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Tavern on the Green

Coordinates: 40°46′20″N 73°58′40″W / 40.7723°N 73.9778°W / 40.7723; -73.9778
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Tavern on the Green
Main entrance of Tavern on the Green, November 2008
Map
Restaurant information
EstablishedOctober 1934
Head chefBrian Young
Street addressCentral Park West and West 67th Street - Manhattan
CityNew York City
StateNew York
CountryUnited States
WebsiteTavern on the Green Official Web Site

Tavern on the Green is a restaurant located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of New York City, in the United States.

With 2007 gross revenues of $38 million, from more than 500,000 visitors, it is the second highest-grossing independently-owned restaurant in the United States (behind The Venetian's Tao restaurant in Las Vegas, at $67 million).[1][2] Of the several dining rooms, the most famous is the Crystal Room, which features windows overlooking the restaurant's adjacent garden in Central Park.[3]

In 2009, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation declined to renew the restaurant's license. The current management must cease operations and remove all furnishings before January 1, 2010.[4]

History and location

The restaurant is located in New York City's Central Park at Central Park West and West 67th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was originally the sheepfold that housed the sheep that grazed Sheep Meadow, built to a design by Calvert Vaux in 1870. It became a restaurant as part of a 1934 renovation of the park under Robert Moses, New York City's Commissioner of Parks. In 1974, Warner LeRoy took over the restaurant's lease and reopened it in 1976 after $10 million in renovations. Since LeRoy's death in 2001, it has been managed by his daughter, Jennifer Oz LeRoy.[5]

Tavern on the Green has hosted the wedding receptions of several prominent Americans, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler and film director Walter Hill. The restaurant is located within short walking distance of Strawberry Fields, a Central Park memorial built in honor of John Lennon, who was killed nearby, outside his residence at The Dakota.

In May 2008, the restaurant and the Westfield Group announced plans to open a second, 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) location in the Metreon mall in downtown San Francisco, California, in the summer of 2009.[6][7][8][9]

In June, 2008, Tavern on the Green agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a sexual and racial discrimination lawsuit over claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of "pervasive harassment" of women and minority employees.[10]

On August 28, 2009, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that Dean Poll, the current operator of the Central Park Boathouse, had won the operating license to Tavern on the Green, beginning January 1, 2010.

On September 9, 2009, The New York Times reported that the restaurant has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, located in New York City. Reasons cited were the current financial crisis and the August 28, 2009 loss of the operating license.[11]

Awards

Where magazine named Tavern on the Green the best restaurant on New York City's Upper West Side in 2006 and awarded it "best ambience" of any New York City restaurant four years earlier, in 2002. In 2003 and 2004, Wine Spectator named the restaurant's wine list its "Best Award of Excellence."[12]

New York City Marathon

Tavern on the Green is the finish line of the New York City Marathon. The Barilla Marathon Eve Dinner, an enormous pre-race pasta party on the eve of the marathon for 10,000 guests (including registrants, who attend for free), takes place at the Tavern. 6,800 pounds of pasta and 2,000 pounds of salad are served at the dinner, which also features live entertainment and fireworks.[13]

Tavern on the Green is famously frequented by prominent actors, musicians, politicians, and writers. Regular patrons have included former New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, actress Grace Kelly and others.[14] The restaurant also has been referenced in several movies, plays and songs:

Broadway and films

Many Broadway shows have opening night festivities at the restaurant. The Tavern also makes its way into popular culture in several movie appearances, including Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters, Made, Only When I Laugh, Stella, The Out-of-Towners and Wall Street. It also has been featured in television shows such as elimiDATE and Live with Regis and Kelly.[3][15][16]

The 1994 film The Flintstones parodied the restaurant in one scene as "Cavern on the Green."

Music

The restaurant is cited in at least three popular songs. The Broadway musical title of show includes a line in the song "Part of it All": "Ducking out of the theatre before the show's finale to get to the opening night at Tavern on the Green!" The restaurant is mentioned by the hip-hop group Nice & Smooth in the song "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow," on their album Ain't a Damn Thing Changed: "I go to Tavern on the Green and have a glass of wine..." It is also mentioned by rapper Black Rob in the song "24 Hours to Live" on Mase's album Harlem World, in which Black Rob says that, if he had only 24 hours to live, he would: "Get them cats I wanted to get, since the Tavern on the Green robbery in '86."

References

  1. ^ "Special Report: Top 100 Independents". Restaurants & Institutions.
  2. ^ Drape, Joe. "Setting Restaurant Records by Selling the Sizzle", The New York Times, July 22, 2007. Accessed October 15, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Central Park: Play: Tavern on the Green
  4. ^ Collins, Glenn (September 16, 2009), "Why Did Tavern Fail?", The New York Times, pp. D1, retrieved 2009-09-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ OREN YANIV (February 3, 2009). "Tavern on the Green in the red". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  6. ^ James Temple. "Tavern on the Green coming to the Metreon". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-06. {{cite news}}: Text "May 6, 2008" ignored (help)
  7. ^ Florence Fabricant (2008-05-07). "Off the Menu". New York Times.
  8. ^ J.K. Dineen (2008-05-05). "N.Y.'s famed Tavern On The Green to open S.F.'s biggest restaurant".
  9. ^ "NYC's Tavern on the Green plans San Francisco outpost". Nations Restaurant News. 2008-05-07.
  10. ^ Daniel Trotta (2008-06-02). "Famed NY tavern to pay $2.2 million for discrimination". reuters.
  11. ^ Collins, Glenn (September 9, 2009). "Tavern on the Green Requesting Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection". Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  12. ^ "Awards and Accomplishments" at Tavern on the Green Website.
  13. ^ Barilla Hosts Marathon Eve Dinner
  14. ^ ["There's No Place Like Tavern on the Green," Page Six Magazine, October 12, 2008.]
  15. ^ Central Park Movie Locations
  16. ^ Bette Midler as a Selfless Mother in Tear-Inducing Stella

40°46′20″N 73°58′40″W / 40.7723°N 73.9778°W / 40.7723; -73.9778

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