RESTAURANTS: La Bibliotheque

Now it is finally time to investigate a somewhat forgotten Tudor City restaurant, La Bibliotheque, located at 341 E. 43rd Street. For reasons unknown, the building that housed it was never considered a part of Tudor City. Perhaps it was the fact that its main entrance was on First Avenue. 

The restaurant opened in late 1969, and very quickly announced itself as an upscale establishment. They had hired a high-powered press agent to spread the word, and early visitors included Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, Mel Brooks, and Anne Bancroft.

There were three Times reviews over the years ‒ three two-star reviews ‒ noting successful dishes (the "excellent" broiled red snapper) and some not so successful (the "overcooked" roast duck). There was nothing wrong with its wall of books, UN views, and makeshift outdoor space, however.

   

The menu was printed on a facsimile of the French newspaper, Le Monde.

On the inside pages, the menu was laid out. The autograph is unknown, perhaps that of the chef.

This was its story for the next decade. Then, in 1983, came the startling news that the owners had skimmed $790,000 in profits, and soon thereafter they were convicted, and the restaurant closed. The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations took over the space in 1985.

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A special thanks to Fabrice Frere who supplied the matchbook that inspired this post.

ARTIFACTS Again

Two artifacts from the past today ‒ a pair of souvenir snapshots courtesy of a guest of Hotel Tudor, and a teaspoon.  

The first photo depicts the interior of a room in the Hotel Tudor, which we can see is decorated in Early American style.  The most notable of items is the telephone, the old-fashioned candlestick model. To the right is the bathroom, stocked with bathroom accessories.

The other photograph is taken on 42nd Street outside the hotel. The signs advertise the HOTEL TUDOR, the TAILORING LAUNDRY / SAME DAY SERVICE, and a HOSIERY concern. While the back of the photo is dated 1950, the view suggests it's from the mid-to-late '40s ‒ the street has yet to undergo widening and flattening for the arrival of the UN.

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The second artifact is a teaspoon, above. Despite its delicate design, it is very strongly made.

But we are more interested in the markings on the top, which prove to be Fred F. French's monogram, FFF. Read more about it here.

On the reverse side, TUDOR CITY.

Artifact: CLUB BREAKFAST Menu

Herewith, an early menu from the restaurant in No. 45. Across the top it features a picturesque drawing of the Lich Gate followed by the words TUDOR CITY.

 

This is its CLUB BREAKFASTS menu. Let's take a closer look at the various choices.  

Known today as a continental breakfast, for 25 cents. The only question it poses is what exactly comprises a Bacon Roll. 

A full American breakfast for 35 cents.

For 50 cents, a variation on the theme featuring Wheat Cakes with Bacon and Syrup. 

For a dime more, the 60 cent entry offers Scrambled Eggs with Kippered Herring or Filet of Soul. 

Lastly, the 75 cent club breakfast offers all of the above, plus such delicacies as Breakfast Steak or Calf's Liver Saute.  

At the bottom of the menu is a list of all the items at a la carte prices. Only a few items have gone out of vogue, even though the menu is almost 100 years old: Rippled Wheat cereal, Kippered Herring, and Postum (a coffee substitute that is still manufactured). Again we note the presence of the mysterious TOASTED BACON ROLL, the only menu item to be listed in all caps. We are intrigued.

More MISCELLANY

Welcome back to our never-ending supply of miscellaneous items that might not qualify as full-fledged posts, but still are too choice to let pass by. 

We begin with some snowy photos. The occasion was the blizzard of 1947, which dropped 25.8 inches of snow on the city on December 26th.

The Tudor City photos taken at the time were pre-UN renovation, thus they showed the 42nd Street tunnel, the ramps, and Whelan Drugs on the corner. None of them would make the cut in the coming years. 

Sledding on 41st Street.

 

The Manor and No. 45 as seen from No. 25.

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Governor of New York Kathy Hochul has a glass of wine in the Tudor City Steakhouse, joined by her spouse, William Hochul, and Mirso Lekic, the restaurant's owner.  

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This evocative portrait taken on the Tudor City Bridge features Ruby Lynn Reyner, a figure of Downtown New York in the '70s and '80s, who was famed as a performer with the Playhouse of the Ridiculous. She was on a photo shoot in Tudor City, date unknown.  

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It has come to our attention that the Manhattan Ventilation Building does have signage after all: on a fence outside it reads QUEENS-MIDTOWN TUNNEL, above. Which although true, it doesn't come close to explaining what the building does. For the answer, see our earlier post.

The Woodstock Dining Room

The Woodstock Dining Room, May 30, 1929

We've always avoided the subject of The Woodstock Dining Room because of a lack of material ‒ no promotion, no menus, and, especially, no photos. This was rather awkward as it was billed as one of the three restaurants the complex offered.

Then a pair of pictures came our way. They were identified as the "Prospect House dining room," but didn't fit the restaurant in Prospect Tower. They didn't have the same type of ceiling, or light sconces, or stained-glass windows, or wainscotting lining the walls.

A close-up of a table for two brings these features out more distinctively. When compared with the minuscule ads that exist, below, there's no doubt that these photos depict The Woodstock's Dining Room.
 

These ads, despite their gritty quality, show sconces on wall, stained-glass windows, and wainscotting and cane-backed chairs galore.

Finally, we offer this portrait of a melon plate with two more clues; first, the FFF initials embroidered on the tablecloth, indicating this was a Fred F. French restaurant. . .

. . . and then, there's the newspaper headline, LINDBERGHS UNREPORTED; STATIC BLAMED [detailing how the newlywed couple travelled incognito due to electronic interference.] The real news was the date it was published ‒ May 30, 1929 ‒ one month after The Woodstock's opening. The perfect time to get a photographer in for a few pictures.

After that, the trail runs cold. We don't think the restaurant lasted very long. We know that it reopened as the Club Room ‒ devoted to various hobbies and open to all Woodstock residents ‒ in 1945. In 1951, changes to the street outside meant the former dining room was now somewhere on the second floor. But where exactly, no one knows. 

Can anyone add anything to the saga? 

Even More MISCELLANY

Another collection of items that aren't interesting enough to deserve their own post, but certainly are amusing.  

  

Tudor City Recreation Co. was its official name, but to the passerby on the street it was simply known as the Bowling Alley. As seen in the photo below, it was located in part of the future site of the Pfizer Building. The matchbook is from the collection of our good friend, David Reiff.

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IN BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIP

Harry Conlan, left, of New York,and George Harris, also of New York, are two of the competitors in the Eastern New York Badminton Championships at the Tudor City Courts, New York, Feb. 12th.

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An ad for the Tudor City Coffee House that ran in 1939 in Tudor City View, the community monthly. Why it ran on the diagonal is anyone's guess.

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Finally, a photograph made after a good day fishing by our founder and his son, Theodore. From the French biography, A Vigorous Life: The Story of Fred F. French, Builder of Skyscrapers.

MISCELLANY

 Assorted photographs that might require a bit of explanation as to why they are included in this post.   

In our first example, the picture depicts a melon about to be eaten, but another question lingers. What does all this have to do with Tudor City?

The answer is woven in the tablecloth. The three F's (for Fred F. French) and the words TUDOR CITY.

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Made in the 1960s, this photo of the local delicatessen with a familiar name has come to our attention. Although it was never officially part of Tudor City, the Tudor Delicatessen was part of the scene unofficially.  

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A still from 1977 promoting the film "Superman" starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, where the two actors can be seen hanging around the Daily News building; Tudor City can be seen in the Hotel Tudor sign at upper left. Below, how the newspaper itself reported the story. 

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This scene of the United Nations at night is enhanced by the shout-out by the Secretariat, which proudly spelled out the UN's initials in honor of its birthday. But where is Tudor City?     

The Tudor City sign can be glimpsed above at the upper right corner, with Prospect Tower melting into the inky darkness below. More surprising, a couple of blocks away are signs (for Reilly Electrotype Company, Cirker's Gramercy Storage Warehouses, and Consolidated Production Service) that are clearly read even at night.

RESTAURANTS: Convivio

Today, we cover Convivio, which once operated in the restaurant space in Prospect Tower that's been there since Tudor City began.

The story actually begins with L'Impero, the restaurant that preceded it. Owned by Chris Cannon, it featured chef Scott Conant in the kitchen. Several good reviews later, the restaurant was a hot ticket, the first time that ever happened in Tudor City.

Then Cannon and Conant had a falling out, and the chef left. Cannon searched and came up with another chef with the apt credentials.

 The new chef, Michael White (above) came aboard and it was decided to spruce the place up with a new name and some decor enhancements. This was done and the place was opened in 2007.

Inside, it was all kinds of luxe, from the wraparound crimson banquettes to the ceiling's six-coats of car paint to make everything shimmer. The winning combo of Convivio (and Alto, another fine-dining restaurant) was further enhanced when they took on a business partner and added a third, Marea. Everything reached its peak when the New York Times awarded all of them with three stars apiece.

A year passed, and suddenly White and the new business partner wanted out. In the acrimonious settlement, they took Marea, while Cannon took Convivio and Alto. And then came the final blow; an alleged tipping scandal at Alto caused him to shrug his shoulders and walk away. Convivio, and Alto, were closed.

That's all there is to the story. We leave you with a view of the outside, around Christmas time.

ARTIFACT: Hotel Tudor menu, 1943

 

The artifact of the day is this menu for the Tudor Room, the restaurant in the Hotel Tudor. It is dated August 18, 1943.  

A note from management as to the menu: 

OUR GOVERNMENT ASKS US TO CONSERVE FOOD. You can do so by curtailing the use of sugar and cream, butter, oil and condiments. . . We shall make our menus less elaborate than formerly, but will nevertheless offer an ample selection.  

All seems normal here, save for the cup of Postum, manufactured by the Post Cereal Company. Used as a coffee substitute, it was a caffeine-free drink made from roasted wheat bran and molasses, and a popular choice in 1943.

Above, the back side of the menu, illustrating the disregard for wine at the time ‒ only two varieties were offered, American vs. Imported, although bottle prices were available on request. 

This menu shares a cover with one from the Tudor City Coffee House on July 8, 1944, covered here.