Main description:

You know the name -- you've heard of the people -- and now the doors to Elaine's, New York City's famed night spot, are finally open. And no one, not even Elaine herself, is standing guard at the door.

Elaine Kaufman's creation certainly came from humble beginnings. Forty years ago the now legendary restaurant on Eighty-eighth Street and Second Avenue was deemed too far uptown for anyone of importance to frequent. It was there that Elaine served, catered to, and nursed young starving writers and artists of the day.

As these customers grew and matured into Woody Allen and Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol and Jack Nicholson, Elaine's grew with them. By the time these artists were deemed legends, well, Elaine's had already become legendary.

A. E. Hotchner was there at the beginning, is still there today, and has a table reserved for tomorrow. There is no better person than "Hotch" to tell the story of Elaine's. He was there for every bit of it.

They're all inside: Jackie O., Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra, Liz Smith, Joan Rivers, Lauren Bacall, Judy and Liza. The stories are all here. The night Jackie came to dance. The night Sinatra snubbed The Godfather author, Mario Puzo. When Sinatra's ex-wife, Mia Farrow, asked Michael Caine to introduce her to Woody Allen. When George Steinbrenner was turned away at the door the night his Yankees beat the Mets in the Subway Series.

Everyone Comes to Elaine's is more than a story about New York City. It's more than a story of celebrities. This is the story of a "family" with a domineering mother who will stop at nothing to protect those dearest to her. This is an American saga.

Elaine's is a microcosm of the people and events of the last forty years, from the sixties, when Beatles and Stones held forth there, to the start of the twenty-first century, when painful wakes were held for the regulars who perished on September 11. Just as Gertrude Stein presided over her salon in Paris in the twenties, Elaine now presides over hers.

So pull up a seat. You're invited. Everyone comes to Elaine's. Enjoy!

Short description/annotation:

Pull up a seat. You’re invited to the best spot in town: Elaine’s, the Upper East Side bar and restaurant owned by quirky restaurateur Elaine Kaufman.

A true Manhattan original, Elaine nurtured young, hungry writers, artists, and performers who matured into the likes of Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson, Andy Warhol, and Norman Mailer.

In Everyone Comes to Elaine's, you'll find meaty morsels on American icons, including Jackie O., Judy, and Liza, and first-hand accounts of the night Frank Sinatra snubbed The Godfather author, Mario Puzo, and the time that Mia Farrow asked Michael Caine to introduce her to Woody Allen.

Everyone Comes to Elaine's is an insider's view of a cultural scene that closed it's doors officially in 2011, after the death of Elaine Kaufman, hostess and New York legend. There's no one better to to have told these great tales than award-winning author A. E. Hotchner, who was there all along.