Upper East Side restaurant will close its doors forever on May 26, the eatery’s manager said today.
“This is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make, but the truth is, there is no Elaine’s without Elaine,” said Diane Becker, Elaine’s longtime manager who inherited the restaurant last year.
Kaufman died at age 81 on Dec. 3, 2010, following a bout with hypertension and emphysema.
Becker said a memorial service for Kaufman is being planned for next month.
Since 1963, Kaufman had presided over Elaine’s, which soon became a welcome home for A-list celebrities, syndicated columnists, artists, cops and up-and-coming talents, especially writers.
Among those who did make it big were Kurt Vonnegut, George Plimpton, Norman Mailer and Gay Talese.
Kaufman’s roots were humble. Born in the Bronx in 1929 and raised in Queens, she worked as a waitress before putting her life savings into buying a building at 88th Street and Second Avenue and opening Elaine’s.
Becker said she was “enormously proud of the waiters, the bartenders and the entire staff who have worked so hard with me to keep the place open and going” since Kaufman’s death.
“The business is just not there without Elaine,” she said.