Tavern on the Green

Tavern on the Green
Main entrance of Tavern on the Green, November 2008
Restaurant Information
Established	October 1934
Head chef	Brian Young
Street address	Central Park West and West 67th Street - Manhattan
City	New York City
State	New York
Country	United States
Website	Tavern 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]

Tavern on the Green will have its last seating on December 31, 2009. It is auctioning off its interior decorations and closing its doors due to bankruptcy.^[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^[6] and film director Walter Hill.^[7] John Lennon was a neighbor to Warner LeRoy and his son, Sean, was a playmate of Warner LeRoy's son, Max LeRoy. As a result, John and Sean celebrated numerous birthdays at Tavern on the Green during the late 1970s.^[8] A memorial to Lennon, Strawberry Fields, is located in Central Park within walking distance of Tavern on the Green. Lennon once resided at the nearby Dakota at 72nd Street and Central Park West, where he was a neighbor of Warner LeRoy. The Dakota is also where he was murdered on December 8, 1980.

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 summer 2009.^{[9][10][11][12]} The plans had not materialized as of late 2009.^[13]

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.^[14]

On August 28, 2009, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it had declined to renew the restaurant's license, granting it instead to Dean Poll, operator of the Central Park Boathouse. The LeRoy management was required to cease operations and remove all furnishings from the location before January 1, 2010.^[15]

In September 2009, the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, located in New York City, citing the 2009 national financial crisis and the August 28, 2009 loss of the restaurant's operating license.^[16] The rights to the name of the restaurant became an additional source of contention between the LeRoys and the city of New York during the bankruptcy court procedures in October 2009 after the LeRoys claimed the trademark was theirs while the city challenged them.^[17] At the time the trademark was appraised at $19 million.^[17] In November 2009, Poll registered a backup name with New York State: Tavern in the Park.^[18]

Tavern on the Green was famously frequented by prominent actors, musicians, politicians, and writers. Regular patrons have included former New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, actresses Grace Kelly and Fay Wray and many others.^[19]

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."^[20]

New York City Marathon

Tavern on the Green is the finish line of the New York City Marathon. The Barilla Marathon Eve Dinner, a 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.^[21]

References in popular culture

A 1970s to 80s Folgers coffee advertising campaign capitalized on Tavern's reputation, among other locales, in variations of an ad featuring the line "...we’ve secretly replaced the fine coffee they usually serve with Folgers Crystals. ... Let's see if anyone can tell the difference!"^[22]

Many Broadway shows have opening night festivities at the restaurant. 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 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][23][24]

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

The restaurant is cited in at least two popular songs. 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

External links

• Tavern on the Green Official Website.
• Tavern on the Green profile and articles at The New York Times.
• "Jennifer Oz Leroy: Restaurantrice in the Green," WomensBiz.us.

v • d • e Features of Central Park Features Belvedere Castle  • Bethesda Terrace  • Blockhouse  • Bridges  • Central Park Mall  • Cleopatra's Needle  • Conservatory Garden  • Conservatory Water  • Delacorte Theater  • Diana Ross Playground  • Great Lawn  • Harlem Meer  • Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir  • King Jagiello Monument  • The Lake  • Lasker Rink  • Marionette Theatre  • Medical Unit  • The Ramble  • Sculptures  • Seneca Village  • Strawberry Fields  • SummerStage  • Tavern on the Green  • Wollman Rink  • Zoo  • Zoo York Wall Events Be-In  • The Concert  • The Gates  • New York Shakespeare Festival Streets Borders: Fifth Avenue  • Central Park North  • Central Park South  • Central Park West Transverses: 79th Street  • 85th Street/86th Street  • 96th Street People and animals Balto  • Central Park Jogger  • Hal the Coyote  • Frederick Law Olmsted  • Pale Male • Regina Peruggi  • Elizabeth Barlow Rogers  • Arthur Ross  • Calvert Vaux • Urban Park Rangers

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