Rainbow Room
| The Rainbow Room | |
|---|---|
 The Rainbow Room in December 2004 |
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| Restaurant information | |
| Food type | Northern Italian |
| Street address | On the 65th floor of the GE Building (which one entered on 49th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue) in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan |
| City | New York City |
| State | New York |
| Postal code/ZIP | 10112 |
| Country | United States |
| Website | www.rainbowroom.com |
The Rainbow Room was an upscale Northern Italian restaurant and nightclub on the 65th floor of the GE Building (which one entered on 49th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue) in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.[1] Opened in 1934, it was the first restaurant to be located in a high-rise setting. Suffering from a decline in business following the 2008 economic reversal, the restaurant closed in 2009. In 2012, it was declared a New York City landmark by the New York Landmarks Commission and new investors are currently being sought.
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Cuisine [edit]
The food was loosely northern Italian, and there were cocktails, wines, liqueurs, cognacs, and other drinks available.
Style [edit]
The Rainbow Room was designed by French architect Jacques Carlu. The Rainbow Room draws its inspiration from the Round Room in the Carlu, his design for a restaurant in Toronto.[2] Designed in a simplified classical style,[3] The Rainbow Room featured a revolving dance floor, a live big band orchestra, and a view of the New York City skyline. Private events were hosted in several banquet rooms on the floor below.
On the same floor of the GE building was The Rainbow Grill, a separate, somewhat less expensive restaurant with an à la carte menu and that had its own celebrations for main holidays.
History [edit]
The Rainbow Room first opened on October 3, 1934, and was originally conceived as a formal supper club, where the elite and influential of New York could gather to socialize over cocktails, dine on fine cuisine, and dance to the strains of legendary big bands on a revolving floor.
Facing competition from other upscale restaurants in New York including the Equitable Center and Battery Park City, the restaurant was closed for nearly two years beginning in 1985 as it underwent a $25 million restoration and expansion to 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2).[3] David Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., commissioned the restoration, led by Joe Baum, Arthur Emil, and architect Hugh Hardy.
In 1998, the Rockefeller family passed operations of the facilities of the restaurant over to the Italian Cipriani S.A. family, founders of the renowned Harry's Bar in Venice, as well as several other restaurants in New York City.
The Ciprianis extensively remodeled the grill and fired all union workers. In 2003 Michael DiLeonardo, an associate of Peter Gotti, turned state's evidence against the accused mobster. In his testimony DiLeonardo said the Ciprianis gave $120,000 to the Gambino crime family to make union problems at the Rainbow Room disappear. The charges were never confirmed.[4]
On New Year's Eve, the price of admission included caviar, truffles, champagne, and mixed drinks, and access to the Rainbow Room from dinner through breakfast the next morning. Admission to the 2007 New Year's Eve party was $1600.00 per person.[citation needed]
In 2008, the Cipriani company filed a brief with the City of New York, requesting that the Rainbow Room be designated a historic landmark. The designation would prevent the Rainbow Room from being converted into office space.[5][6]
In 2009 the Ciprianis announced that they planned to close the grill although part would remain open as a bar and banquet hall. The Ciprianis' chief operating officer blamed "the current economic crisis in New York and around the world, on top of an ongoing dispute with our landlord."[5] Tishman Speyer said it intended to evict the Ciprianis unless they paid back rent.[7] The two sides settled the dispute, with the Ciprianis' agreeing to give up possession of the restaurant and banquet hall on August 1, 2009.[8] The last night of dancing at the former hot spot took place on June 5, 2009, and the Grill closed its kitchen on Father's Day, June 21, 2009.[9]
As of mid-2011, it was announced that work had begun on remodeling the restaurant for its reopening.[10] However, as of June 1, 2012, the restaurants Rainbow Room and Rainbow Grill were closed and awaiting new operators.
On October 16, 2012, the Rainbow Room was declared a New York City landmark by the New York Landmarks Commission.[11]
In popular culture [edit]
In its heyday, The Rainbow Room was a place to see and be seen. Actress Joan Crawford made her last public appearance at the Rainbow Room at a party honoring Rosalind Russell.
The Rainbow Room is often mentioned in the popular sitcom Friends, often used as a term for when one of the characters was going somewhere fancy. One example is the episode "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take A Break". Phoebe is dating a diplomat, and Monica begins dating his translator, who says "Would you like me to escort you to the Rainbow Room? I have diplomatic coupons."
During the series Will & Grace, the characters frequently attend family meals or birthday events at the Rainbow Room. For example, during "Cheating Trouble Blues", Will, Jack, Grace, and Karen meet to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Truman's wedding anniversary. The episode contains an ongoing joke that references the restaurant's location on a high floor; Karen is frightened of elevators, so she and Jack begin to climb the stairs, only to realize later that they have left the cake on a lower floor.
In a particularly memorable Howard Stern broadcast, it was revealed that Fred Norris had a fight with his wife Allison at the Rainbow Room.
In his memoir, Kitchen Confidential, chef Anthony Bourdain wrote an entire chapter ("I Make My Bones") about his year and a half in the kitchen staff of the Rainbow Room, describing in detail - both good and bad - the working conditions in an extremely famous and busy restaurant and the numerous dealings normally kept invisible behind the kitchen doors.
J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, mentions the Rainbow Room in his short story, A Girl I Knew.[12]
Hall and Oates refer to the Rainbow Room in their song Bad Habits and Infections: "Maybe you'll find a friend up in the Rainbow Room, If you can dodge the drinks, That they've been throwing at you."
The Rainbow Room was mentioned and shown briefly in a King of the Hill episode discussing why character Hank Hill was born in New York City.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ [1]
- ^ Archive Doors Open Toronto 2007: Carlu Toronto. 2007
- ^ a b Giovannini, Joseph (August 7, 1987). "Rainbow Room: Re-creating the Glamour". New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
- ^ "Father and Son Restaurateurs in New York City Plead Guilty to Tax Evasion - New York Times - August 1, 2007". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ a b Venezia, Todd (2009-01-03). "RAINBOW ROOM WILL SHUT EATERY -New York Post - January 3, 2009". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ New York Times article about the Cipriani family and desire to designate Rainbow Room a Historic Landmark
- ^ Rainbow Room’s Lease Terminated - New York Times - January 9, 2009
- ^ Carmiel, Oshrat (2009-02-05). "Cipriani Dining Empire Loses BlackRock, Rainbow Room". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ "The Rainbow Room Fades Away". Zagat.com. June 5, 2009.
- ^ Marx, Rebecca (2011-07-11). "Somebody Is Finally Paying Attention to the Rainbow Room - New York Restaurants and Dining - Fork in the Road". Blogs.villagevoice.com. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ "Rainbow Room". Rainbow Room. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ "A Girl I Knew" - Good Housekeeping - February 1948
External links [edit]
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