| Relics of the Twentieth Century. |
 They have vanished into history. Once icons of hospitality and glamour, ashtrays are part of Americana that now belongs to the past.
Hotels, cocktail lounges, and restaurants produced signature specimens that became objects of desire and theft: Marlene Dietrich left two dozen purloined ashtrays in her apartment at her death.
Offering a collection of rare ashtrays from the golden age of glamorous smoking, now endangered objects, out of use along with cigarettes, but desirable for their connection to the culture of New York City in the twentieth century. Use them on dressing tables for jewelry, or serve nuts and hors d'oeuvres in them at parties. The time-honored curios become heightened moments of aesthetic focus in the home.
|
Steal This Ashtray.
From the Roaring Twenties to the chaotic Sixties, Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club was New York's most enchanting nightclub, where, it is said, signature Stork Club ashtrays disappeared -- five dozen or more a day -- into pockets or purses. the most sought-after classic is made from the original ceramic molds, with the same glistening black finish and bold white lettering. Pass the Chesterfields.
|
Saloonkeeper to the Stars.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Toots Shor's was the place to be in New York City. It was home away from home for the day's famous athletes, ambitious politicians, and Broadway stars. The authentic vintage ashtray is an ancient artifact stolen from one of New York's most beloved saloons. Maroon square ceramic ashtray has 4 cigarette rests and sports the "TS" logo inside and "Toots Shor" on the exterior side.
|
Where the Wurtzburger Flows.
Luchow's closed in 1982, but among the surviving artifacts of this legendary eating place are a limited number of original Luchow's Ashtrays which appointed the checkered-cloth tables. Each unique piece, with a German beer stein at the center, stands 6-inches high and measures 7-inches in diameter.
Epitomizing the distinctive Germanic spirit "Gemutlichkeit."
|
Dining As Entertainment.
In the 1950s, Joseph Baum sensed that good food alone wasn't enough in a fine-dining mecca like New York. So he created a parade of legendary spots for Restaurant Associates that made dining theater: the Hawaiian Room, The Four Seasons, and the Forum of the Twelve Caesars, a Roman theme park with sterling silver wine coolers shaped like Roman helmets, serving extravagant Italian food. Alexander Girard's designs for the restaurant extended beyond the interiors, to tabletop details including a magnificent ashtray.
|
Hottest Spot North of Havana.
New York City's Copacabana reigned as one of the town's most glamorous night spots from its opening in the 1940s until well into the 50s. Over the years it gained a nationwide reputation for excellent shows, fine music and gilt-edged atmosphere, all thanks to Jules Podell, a tough character who had enough shady friends to give his enterprise a romantic exoticism. An authentic artifact, swiped from a table of the legendary club.
|
Broadway Joe.
Joe Kipness, a Damon Runyon kind of guy, became involved in producing Broadway musicals after achieving success with a trucking business. From
1944 to 1981, produced some of Broadway's most memorable shows, including I Love My Wife, Caberet, Applause, Pal Joey, and High Button Shoes. He also ran two of Broadway's most popular restaurants, Hawaii Kai and Joe's Pier 52.
|
Octogenarian New Yorker.
The boxy Spanish Renaissance structure called The Taft was once the third-largest hotel in Manhattan, with 20 stories, 1750 rooms and a special "key chute" on each floor that whisked lost items straight to the lobby desk. Vincent Lopez led his famous big band in the hotel's Grill Room beginning in the 1940s.
|
Where the World is Your Oyster.
In the halcyon days of rail travel, when a train whistle signaled escape and adventure in a grand style, a fitting place to begin a journey was the Oyster Bar and Restaurant in majestic Grand Central Terminal. Under the vault-like Gustavino glazed white tile ceiling, the Oyster Bar retains the atmosphere and spirit of that time.
|
Lights on Broadway.
If its walls could talk, they would regale with stories of the New York and Broadway lifestyle, of a meeting place for Broadway producers and cast members, where deals were struck and stars were born. One of the oldest hotels in Times Square, the Edison was built in 1931 in the same Art Deco style as the Radio City Music Hall. The loan-shark murder scene in The Godfather was shot in the hotel's restaurant.
|
Toast of Broadway.
For 75 years, Sardi's has been known as a pre- and post-theater hang-out, as well as a location for opening night parties. Vincent Sardi, a theater lover, kept the restaurant open much later than others in the area to accommodate the schedules of Broadway performers. The restaurant was the birthplace of the Tony Award and is still the location of the announcement of the annual Tony Award nominations.
|
Room at the Top.
An emerald-topped, eighteen-story-tall wedding cake set down upon the shore of a sea of green trees, The Plaza Hotel is one of the Crown Jewels of New York City. A glorious symbol of the Jazz Age, The Plaza has appeared in everything from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to Kay Thompson's beloved series of "Eloise" children's books, which chronicle the exploits of a precocious Plaza-dwelling eight-year-old.
|
That'll Be the Day.
Al and Dick's, a nearly-forgotten steakhouse and saloon, was frequented by music industry people, among others. Buddy Holly ate here on his first visit to New York City with the Crickets. The Drama Desk, an association of newspaper men whose beat was the "live" theater, held its monthly session here at 151 West Fifty-fourth Street.
|
Eat with the Literati.
In 1939 John C. Bruno left the Hotel Lincoln's Blue Room to open Bruno's PEN & PENCIL, one of New York's swankiest, fanciest and most celebrated Manhattan eateries. Decorations included watercolor paintings of famous writers, from Lord Byron down, and at least two great newspaper publishers-Joseph Medill Patterson and William Randolph Hearst.
|
West Side Story.
Gone are the days when Julius Monk seemed to epitomize everything that was worldly and sophisticated about New York City. He acquired a rather baffling pseudo-English accent after being exposed to the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince Philip who enjoyed his piano-playing at the Dingo Bar in Paris. In New York, his split-level cabaret, called Upstairs at the Downstairs in the former Wanamaker mansion attracted capacity crowds.
|
And in This Corner.
Jack Dempsey, called the "Manassa Mauler," emerged from fights on saloon floors near mining camps to become the world's heavyweight champion and one of the major sports figures of the 1920s. In 1935, after retiring from the ring, he opened Jack Dempsey's Restaurant on Broadway. For 39 years, until his landlord wouldn't renew his lease in 1974, he was one of the most popular -- and gentlemanly -- restaurant owners in New York.
|
Elegant Past of Central Park.
The rural Victorian Gothic structure now known as Tavern on the Green was built in 1870 to house the sheep that grazed in Central Park's Sheep Meadow.
It served admirably in that capacity until 1934, when legendary Parks Commissioner Robert Moses decided the building had a higher calling -- that of a restaurant. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia opened the restaurant with a brass key and, in the company of a proud Mr. Moses.
|
Kit Kat Club.
Located on Broadway and 53rd Street in a building that had once housed one of New York's grand turn-of-the-century ballrooms, The Cheetah opened in April 1966 as a sophisticated nightspot with spotted fur wallpaper, inspired by the era's French discotheques. Cheetah became a jet-set watering hole holding sway in the ranks of Le Club and Arthur.
|
Where the Nosh was Posh.
Lou G. Siegel's, where New Yorkers have been eating since 1917, closed after lunch on June 28, 1996. The lease had expired at 209 W. 38th St., where Siegel's operated since 1921. The fabled Old-World-style kosher restaurant served its garment district customers bowls of schmaltz (chicken fat) on the table, which everybody smeared on onion rolls.
|
Sirio Maccioni's French Carnival.
Le Cirque means luxury. Le Cirque equals privilege.
Le Cirque connotes a culinary pecking order by which the rich and famous get the best tables and others get to breathe the same air. The name has so much iconic resonance that it's molded into the butter on every table, stamped in gold on the chocolate flecks in some desserts and scrawled in red across the restroom towels.
|
The Earl of Sandwich.
Arnold Reuben, a German immigrant and a born showman, opened his restaurant in 1906. He moved its location several times, stopping once at the Ansonia Hotel. From its opening in 1935, an event attended by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, until its closing in 1966, Reuben's was at 6 East 58th Street, off Fifth Avenue. Mr. Reuben is credited with inventing the quintessential sandwich of corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss and Russian dressing on grilled buttered rye in 1914 to serve to Annette Seelos who was at the time starring in a silent film opposite Charlie Chaplin.
|
Welcome to Junior's.
The landmark restaurant is located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn. Founded by Harry Rosen in 1950 and named after his two sons, Walter and Marvin, Junior's is known as the home of New York's best cheesecake. In 1993, Presidential nominee Bill Clinton took a cheesecake break from his campaign trail to visit Junior's. Offering original fifties-era ashtray.
|
Cheesecake in the City.
New York style cheesecake recipes were introduced by Jewish delicatessens in New York City. Arnold Reuben Jr., owner of the legendary Turf Restaurant at 49th and Broadway in New York City and a descendant of immigrants from Germany, claimed his family developed the first cream cheese cake recipe.
The Turf cheesecake was so good, it won a Gold Metal at the 1929 World's Fair.
|
Grand Dame of Central Park.
The grand dowager, designed by Emery Roth in 1929, closed in 1998. But travelers and tourists once again are able to check into one of the 700 rooms that have a sweeping view of Central Park with carriage horses plying their trade. At the corner of Central Park South and Avenue of the Americas now stands the Ritz-Carlton.
|
Their Reputation is at Steak.
At the site of the old Manny Wolf's in midtown Manhattan, the first Smith &Wollensky steakhouse occupies a stand-alone building whose wooden exterior bears the trademark green and white colors. The restaurant was founded in
1977 by Allen Stillman, who also founded T.G.I. Friday's. The dining room and kitchen were used for scenes in The Devil Wears Prada.
|
Theater District Legend.
For 63 years, Rosoff's on 43rd Street just east of Times Square was an eponymous three-story restaurant, frequented by theatergoers. It closed in 1981. In 1962, with 200 people eating lunch in Rosoff's, a Lincoln Continental sedan shot out of a parking garage next door, caromed off the opposite curb and zoomed straight through Rosoff's window into the bar.
|
Weekend at the Waldorf.
Historically significant for transforming the contemporary hotel, then a facility for transients, into a social center of the city as well as a prestigious destination for visitors. During the 1950s and early 1960s, former U.S. president Herbert Hoover and retired U.S. General Douglas MacArthur lived at the hotel. Cole Porter had an apartment in the Waldorf Towers, and his 1934 song "You're the Top," contains the lyric, "You're the top, you're a Waldorf Salad..."
|
Puttin' on the Ritz.
The New York luxury hotel is one of 63 properties that are located in major cities and exclusive resort destinations of 21 countries worldwide.
Designed by Emery Roth in 1929 as the St. Moritz Hotel, its location at the corner of Central Park South and Avenue of the Americas has a sweeping view of Central Park.
|
The One and Only Genuine Original.
The Brooklyn location was established in 1887 as "Carl Luger's Café, Billiards and Bowling Alley" in the predominantly German neighborhood under the Williamsburg Bridge. Known for its long wooden bar and dining rooms with exposed wooden beams, burnished oak wainscoting, brass chandeliers and weathered beer-hall tables, Peter Luger has long been considered the best steakhouse in New York City.
|
Heart of Palm.
The original Palm opened in 1926 by Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi on Second Avenue has grown into an empire of over 25 restaurants across the country.
The tradition of covering the walls with caricatures of notables and celebrities started when John and Pio had no money to decorate. In a twist on the old saying "sing for your supper," local newspapermen would draw a cartoon in exchange for a plate of spaghetti.
|
The Astor Fortune.
Upon the death of his father, John Jacob Astor, in early 1890, William Waldorf Astor inherited a personal fortune that made him the richest man in America. With the opening of the Hotel Astor between 44th and 45th Streets on Broadway, William helped to transform the very idea of the hotel into an ostentatious showcase for the lifestyles of the extremely wealthy.
|
Sing for Your Supper.
Originally a 75-seat restaurant on Allen Street featuring a 75-cent dinner and an itinerant accordion player, Jack Silverman's expanded to a 500-seat affair on Broadway featuring performers Julius La Rosa, Alan Dale, Ted Lewis, Joey Adams, Lennie Kent, Jackie Miles, Sid Gould and Myron Cohen.
Milton Berle once emcee'd the floor show and regaled the audiences for hours while still carrying a plate of soup.
|
Remember Mamma.
Best known of the early Italian enterprises in New York, Mamma Leone's was founded by Luisa Leone on West 34th Street in 1906. Her recipe for success was "Give them good food and plenty of it. They'll come back." At its peak Leone's boasted of eight lavish dining rooms seating 1,200. The restaurant remained in the family until 1959 when it was sold to a restaurant syndicate, retaining the name. Subsequent moves to different locations eventually led to the famed restaurant's demise in 1994.
|
Meat Me in Manhattan.
Gallagher’s was founded in 1927 by Helen Gallagher, a former Ziegfield girl, wife of Edward Gallagher (of the vaudeville duo Gallagher and Shean), and partner of Jack Solomon, a colorful gambler who raised prime Angus cattle on his Long Island estate. This rare ashtray was once found on the tabletops of the venerable steakhouse.
|
Where Singles Became Couples.
An unmarried New York City perfume salesman named Alan Stillman decided that the coolest way to meet the stewardesses in his neighborhood would be to buy a broken down beer joint, jazz it up with Tiffany lamps and mod young waiters and christen it – with an eye toward attracting the career crowd – the T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It’s Friday). Within one week the police had to ring Friday’s (as it quickly became known) with barricades to handle the nightly hordes of young singles. Souvenir from the original T.G.I. Friday's.
|
A Yankee in Dixie.
The Hotel Dixie opened in 1930, the same year as the Chrysler Building. It had entrances on 42nd Street and 43rd Street, and the Central Union Bus Terminal occupied the basement.
The space was so confined that buses couldn't turn around, so there was a large turntable that rotated to give the buses access to their different platforms when they arrived and to point them to the exit ramp when they left. In 1937, the hotel raised its price for a single room, to $2.75 from $2.50.
|
Last Salute to the Commodore.
42nd Street's Grand Hyatt Hotel was originally the Commodore Hotel, built in 1920 and named after Commodore Vanderbilt, who built Grand Central. Here in
1948 Richard Nixon, heading the House Un-American Activities Committee, confronted accused spy Alger Hiss with his accuser, Whittaker Chambers.
Earlier, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald were thrown out of here after being thrown out of the Biltmore.
|
Cafe Society.
Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Reagan stayed at the Carlyle regularly while in office. Opened in 1931 and named after Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle, the hotel has featured a number of well-known jazz performers--notably Bobby Short, a fixture there from 1968 to 2004--and Woody Allen and his jazz band have been playing weekly at the Café Carlyle since 1996.
|
Don't Pass the Brass.
The common man of 1937 could enjoy a reasonably priced meal in midtown Manhattan. The Brass Rail, on Seventh Avenue just South of 50th Street, offered "A Treat Supreme" -- a combination sea food platter consisting of broiled lobster, crab meat, and jumbo shrimp complemented by potato salad, celery, olives, and Brass Rail dressing for only $1.25.
|
The Cocktails are On Us.
A civilized bar with white-jacketed waiters, a little Gershwin in the background and ice-cold martinis, located in the Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side, Bemelmans has been a favorite haunt for New Yorkers for years.
Creator of those Madeline books for children, Ludwig Bemelmans painted his only surviving public commission on the walls of this famous art deco lounge, a staple of the let-them-eat-cake set for more than fifty years.
|
Heart of Little Italy.
The section of Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal Streets, lined with Italian restaurants popular with tourists, remains distinctly recognizable as Little Italy.
Established in 1902, Angelo's is Little Italy's oldest existing restaurant.
Reknowned for traditional Neopolitan cuisine, with a clinetele that once included Ronald Reagan.
|
Summer of 1963.
A souvenir of the ancient Kutscher's Hotel and Resort, one of the last big Borscht Belt resorts in New York's Catskill Mountains, Jennifer Moses in the New York Times called it "a temple to the worst design elements of the late 60's." Home of the fabled Starlight Room where "Dirty Dancing" was inspired and filmed.
|
The Key to Gramercy Park.
One of New York’s truly legendary hotels, the Gramercy Park Hotel opened its doors in 1925. It was built on the site of flamboyant architect Stanford White’s home, and it was the headquarters for high bohemia, where artists, adventurers and bonvivants rubbed elbows. Humphrey Bogart was married here.
Legendary Yankee Babe Ruth liked to drink at its famous bar, which has retained its bohemian charm over the years, serving as a watering hole to generations of artists, writers and musicians.
|
Preppy Central.
Its history dates back to grandfather "Red" Dorrian's bootlegging days in the 1920s, and by the 1960s this Upper East Side hangout had become a pillar of a social institution for brothers of Sigma Phi, Princeton Alumni, and players of the New York Yankees. It is also known for its association with the notorious Preppy Murder of 1986, when Jennifer Levin was strangled by Robert Chambers after breaking up with him at Dorrian's.
|
New York's Only Country Nightclub.
This Greenwich Village band hall, owned in part by Rudy Vallee, was New York's best-known country music room, attracting a host of country stars. By the 1960s it had become the Generation Club, which featured rock artists including Jimi Hendrix. In 1968 the space was purchased by Hendrix and converted into Electric Lady Studio where he could record for free and make money renting the rest of the time to others. Musicians who recorded there include the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, and the Clash.
|
Nikola Tesla Slept Here.
The 43-story New Yorker Hotel was built in 1929 and opened its doors on January 2, 1930. Its pyramidal, set-back tower structure largely resembles that of the Empire State Building, which lies just a couple blocks due east on 34th Street. For many years, the New Yorker Hotel was New York's largest hotel. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the hotel hosted a number of popular Big Bands while notable figures such as Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford and even Fidel Castro stayed here. The inventor Nikola Tesla spent the last ten years of his life in near-seclusion in Suite 3327 (where he also died), largely devoting his time to feeding pigeons while occasionally meeting dignitaries.
|
Operatic Italian.
This festive institution, opened in 1925, was perhaps the longest-running musical revue in New York. Everybody sang: the waiters, the bartenders, even the owner, Augusto Mariani, friend of the great Caruso. Hundreds of photographs testified to Asti's popularity in the opera world. As for the traditional Italian fare, it was a secondary act.
|
Reserved for Sinatra.
Harkens back to the old watering hole at Eighth Avenue and 52nd Street run by Jilly Rizzo, one of Frank Sinatra's closest friends (a scene from "The Manchurian Candidate" was filmed there). Sinatra frequented Jilly's whenever he was in New York, and a dinner table anchored with a "Reserved for Sinatra" sign defined the rear room. The chairman enjoyed the Chinese cuisine of Chef Howie Yee. He cooked out of a wok in the tavern's basement.
Sinatra always ordered Chow Mein. You could identify Sinatra by the creased white napkin tucked over his tie.
|
</
