Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Legendary Restaurant Elaine's to Close

By Amy Zimmer | May 17, 2011 12:13pm | Updated on May 17, 2011 12:12pm
Restaurateur Elaine Kaufman takes a picture with friends at surprise birthday for Bobby Short in 2004. Kaufman died on Dec. 3, 2010 at the age of 81.
Restaurateur Elaine Kaufman takes a picture with friends at surprise birthday for Bobby Short in 2004. Kaufman died on Dec. 3, 2010 at the age of 81.
View Full Caption
fFrank Micelotta/Getty Images

By Amy Zimmer

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — The Upper East Side landmark Elaine's will close its doors on May 26, just six months after its legendary owner Elaine Kaufman died.

The larger-than-life Kaufman bequeathed the restaurant — a favorite haunt for celebrities, writers, artists and cops — to her longtime manager, Diane Becker, after her Dec. 3 death at the age of 81 of complications from emphysema.

But Becker said the business didn't work without its proprietress. Kaufman and the A-listers that frequented her restaurant, such as Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, were on a first-name basis.

"The truth is, there is no Elaine's without Elaine," Becker told the New York Times. "I'm 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 Elaine’s passing in December, but it's simply not a viable situation."

A spokeswoman told the Times that Becker would put the two buildings that house the Second Avenue restaurant on the market.

Becker, who had been Elaine's manager for 26 years, told the Times in January that she would try to keep the restaurant running as usual.

"The only missing link is Elaine," she said then.