Elaine Kaufman, Whose Manhattan Saloon Nurtured Writers, Dies at 81

Dec. 3, 2010— -- The writer Bruce Jay Friedman was sitting at a good table at Elaines -- a bar known for its devoted clientele of writers -- with a lawyer who wanted to read him Proust. Friedman was going to let him proceed, but not before remarking in his considerable baritone, "Proust, that's what people think you are supposed to talk about at Elaine's." He then explained in frank language that all writers really wanted to do was talk about sex.

Elaine Kaufman, 81, and a saloon keeper who gave succor and agita to nearly five generations of the famous and the rest of us -- writers, reporters, detectives, actors, celebrities and celebrated New York characters -- died at Lenox Hill Hospital about a city mile from her Manhattan restaurant.

Friedman, who penned novels, short stories and screenplays including "Splash," "The Lonely Guy" and "Heartbreak Kid," was one of an A List of American authors and actors that included Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Peter Maas and Jim Harrison who made Elaine's Restaurant a second home.

Her table was the place where a writer could sit when even home wouldn't have him, and where you could eat even when your pocket was empty. For most of a year in the 1980s, this writer ran a tab at her insistence. And while he might have feared that pile of green chits could never be repaid, she did not. Besides, she said, where else would you stand a better chance of meeting someone who could hire you.

On a summer night, she could be found until this baseball season with George Steinbrenner in his box at Yankee Stadium. A few of the World Series rings Steinbrenner presented her made a beautiful set of earrings and pendant. And nearly every night, until about a month ago, she could be found in her restaurant moving from table to table, keeping her clients happy, keeping the food coming, keeping the alcohol and soda flowing.

"Elaine was Big Mama and she taught a lot of us how to live in New York: work hard, play hard and always pay the check," said Chris Policano a spokesman for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.