|
In the meantime, Moses banished the sheep to Brooklyn's Prospect Park and assigned their shepherd to the lion house in the Central Park Zoo. Typically, Moses had WPA workers busy converting the sheepfold long before he made the official announcement of its new function on February 28, 1934.
The first incarnation of Tavern on the Green -- the restaurant -- was launched on October 20, 1934, with a coachman in full regalia at the door. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia opened the restaurant with a brass key and, in the company of a proud Moses, took a tour of the facility. After chatting with the chef and sampling a breakfast sausage, Fiorello and Moses pronounced their satisfaction with Central Park's newest attraction.
Embraced by New Yorkers as a gathering place and Tavern on the Green quickly became an integral part of the city's summer social life. In the late 1930s the building was taken over by the Civilian Patrol Corps as its headquarters until 1943, when the management of the neat by Claremont Inn on Riverside Drive took it over and renovated it to become a year-round restaurant. By the 1950s, Tavern on the Green was showing some wear and tear and the brilliant designer Raymond Loewy was engaged to renovate the building, yet again -- a process which resulted in the addition of the Elm Room (now the Park Room), named after the tree it wrapped around.
A succession of management companies operated the restaurant until 1962 when Restaurant Associates took it over. By the early '70s, Tavern on the Green was a restaurant no longer in sync with the times, and Restaurant Associates shuttered it in 1974.
Rather than signaling the end of an era, however, its closing was the beginning of an exciting new one for the venerable edifice. Warner LeRoy, the creator of the wildly popular Maxwell's Plum, acquired the lease
and embarked upon a spectacular $10 million renovation. Then an unheard of sum to spend on a restaurant. With LeRoy's addition of the glass enclosed Crystal and Terrace Rooms, his lavish use of brass, stained glass, etched mirrors, original paintings, antique prints and, above all, chandeliers, Tavern was reincarnated. It became a glittering palace, Central Park's most spectacular structure
.
Hand-hewn rafters re-emerged and the soaring vaulted ceilings above them reappeared after being hidden for decades by pedestrian plaster. The Elm, Rafters, and Chestnut Rooms were paneled in exceedingly rare wormy chestnut. In the Crystal and Terrace Rooms, rustic baroque gave way to flights of rococo fancy.
The reincarnated Tavern on the Green took New York by storm from the moment it re-opened on August 31, 1976. It dazzled the city with its decorative whimsy, its eclectic menu and its playfulness. Tavern, once so "out" that it had to close, was now very "in" indeed. Celebrities flocked to the restaurant to see and be seen. Tavern's size, spectacular setting and radiant charm quickly made it "the" place for New York's most prestigious events - charity and political functions, Broadway openings and international film premieres - a status it retains to this day.
Always a fantastic work in progress, Tavern on the Green underwent yet another renovation in 1988 to expand its popular Tavern Store, relocate the bar, and create the lovely Park Room and Garden.
Subsequently, the beautiful Crystal Garden overlooking the Sheep Meadow was remodeled to accommodate dancing during the summer months. And, in 1993, a celebrated "Menagerie of Topiaries", created by the Hollywood wizards who fashioned the fantastic greenery for the hit film EDWARD SCIZZORHANDS, took up residence in Tavern's gardens.
Three years later, during the summer of 1996, Tavern's treasured topiaries were given another Crystal Garden attraction to keep watch over, a 40-foot bar fashioned from trees harvested from New York City parks. Tavern's Garden Bar gives new life to trees that have died or been cut down for safety or landscaping purposes.
Since LeRoy's death in 2001, Tavern on the Green has continued to thrive under the direction of his daughter Jennifer LeRoy. Under her auspices the restaurant's snuggery of a bar has been redecorated and Tavern's massive 13,000 square foot kitchen is undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment. An employee cafeteria is being installed and the Tavern Store, long a source of unique decorative accessories and gifts for savvy New Yorkers, has been enlarged to showcase LeRoy's own line of fashion accessories, Jenny'z. She has also commissioned new hand-painted murals and installed additional antique treasures to dazzle the eye of the next generation of Tavern diners, while she addresses their palates with new menus by Executive Chef John Milito whom LeRoy recruited in October 2003.
| 
