What seems little known about the Cafe Rienzi is its beginnings - its roots. My aunt and uncle were two of the original group of friends who launched the Cafe Rienzi in the early 50's. I grew up hearing all those stories - the good times, the fights, and how one by one the original group sold their share and left. My aunt said she received $2000 for her share and spent two months or two years in Europe in grand style in London and Paris and Italy. She went over on the Queen Mary.
By now my aunt and uncle and the other folks who started the Cafe Rienze are quite elderly - in their 80's. But here I hope to start a thread of their memories of this historic and influential Cafe and piece of 20th Century American history. I have asked my aunt to write some of her memories about it, and she in turn has asked her friend Eva, and we will see if those are forthcoming - but for now, my feeble notes will have to do.
More to come as I get the time! My Aunt Joan and Uncle Tom Durant, two of the founders of the Cafe Rienzi, are pictured below.
JuneBug
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6 comments:
June Bug ..Just a tidbit..
Amy was Amy Nakamura, not 'Metamura'..and she went and settled in Paris..Harry Justman saw her in Paris where he used to go every year before his stroke/heart attack.
http://www.artnet.com/artist/424819017/gert-berliner.html
Gert was/is Gert Berliner..NOT Berlina..He was a painter then and still is now:http://www.artnet.com/artist/424819017/gert-berliner.html
A
Thank you so much for this great information artemesia and for Gert's website. Eva remains one of Aunt Joan's closest and lifelong friends - and I remember Sunday dinners at Aunt Joan's with Uri and Eva when I was growing up in the 50's.
I'll note the corrections on my blog piece and add Gert's website when I can catch my breath. We were away for the weekend for my sister-in-law's funeral.
June Bug
A tidbit about Amy..
During WWll when she was a young girl..she and her family were put in an internment camp our America herded so many American Japanese families into..as possible 'spies' or loyalists to Japan. This was also a great opportunity to divest many Japanese of their businesses and property. Amy's father was the owner of a large, prosperous fishery and the USA simply relieved him of the family business. Some time after the war..the US government did make some reparation for their disgraceful actions and Amy did get some money out of this, but the family got only got a token of what they lost because of their internment and that confiscation of property.
A
Hello--I'm curious about the segue from the cafe Rienzi to the O.G. Dining Room and what happened to the O.G. and in particular what happened to the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies they used to make; I still dream of them. On good nights.
Hi, Farago,
I have fortuitously connected with someone who used to work at the O.G. and sell those chocolate chip cookies. Since those were after my time, I didn't know about them, but I am hoping the person will post and provide us with some more history about David, the O.G. and the cookies. The individual said that David had brought back some huge baskets from France and had put wheels on them, and an umbrella and this person used to sell the cookies from the basket on one of the Avenues, I believe. It sounded like it was some distance away because he used to bring refills on large trays. Apparently there was an article in New York magazine called "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Wars," at the time - because the cookies were so successful, a lot of other places started to compete.
JuneBug
As a teenage boy in the 60's one of favorite things to do was to go the NYC on a Saturday in the fall or winter, go to the Village, buy a couple of books and go to the Rienzi for a cup of cocoa in the late afternoon.
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