NYC's iconic 21 Club to shut down - New York Post

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New York City’s iconic 21 Club restaurant is closing down after 90 years of good food and even better celebrity intrigue.

The historic Midtown eatery — a favorite haunt for John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Frank Sinatra, and a dining spot for nearly every president since FDR — has shuttered its jockeys-guarded doors indefinitely, a rep told The Post.

Its 148 employees have been told that they’ll all be out of a job as of early March.

“The company is exploring potential opportunities that will allow 21 Club to remain a viable operation in the long term, while retaining its distinctive character,” a spokesperson told The Post.

“At this early stage, we are not ready to announce any final concept or timeframe, but the vision is that 21 Club will always remain an important social and cultural hub and icon of New York, one that is well positioned to fulfill its role in the City’s exciting future when the time comes.”

 News of 21’s closing came just hours after Gov. Cuomo announced that indoor dining will shut down yet again throughout the state on Monday due to increasing COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. 

The restaurant had already been shuttered since March, 2020 “to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus and protect its guests and employees,” the rep said.

“In light of the ongoing global crisis and anticipated extended recovery period for the hospitality industry, the difficult decision has been made that it will not be feasible to reopen the 21 Club in its current form for the foreseeable future.”

The eatery opened on January 1, 1930, quickly becoming one of America’s most famous speakeasies from the Prohibition Era, a description from its Facebook page says.

The restaurant features 10 private dining rooms, including a Prohibition-era wine cellar, and is steeped in legend.

With the exception of George W. Bush, every president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has dined at 21.

President Trump reportedly celebrated his election victory at the club with his four adult children and their partners in 2016. Trump ordered a $36 burger, fries and a bloody Mary, according to The Guardian.

Steinbeck, Hemingway and Sinatra had their favorite tables. And Hemingway may also have had his favorite stairwell.

According to Avery Fletcher, the restaurant’s one-time director of marketing, Hemingway, a regular there, once had after-hours sex with a female patron he’d just met in the dining room.

“They got to know each other very, very well, intimately, even, on our kitchen steps … they’re pretty darn steep!” Fletcher told Thrillist.com four years ago.

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