Café des Artistes was a fine

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

at 1 West 67th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. New York City. It was owned by George Lang, who closed the restaurant in early August 2009 and announced later that month that the restaurant would remain closed permanently. His wife, Jenifer Lang, had been the managing director of the restaurant since 1990.

History

The restaurant first opened in 1917, at street level of the

Hotel des Artistes Hotel des Artistes is a historic residential building located at 1 West 67th Street in New York City near the west side of Central Park, Manhattan. Completed in 1917, the ornate 17-story, 119-unit Gothic architecture, Gothic-style building has bee ...

tower. Café des Artistes was designed for the residents of the Hotel des Artistes, since the apartments lacked kitchens. Artists such as

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

, Isadora Duncan and

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

were patrons.''New York Deco'', page 127, Richard Berenholtz, Carol Willis, Maren Elizabeth Gregerson (captions), Welcome Books, 2009, . Late in 1985, there was a fire in the kitchen, but the restaurant was able to reopen. In early September 2009, two years into the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, Lang announced that the café was closing; shortly thereafter, Lang filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debtor. ...

protection, claiming debts of nearly $500,000, some of which was owed to a union benefit trust. At the time, he also faced a lawsuit from the

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a United States labor union representing workers of the hospitality industry, formed in 1890. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UN ...

Welfare Fund. Hotel des Artistes sidewalk tables jeh

In 2011, a new restaurant, the Leopard at des Artistes, opened in the location. According to the ''New York Times'', it caters to those in New York society who derive "fame from power rather than the other way around".

The murals

The restaurant's famous murals, retained in the new restaurant's 2011 renovation, were painted by Howard Chandler Christy. Christy was a tenant of the building, Hotel des Artistes, until his death in 1952. There are six panels of wood nymphs, the first of which were completed in 1934. Other Christy works on display include paintings such as ''The Parrot Girl'', ''The Swing Girl'', ''

Ponce De Leon Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) * *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the 20th century * British sla ...

'', ''Fall'', ''Spring'', and ''

the Fountain of Youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...

''.

In popular culture

* 1981: It is the setting for the film '' My Dinner with Andre''. Actual filming took place in the then-unoccupied Jefferson Hotel in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. * 1986: It is the location of dinner between Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke in the film ''

9½ Weeks ''9½ Weeks'' is a 1986 American erotic romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne, and starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke. Basinger portrays a New York City art gallery employee who has a brief yet intense affair with a mysterious Wall St ...

''. * 1988: In the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' first-season episode " We'll Always Have Paris, Captain

Jean-Luc Picard Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''T ...

visits a holographic recreation of a restaurant in 24th-century Paris that bore the same name. * 1993: It is the location of a poker lesson in the

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

film '' Manhattan Murder Mystery''. * 1994: In the ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'' second-season episode " The One With The Bullies",

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

states that she was a sous chef at the restaurant. * 1996: The film '' The First Wives Club'' used the restaurant as the location where the three women have lunch after their friend's funeral. * 2007: In the '' Gossip Girl'' first-season, Blair Waldorf states that she was supposed to have lunch here with her mother, like they used to when they were younger.

References

External links

* – The Leopard
At Cafe des Artistes, the Host's Enthusiasm Is Contagious
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe Des Artistes Defunct French restaurants in Manhattan Defunct restaurants in Manhattan 1917 establishments in New York City Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Upper West Side Restaurants established in 1917 Restaurants disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in New York (state)