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Inside Mortimer’s, NYC’s most exclusive celeb and society club

admin by admin
March 3, 2022
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Inside Mortimer’s, NYC’s most exclusive celeb and society club
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Earlier than the foodie revolution bothered New York’s eating scene, you could possibly decide a restaurant by the caliber of its patrons, not its chef. Mortimer’s on the Higher East Aspect had the perfect folks.

A brand new espresso desk guide, “Mortimer’s: Moments in Time” by documentary filmmaker Robin Baker Leacock, restaurateur Robert Caravaggi and photographer Mary Hilliard (obtainable March 22 on Amazon) appears to be like again at an period when socialites, celebs and the town’s strongest folks blended over cigarette smoke, bull pictures and vodka on the rocks.

One in every of New York’s best-remembered bygone boîtes, Mortimer’s opened in March 1976 at seventy fifth and Lex in a utilitarian area that quick grew to become the de rigueur eating dive of the nascent Studio 54 set — together with C.Z. Visitor, Farrah Fawcett and Iman. After the times of disco, its notoriously censorious and door-conscious proprietor Glenn Bernbaum continued to run the restaurant’s 19 tables like a social membership for gossip columnists and their prey — till his demise in 1998 ended the occasion.

Luminaries line up for Interview editor and Andy Warhol collaborator Bob Colacello's 50th birthday party in 1997. Colacello writes that his "most memorable time at Mortimer’s was the night Reinaldo and Carolina Herrera invited me to a little dinner for Princess Margaret. When Princess Margaret got up to leave, Glenn played ‘God Save the Queen,' and Her Royal Highness gave everyone that little royal wave as she walked out of the restaurant, just like the Queen would do."
Luminaries line up for Interview editor and Andy Warhol collaborator Bob Colacello’s fiftieth party in 1997. Colacello writes that his “most memorable time at Mortimer’s was the evening Reinaldo and Carolina Herrera invited me to a bit dinner for Princess Margaret. When Princess Margaret acquired as much as depart, Glenn performed ‘God Save the Queen,’ and Her Royal Highness gave everybody that little royal wave as she walked out of the restaurant, identical to the Queen would do.”
Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions
Bernbaum's precious pug Swifty would provide the name for Mortimer's 1999 successor. Today, Swifty's continues to foster a lively social atmosphere in Palm Beach, Fla., at the Colony Hotel. Here, socialite Fernanda Niven (from left), writer Taki Theodoracopulos, Warhol portrait subject Nan Kempner, philanthropist and William F. Buckley's wife Pat Buckley, jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane and cobalt blue glasses obsessive Anne Slater mingle.
Bernbaum’s treasured pug Swifty would supply the title for Mortimer’s 1999 successor. Immediately, Swifty’s continues to foster a vigorous social environment in Palm Seashore, Fla., on the Colony Resort. Right here, socialite Fernanda Niven, author Taki Theodoracopulos, Warhol portrait topic Nan Kempner, philanthropist and William F. Buckley’s spouse Pat Buckley, jewellery designer Kenneth Jay Lane and cobalt blue glasses obsessive Anne Slater mingle.
Picture Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions

“It was a saloon the place all people was dressed up,” Caravaggi, the restaurant’s longtime maître d’, instructed The Put up. In 1999, he opened Mortimer’s Upper East Side successor Swifty’s, named after Bernbaum’s beloved pug. It now operates in Palm Seashore, Fla., with a menu impressed by the unique restaurant. “Each evening we had Frank Owens on the piano beginning at 11:30 and we’d proceed until 2 a.m. It was a celebration place the place folks additionally had one thing to eat.”

Caravaggi says that he was impressed to create a guide after sharing a field of Bernbaum’s papers with Baker Leacock. It included authentic menus (lunch: hen hash, $3.95; hamburger, $1.90) and letters from the likes of Calvin Klein, Dominick Dunne, Henry Kissinger, Barbara Walters, Irving Lazar and Oscar de la Renta.

In 1983, Bill Blass hosted a party for Andre Leon Talley to entertain fashion designer John Galliano. "Iman came in wearing a long red Alaïa dress and caused a stir," Talley wrote. "That all happened because of Glenn Bernbaum at Mortimer’s... Glen had great taste in everything, except those hard, ugly French bistro chairs which were difficult for one's bottom," he added.
In 1983, Invoice Blass hosted a celebration for Andre Leon Talley to entertain clothier John Galliano. “Iman got here in sporting an extended purple Alaïa costume and brought about a stir,” Talley wrote. “That every one occurred due to Glenn Bernbaum at Mortimer’s… Glen had nice style in every little thing, besides these arduous, ugly French bistro chairs which have been tough for one’s backside,” he added.
Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions

“Mortimer’s was from a interval in New York that’s now, alas, gone: the interval of ‘the hangouts,’” stated Mortimer’s veteran and author Anthony Haden-Visitor of the outdated gathering spots reminiscent of Gino’s and Elaine’s the place the glitterati cliqued. “It attracted Eurotrash like myself but additionally loads of People and it was an ideal mixing place.”

What Haden-Visitor and the opposite contributors to the guide — which embody author Christina Oxenberg, Guggenheim Museum director Richard Armstrong and the late fashion icon Andre Leon Talley — keep in mind firstly is the sense of “being there” in “the room” with “the folks.”

“I keep in mind going there for lunches and seeing [former Vogue Editor-in-Chief] Diana Vreeland on the desk within the nook and seeing Anthony Quinn at one other,” stated Baker Leacock, who frequented the restaurant in its early days, ordering both the meatloaf or the hen paillard. “It was a really high-energy place. It was like a continuing celebration. There was a sense of pleasure and being carefree that doesn’t exist now in social life.”

Joan Collins attending Hollywood dealmaker Irving Lazar's (right) star-studded 1988 party. She threw her own party at Mortimer's that same year for the release of her book “Prime Time,” in which she was fêted by media titans including Walter Cronkite, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Carl Bernstein and Jann Wenner under hundreds of pink balloons in the low-ceilinged room. The Washington Post reported that the evening “feels grotesquely like a set piece from 'Night of the Living Dead Celebrities.' "
Joan Collins attends Hollywood dealmaker Irving Lazar’s (proper) star-studded 1988 occasion. She threw her personal occasion at Mortimer’s that very same yr for the discharge of her guide “Prime Time,” during which she was fêted by media titans together with Walter Cronkite, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Carl Bernstein and Jann Wenner beneath tons of of pink balloons within the low-ceilinged room. The Washington Put up reported that the night “feels grotesquely like a set piece from ‘Evening of the Residing Lifeless Celebrities.’ “
hoto Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions
Fashion icons such as Paloma Picasso (center, with John Richardson and William Luers), Bill Blass (for whom the restaurant’s meatloaf was named) and Calvin Klein fopped and flaunted at Mortimer's. "Its social prominence caught on quickly as a luncheon spot for the ladies of the neighborhood — that being Park and Fifth Avenues. It was picked up by Women's Wear Daily in their natural quest for fashion news. And soon the fashionable lunched and dined there. It wasn’t a fashion scene so much as a clientele from the social world, both national and international, who always looked in fashion," writes David Patrick Columbia.
Trend icons reminiscent of Paloma Picasso (heart, with John Richardson and William Luers), Invoice Blass (for whom the restaurant’s meatloaf was named) and Calvin Klein fopped and flaunted at Mortimer’s. “Its social prominence caught on shortly as a luncheon spot for the women of the neighborhood — that being Park and Fifth Avenues. It was picked up by Ladies’s Put on Day by day of their pure quest for style information. And shortly the trendy lunched and dined there. It wasn’t a style scene a lot as a clientele from the social world, each nationwide and worldwide, who all the time seemed in style,” writes David Patrick Columbia.
Picture Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions

However for un-bolded names it could possibly be a troublesome desk (the restaurant by no means took reservations, formally).

“Glenn actually made me really feel like an outsider that first time I went with my mom,” Michael Gross, who contributed to the guide, recalled. “He left us standing within the doorway so lengthy it was clear that nobody was going to return over and seat us.”

Within the guide, Averell Fisk (the grandson of the late William Averell Harriman, a railway inheritor and one-time governor of New York) recollects using his motorbike to the restaurant following his fortieth party to pay the invoice. Bernbaum threw him out for sporting a leather-based jacket.

 After losing friends and staff to the AIDS epidemic, Bernbaum created an annual fund-raiser dubbed Fete de Famille in 1986, a block party that raised money for AIDS research. VIP after-parties ensued. One year, a gaming-themed bash allowed socialite pals (from left)  Nina Tower, Herb Seigel, John Galliher, Yanna Avis to try their luck at the roulette table.
After shedding associates and employees to the AIDS epidemic, Bernbaum created an annual fund-raiser dubbed Fete de Famille in 1986, a block occasion that raised cash for AIDS analysis. VIP after-parties ensued. One yr, a gaming-themed bash allowed socialite friends Nina Tower, Herb Seigel, John Galliher, Yanna Avis to attempt their luck on the roulette desk.
Picture Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions

“He instructed me I used to be dressed inappropriately,” writes Fisk. “He by no means noticed the test I had for him in my hand. Sorry Glenn!”

Gate-crashers hoping to soak up a slice of life among the many jetset, or spy Liz Taylor in line for the woman’s room have been bounced from non-public events, Caravaggi says, and generally the two a.m. crowd acquired a bit spirited. However patron and guide contributor Richard Iselin Mortimer (no relation to Glenn) had a get out of jail free card. One evening in 1983, he stumbled into the restaurant, healthily pickled and located the place utterly empty. So he determined to take a seat on the bar for a lark. When the police confirmed up — the door had been left unlocked and he had tripped the burglar alarm — he simply flashed his ID. The cops noticed the title Mortimer and he was despatched on his method sans handcuffs.

Not everybody acquired away with their crimes, nevertheless. When one of many Greek staffers came upon Glenn had written him into his not unsubstantial will, he hatched a homicide plot. “It was diobalical,” Caravaggi stated. “He employed a hitman, I don’t know if it was the FBI or what however they arrested him the day it was alleged to occur.”

"Ryan O’Neal was displeased with his seating arrangement [at Irving "Swifty" Lazar's black tie bash in 1988]," Caravaggi told The Post. "We used to separate couples at these tables of 10. He was sitting two tables away from Farrah Fawcett and he was miffed by that. He thought that he should be sitting next to her, so he went and got the seating arrangement changed."
“Ryan O’Neal was displeased along with his seating association [at Irving “Swifty” Lazar’s black tie bash in 1988],” Caravaggi instructed The Put up. “We used to separate {couples} at these tables of 10. He was sitting two tables away from Farrah Fawcett and he was miffed by that. He thought that he must be sitting subsequent to her, so he went and acquired the seating association modified.”
Picture Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions
 “I remember C. Z. Guest [pictured left] of Old Westbury held her daughter’s debutante dinner at Mortimer’s. She took over the entire restaurant. It was black tie, and Cornelia went rogue modern, wearing a blue Fabrice spangled short evening sparkler,” Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley (right) wrote. Here he is seen with Guest in 1989.
“I keep in mind C. Z. Visitor [left] of Outdated Westbury held her daughter’s debutante dinner at Mortimer’s. She took over all the restaurant. It was black tie, and Cornelia went rogue fashionable, sporting a blue Fabrice spangled brief night sparkler,” Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley (proper) wrote, seen with Visitor in 1989.
Picture Credit score: Images by Mary Hilliard; From Mortimer’s: Moments in TIme by Robin Baker Leacock, © 2022; Printed by G Editions

By the Nineteen Nineties, Mortimer’s was so synonymous with the life-style of the wealthy and rapacious that Haden-Visitor hosted Bruce Willis there as analysis for his position within the movie adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities.”

Immediately, Haden-Visitor and lots of the guide’s different contributors, lament the demise of the nonchalant camaraderie that eating places like Mortimer’s impressed.

“It’s not simply New York. I feel that nationwide, the social glue has dissolved,” he stated. “Individuals have disconnected. ‘Good morning’ is seldom heard. Individuals look a bit shocked in the event you say it. It’s not simply folks taking a look at their screens, it’s a posh query.”

However whereas Mortimer’s might have been the correct place on the proper time – Gross insists that society scorching spots endure in covert pockets of uptown Manhattan.

“That [original] group has gone extinct,” Gross stated. “It’s a unique membership now. It’s much less WASP-y and extra Jewish. However so is the Higher East Aspect. There are nonetheless membership eating places stuffed with swells. However whenever you discover one, the very last thing you do is inform a reporter at The New York Put up about it.”



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