Iconic Restaurant Elaine's Closes After 50 Years in Business

Iconic Manhattan restaurant Elaine's is closing its doors on May 26, after nearly 50 years in business and almost six months after its founder Elaine Kaufman died. Kaufman opened the restaurant in 1963 with a $10,000 investment, and it quickly became a regular hangout for writers, actors, artists, musicians and politicians -- as well as celebrity-seeking tourists. The beloved restaurateur died in December at age 81.

Though Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, George Plimpton and Mikhail Baryshnikov were among its esteemed patrons (and George Steinbrenner reportedly got turned away at the door after the Yankees won the 2000 World Series because the restaurant was too crowded), Woody Allen was arguably Elaine's most famous and faithful patron. At Cannes when the news broke, Allen told Movieline, "I would eat my dinner there every single night for maybe 10 years. It was like a home away from home." He added: "I don't think there'll ever be anything like it in New York."

"This is one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make," longtime general manager Diane Becker, who inherited the restaurant, said in a statement. "But the truth is, there is no Elaine's without Elaine."

Becker says keeping Elaine's open was simply "not a viable situation," as the restaurant struggled for years. She noted that business picked up for a few weeks after Kaufman's death before declining again. Becker listed the two buildings that house Elaine's for sale with Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair and owner of popular restaurants the Waverly Inn and the Monkey Bar, expressed interest in purchasing the Upper East Side location. "Elaine's name is still pretty strong in people's minds," Carter told The Wall Street Journal. "You wouldn't have to change much about the place. She kept it in great shape."