(
)
It looks like restaurateur Richie Notar will be able to relaunch the fabled Lenox Lounge site as the “gem of New York” — as he called the fabled Harlem jazz mecca when he took over its lease last year.
Building owner Ricky Edmonds has won back in court the famous Art Deco bar, mirrors and zebra-striped wallpaper that defined the venue at 286 Lenox Ave. near 125th Street for nearly 70 years — but which former operator Alvin Reed hauled out in the early morning darkness of Jan. 1.
Reed had planned to use them for a new Lenox Lounge he hopes to open a few blocks north. The move seemed to foil Notar’s plan for a revitalized venue at the original location, to be called Notar Jazz Club.
But in the wee hours of the new year movers disguised as cops barged in and hauled everything out, leaving the place “completely stripped and bare,” according to a $50 million lawsuit Edmonds filed against Reed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The suit said the movers had illegally removed “fixtures, banquettes, iconic mirrors, doors, signage and even the building façade.”
Reed ran the place for 30 years but said he couldn’t afford a rent increase from $10,000, to $20,000, a month. Edmonds claimed the furnishings were “fixtures” that belonged to the house. A judge recently agreed and ordered their return.
Notar, former managing partner of Nobu and now owner of Midtown hot spot Harlow, was not a party to the suit.
The Lenox Lounge once hosted jazz greats including Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and John Coltrane and drew literary figures like James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison.
But business had fallen off in recent years.
The Deco trove “has been returned to its rightful home,” said Walker Malloy real estate broker Rafe Evans, who represented Edmonds in the lease to Notar.
Notar recently filed with the Buildings Dept. for interior work. He was traveling yesterday and could not be reached.
Messages left for Reed and Edmonds were not returned. The answering machine at the office of Reed’s lawyer, Tyreta Foster, was full and could accept no more messages.