larry's Memories of the Rienzi

Just got a response back from larry, Harry Justman's nephew about the Cafe Rienzi.

"I was about 12 when harry left the biz.....my brother david did work at the rienzi on sunday afternoons for a while . I recall harry having only one partner named david....last name unknown. I could draw a floor plan from memory. I recall the display of fancy Italian pastries.....flimsy wire backed chairs and tables....real la bohme territory....big brass colored expresso machines...a dinky kitchen facility. While in law school in 1979 a friend of mine arranged a double date.....and in the middle dinner it flashed on me ......this resturaunt is the old rienzi, a proustian moment.

as to memories....my parents . quite provincial, seemed facinated by the bohemian types.....and as a child it was clear that my parents thought the patrons a bit exotic/dangerous.

harry liked the beats .....and got out of the biz when the beats morphhed into hippies.....who he did not like. My cousin nina had a birthday party in the back area .....complete with a then exotic pinata.

Before passin I would ask harry about the various iconic peoples passin through in rienzis heyday.

he would repond with statments like.....Kerouac, a fucking drunk............ect.

regret not being more concrete .....i was very young."

Thanks, larry!

Junebug